Illegal Drivers Face Loss of Cars as Police Initiate Alert

The long, wide boulevards that crisscross the San Fernando Valley are inviting to all sorts of motorists who include, police say, a surprising number taking their chances driving without licenses.

To find them, Valley traffic officers have inaugurated Operation Alert, which has already begun to take cars from motorists found driving with licenses that have been revoked or suspended and from those in vehicles with registration expired more than a year.

But police have more in mind than bringing irresponsible drivers in line with the official trappings of the privilege.

Of the 16,835 traffic collision reports Valley traffic officers wrote last year, a full 50% involved hit-and-run drivers, said Sgt. Dennis Zine.

Many Skirting Law

“We think a large amount of those are drivers operating vehicles with non-valid licenses,” Zine said. “You’d be surprised at the number of people out there skirting the law.”

To find them, and others who try to get by without registering their cars, Operation Alert--Area License Enforcement Registration Team--periodically puts an extra 10 motorcycle officers on the street who will take a little extra time with each routine stop.

On a recent Saturday, the first day of Operation Alert, officers impounded 86 cars and three motorcycles from motorists.

Some had registrations that had expired more than a year ago, which allows police to impound the vehicles when they are on a public street. But most were driving with licenses that had been revoked or suspended by the Department of Motor Vehicles for multiple tickets, a second drunk-driving conviction or refusal to take a breath test when arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence.

Not Minor Violators

“The DMV doesn’t suspend or revoke licenses for a couple of speeding tickets,” Zine said. “They do it for negligent, problem drivers and many are driving knowing this.”

Some are conscious enough of their situation to hit and run, fleeing from both minor fender-benders and fatal collisions.

Others take razor blades and cut renewal stickers from legally registered cars to avoid fees, an offense that Zine called “a continuing, growing problem.”

Still others, like a motorcyclist Zine pulled over recently on Woodley Avenue, simply refuse to play by the rules.

“His registration expired in 1981, he didn’t have a Class 4 license (to drive a motorcycle) and he didn’t have insurance,” Zine said. “He was a nice enough gentleman, not a seedy character, but he just didn’t want to comply. He lived real close to where he worked and probably figured he could get away with it. He’s walking now.”

Los Angeles traffic officers, who issue about 700,000 citations a year, seldom have time to wait for a computer check on a driver’s license or to wait for a tow truck to impound the cars of those driving without proper certification, Zine said.

During Operation Alert, however, they will take the time, backed up by a beefed-up force of tow trucks to take the cars and motorcycles of errant drivers.

“To stop a person, we of course will need cause,” Zine said. “But once they stop people, officers will take the time to check the status of driver’s licenses. Even a suspended license looks the same without a computer check.”

Zine declined to name a date when Operation Alert will take effect next, but said, “People with suspended licenses have jobs, or they wouldn’t have cars, and probably go to and from work pretty easily. But on the weekends, when they’re out driving with the wife and the three kids, there may be five people walking home.