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Nearly 5 out of 6 stopped at recent police checkpoint
| Thursday, Mar 29 2007 10:59 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Mar 29 2007 10:59 PM
That motorist who just sped by and crossed two lanes without signaling may not just be a bad driver.
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He might also be unlicensed.
Nearly five out of six motorists screened at random at a Bakersfield police checkpoint in early March were cited for driving without a license, officers said.
Bakersfield police Detective Greg Terry said that out of 62 drivers who were stopped, 49 were unlicensed. The drivers were issued misdemeanor citations.
“It’s important,” Terry said of a driver’s responsibility to be properly licensed. “It’s a public safety issue and it’s the law.”
Shafter resident Toni Johnston said the results of the checkpoint are not particularly surprising. She’s concerned, however, that so many people are driving without licenses.
“Generally if they’re unlicensed, they’re uninsured,” Johnston said.
Theresa Ebreo said the results are alarming, especially now that she has a young daughter. People need to take responsibility and become properly licensed and insured, she said.
Vehicles can be impounded for up to 30 days, but registered owners can request a hearing to get the vehicle back before that time, Terry said. In the recent checkpoint, drivers either had expired licenses or never had a license to begin with.
In 2006, police either cited or arrested 2,552 people for license violations, Terry said. That’s up from 2,136 violations in 2005, but a significant drop from the 3,035 violations in 2004.
Terry said a driver’s immigration status is not checked during stops, so he has no way of knowing whether illegal immigrants contribute to high rates of unlicensed drivers. He said that sometimes a person will be arrested for an offense and it will be discovered later that he’s an illegal immigrant, but they don’t arrest people solely based on whether they’re legal U.S. citizens.
Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national nonprofit organization urging reform of immigration policies, said the BPD’s policy is a mistake.
“If somebody is driving without a license, then the first thing the officer should do is run a check with an immigration service or other agencies to determine if the driver is in the country illegally,” Mehlman said.
If California is really concerned about the public safety risk of people driving without licenses, then law enforcement should get tough and make it known that motorists without licenses face the possibility of deportation if they’re in the country illegally, Mehlman said.
Determining the exact number of unlicensed drivers is difficult, according to Tully Lehman, a spokesman with the Insurance Information Network of California. But the nonprofit, which devotes its time to informing consumers and the media about the property/casualty business, has developed a formula to calculate the likelihood of uninsured drivers.
Statewide, recent statistics show 14.3 percent of drivers are uninsured. The rate of motorists uninsured in Kern County was 8.75 percent as of 2003, Lehman said.
Los Angeles County had the largest percentage of uninsured drivers in the state, a whopping 25 percent.
“We end up paying a portion of our auto insurance for underinsured or uninsured drivers,” Lehman said.
While he couldn’t give exact figures as to how much each resident pays, he said it doesn’t add up to a lot. Still, with California’s Low Cost Auto Insurance program, even people well below federal poverty levels should be able to afford car insurance.
To qualify for the program, a resident needs to be licensed and have a gross annual income that’s 250 percent or less than the federal poverty level, which would mean anyone earning less than about $24,000 a year, Lehman said. Also, an applicant must have a clean driving record and a vehicle valued at less than $20,000.
Lehman said the low-cost program is a limited policy, but it at least gives residents some liability coverage. It provides $3,000 for property damage, $10,000 per person for bodily injury and $20,000 per accident.
“It’s a good program,” he said, “but the thing to remember is that if you exceed those dollar amounts, you could be sued for damages in excess of the coverage.”
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GETTING A LICENSE
To get a driver’s license, make an appointment with your local DMV office. People 18 or older don’t need formal driver’s training or education, just to pass a written exam that can be studied for with the California Driver’s Handbook. A learner’s permit will be issued allowing you to practice driving as long as a licensed driver 18 or older is in the passenger seat. When ready, take the driving test and get the full license.
To get a learner’s permit:
• Turn in a completed DL 44 form.
• Get thumbprinted and photographed.
• Give your full name, Social Security number and have proof of your birth date and legal residence in the United States.
• Pay the $26 application fee.
• Pass a vision exam and a traffic laws and traffic sign test.
Source: www.dmv.org