Driving Out Unlicensed Drivers : A huge cheer for safe streets legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Katz

Look around you on the freeway on your way to or from work today. Chances are at least one person within your field of vision will be a motorist who never obtained a license or is driving with a license that has been suspended or revoked.

These people are a menace. They are the most frequent contributors to the fact that California has more hit-and-run accidents than any other state and they are four times more likely than other drivers to be involved in fatal accidents, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Existing laws do not go far enough in preventing them from driving. Now there is a bill moving through the Legislature that would make the punishment suit the crime and would keep more unlicensed drivers off the streets.

The Department of Motor Vehicles estimates there are about 1 million California motorists who have never held a license and 720,000 more who otherwise are driving illegally.

So, what happens to such drivers when they are caught? Their vehicles are impounded only briefly, or not at all if the violator is accompanied by a licensed person who can drive the car home. A car or truck is forfeited only when a driver is convicted of vehicular manslaughter or repeat drunk driving offenses.

The proposed Safe Streets Act, by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), offers a harsh but necessary alternative. If your license has been suspended or revoked within the last three years or if you have been convicted of being an unlicensed driver within that span of time and you are again caught driving without a valid license, you lose your car. Period.

There are reasonable exceptions.

First, a vehicle is forfeited only if the driver is its owner. If an owner unwittingly loans a car to an unlicensed friend who later is stopped by a police officer, the owner will not lose the car.

If you are half of a married couple who depend on a car and authorities find that one of you does not have a valid license, you get three strikes, not two. Under Katz’s legislation the violator must sign a contract to not drive until he or she gets a license. If a member of a married couple is caught a third time, the car is seized.

The bill’s opponents include the American Civil Liberties Union. It is supported by 60 police departments, the City of Los Angeles, the League of California Cities and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The proposed act would save lives, and it deserves passage by the Legislature.