Posted on 03/22/2006 2:14:38 PM PST by VU4G10
SANTA CLARITA - A fleet of tow trucks and a dozen patrol cars worked what looked at first glance to be a major traffic accident, but actually was preventive work, aimed at getting society's most dangerous drivers off the road. The sheriff's deputies, tow jockeys and volunteers were gunning for unlicensed drivers, often wanted for leaving the scenes of accidents.
"The number of hit-and-run collisions increases dramatically when there are a high number of unlicensed drivers on the road," traffic Deputy Anthony Arnold said. "People are afraid to stop when they hit someone or something because they're afraid they'll get in more trouble for not having a license."
Deputies from the Santa Clarita sheriff's station set up a roadblock midday Thursday on San Fernando Road near Oak Ridge Drive, funneling 1,294 cars through and checking the licenses of 1,112 drivers. The majority made it through with just the inconvenience of a slowdown.
Eighteen of them went to jail. Thirteen got citations. Nearly a dozen cars were impounded.
The problem is nationwide. According to a study done by the AAA Foundation, 20 percent of all fatal crashes have involved at least one unlicensed driver or one who is driving with a license that has been suspended or revoked.
The foundation's report also found that up to 70 percent of drivers whose license privileges were suspended or revoked continued to drive. Also, many unlicensed drivers are also uninsured, compounding the problem when they are involved in accidents.
Part of law enforcement's job is getting the public to take license suspensions seriously.
"They think it's a joke," said Deputy George Guevara, who has worked traffic in the Santa Clarita Valley for several years. "They think that they can just continue to drive even though the court has taken their license away. Some of them get mad at us for stopping them."
"Traditionally, when you stop someone and their licenses are suspended or revoked, they don't care, no matter what," said California Highway Patrol Officer Wendy Hahn. "A lot of times we find people with revoked licenses that were revoked 10 years ago. The licensing laws tend to just keep the honest people honest."
The proportion of unlicensed drivers varies widely state-by-state, with 6 percent in Maine and 23 percent in New Mexico. According to reports issued by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the Pew Hispanic Center, the states that hold the largest population of illegal immigrants are also the states with the highest hit-and-run fatalities. California ranks at the top with 24.1 percent of the known 11.1 million unauthorized residents.
"Unfortunately, the undocumented drivers here do that (drive unlicensed) more than the natives," Hahn said. "If they've been involved in an incident, they flee because they don't want to deal with immigration."
This was the third year for the license checkpoint; a 2005 effort was closed down early because of its impact on afternoon commuter traffic, yielding just two arrests and one citation. A 2004 checkpoint resulted in 21 arrests and 15 citations.
Hold those statistics up to the number of hit-and-run accidents and you can see a connection: There were 506 hit-and-run accidents in 2004 and 588 in 2005. This year, there have been 104 hit-and-run crashes to date.
"We're impounding cars of those drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked or have never had a license," Arnold said. "We have the right to impound them for 30 days. If they have a license and it's just expired, they're cited at the scene and their car is not taken."
The checkpoint operation involved 20 deputies, one sergeant, 15 volunteers and sheriff's Explorers and three trucks from Wolf's Towing, which took 11 cars to its impound lot in Canyon Country. Their trucks were loaded with vehicles that ran the gamut from a bright yellow Triumph Daytona speed bike to utilitarian family cars.
Those drivers who keep their licenses current are affected by the unlicensed driver conundrum when they pay their insurance premiums.
"Unlicensed drivers affect the collision as well as the uninsured motorist coverage on policies," said Hillary Whitcomb, public affairs specialist for State Farm Insurance. "The rates for those two categories take into consideration our costs of claims and repairs."
The tow company operators didn't seem to mind being busy. To them, 30-day impounds are money in the bank, whether or not the owner redeems the vehicle.
"They have to pay the storage rate of $22 per day. Then they have the $97 impound fee and a $93 release fee," said Wolf's driver Bobby Huggins as he paused to complete paperwork. "We auction them off all the time; every Tuesday morning there's a lien sale of vehicles that we've towed away and people either don't want them or they can't pay the fees."
The bottom line for really doing this: Get the money, auction off the cars!
So9
... and all the illegal aliens they caught were let off without even a warning.
I wish the article had made the details more clear, because I have trouble understanding.
1294 - 1112 = 182 drivers' licenses were not checked. Why? And, how did they check licenses with just "a slowdown?"
18 + 13 = 31 drivers with citations or jail. Only 12 cars were impounded. How did the other 31 - 12 = 19 cars get away? Were there licensed passengers in them?
Unfortunately, the undocumented drivers here do that (drive unlicensed) more than the natives," Hahn said. "If they've been involved in an incident, they flee because they don't want to deal with immigration."
Unfortunately, this type of enforcement (which is a burden to citizens and might be construed as an infringement of liberty) may become more necessary if they don't enforce immigration law. Even illegal aliens with drivers licenses may flee accident scenes because they "don't want to deal with immigration" or be discovered to be driving without adequate insurance. (It's not that hard to get a license legally.)
Good point! I wonder if the 18 jailed ones were checked for alien status, an if any will be deported. Highly unlikely.
Why is it OK to set up a checkpoint to check people's licenses? It seems a little intrusive to me.
I'm waiting for the headline:
Deputies catch unlicensed migrants - AND deport them immediately back to where they came from.
Originally a license was for revenue only, in most states, with no test required.
As for insurance, the government is stomping all over your constitutional rights when they require us to have insurance. Driving is NOT a priviledge, but one of the unenumerated rights mentioned in the constitution.
The priviledge BS is spouted off by the government so they can push onerous regulations and "fees"(read taxes) on us at will!
about time, someone is doing something, to keep illegals, off the street, my stepdad, and myself, we are both victims of illegals, driving without licenses, it really sucks that legal citizens have to suffer,for other people, that do not have the right to be here.
Maybe the FedEx guys, etc. were given a pass because those companies keep a tight check on their drivers?
Should driving on public roads be an unregulated free-for-all?
We pay for the roads. I think we get to lay down some requirements about who drives on them. I think tolls would be better, but licenses ain't so bad.
What's your proposal?
yes. no yellow lines,no turn signals, and no headlights at night.
child car seats are for sissies,too!
Does the law of California give deputies the power to check immigration status and to remove those whose status is invalid somehow to the border? Can a Santa Clarita deputy pt anillegal Chinese immigrant on the plane and compel the airline to fly him to his place of origin - or to the deputy's best guess if there are no documents to show whether the person comes from the ROC or from the PRC?
It's not enough to know the objective. I think there has to be some notion of how to achieve it.
LOL & ROFL.
The illegals probably go to the auctions and buy them back cheap!
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