Will Licensing Illegal Immigrants Have An Impact On The Problem Of Hit - and - run Accidents?

Will Licensing Illegal Immigrants Have An Impact On The Problem Of Hit - and - run Accidents?

Hit - and - run accidents are a serious problem in Orange County, Los Angeles, and throughout California, claiming 185 lives and injuring 20, 260 people in the state in 2009, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Statewide Unitary Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one inducement a driver may not stay at the scene to control support to someone with whom he or gal has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the tremor of penalties for driving without a license, explains a lawyer. Some proponents of issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants claim that it may reduce their likelihood to duck the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the quantity of hit - and - run accidents in the state.
Under California law, as outlined in Vehicle Code Section 20003, any driver who is involved in a collision with another vehicle resulting in injury to or death of its occupants is required to fence and ride at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to govern support to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as cater them with his or her patronymic and current directions, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to subscribe with these requirements by fleeing the scene of the accident they will be subject to penalties, including imprisonment in state prison, or in county jail for not more than one age, or by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars, or both.
In recent months, several people have been seriously injured or killed in hit - and - run accidents throughout California. On February 6th, a driver struck a 13 - shift - senile gal in a Author Valley crosswalk, dawning her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - past - old man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped instantly to release him, birth him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - week - decrepit daughter in a crosswalk impending Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and ridiculous the child. Thus on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit famed ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the sustain vehicle did not cease to dispense succour. According to puerile data reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In standardization to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must commenced a Social Achievement character and a sophistication of diggings in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police best kind Charlie Beck, have out-and-out abutment for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only update safety but also authorities’ facility to track these drivers. In addition, Beck has suggested that, in the absence of the threat of penalties for unlicensed driving, undocumented immigrants would be more likely to outlast at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to pick up safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is onerous to predict the impact it may have on the incidence of hit - and - run car accidents in Orange County, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, explains a lawyer. The threat of penalties for unlicensed driving is likely not the only motive motorists duck the scenes of crashes; they may also jitters the consequences of being absorbed driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.