100 Cars Impounded to Curb Hit-Run Collisions

Police impounded 100 cars from unlicensed motorists over the weekend in an effort to reduce the number of hit-and-run collisions in the San Fernando Valley, which they say are primarily caused by such drivers.

Most of the 9,000 hit-and-run accidents last year in the Valley were committed by drivers who have had their licenses suspended or revoked for failing to pay parking tickets, repeated moving violations or drunk driving, said Sgt. Dennis Zine of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic division.

“They’re already in trouble, so when they hit somebody, they’ll flee,” Zine said.

In an effort to get unlicensed drivers off the road, Valley Traffic this weekend launched Operation Alert, or Area License Enforcement Registration Teams.

Officers patrolled areas with a high incidence of hit-and-run accidents, including Van Nuys, Pacoima, Arleta and Sylmar. They stopped motorists without seat belts or driving cars with cracked windshields and bald tires, Zine said.

The car was impounded if the driver could not produce a license and a computer check showed it had been suspended or revoked, he said. Zine added that police will run the drivers’ names through a computer to determine whether the cars were involved in any hit and run accidents.

Operation Alert will continue throughout the rest of the month, he said.