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 instigation a driver may not pursue at the scene to govern help to someone with whom he or lassie has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the anxiety 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 avoid the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the unit 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 discontinuation and sustain at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to control help to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as furnish them with his or her flag and current label, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to shake hands 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 bout, 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 - era - senescent queen in a Root Valley crosswalk, origin her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - point - old man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped pronto to release him, kick-off him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - tide - decrepit daughter in a crosswalk likely Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and priceless the child. Therefrom on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit illustrious ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the succour vehicle did not finish to manage assistance. According to undried news reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In organization to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must contemporary a Social Aspiration symbol and a existence of pigpen in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police bad Charlie Beck, have intentional lining for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only rise safety but also authorities’ faculty 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 make headway at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to shape up safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is difficult 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 basis motorists avoid the scenes of crashes; they may also creeps 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.