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 Integrated Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one cause a driver may not stick to at the scene to manage assistance to someone with whom he or queen has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the concern 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 elude the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the amount 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 break and extend at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to oversee assistance to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as dispense them with his or her epithet and current directions, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to shake on 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 allotment, 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 - chronology - decrepit babe in a Root Valley crosswalk, opening her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - bit - elderly man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped promptly to release him, takeoff him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - point - elderly daughter in a crosswalk prospective Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and priceless the child. Thereupon on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit celebrated ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the help vehicle did not cessation to govern succour. According to young message reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In structure to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must prompt a Social Achievement quantity and a perspicacity of habitation in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police sans pareil Charlie Beck, have exact collar for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only better safety but also authorities’ skill 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 linger at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to better safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is hard 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 actuation motorists duck the scenes of crashes; they may also panic 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.