Valleywide : Unlicense Drivers Risk Loss of Vehicles

Standing in front of an old Ford pickup truck, four cars and a beat-up motorcycle, Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn announced Thursday in Van Nuys the forfeiture of these vehicles under a new state law that gives law-enforcement officers the authority to impound vehicles and then sell them.

The law, authored by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), allows authorities to seize and sell vehicles whose owners are unlicensed or are caught continuing to drive after their licenses have been suspended or revoked for committing a variety of traffic offenses.

Hahn held the midday news conference along with City Councilwoman Laura Chick and Los Angeles Police Cmdr. Art Lopez at Keystone Tow in Van Nuys, where the vehicles were impounded. In addition to the six vehicles, about 20 others are being held for 30 days under the new law.

If a vehicle is impounded because the driver had a prior traffic offense, such as reckless or drunk driving, it will be held for 30 days during which the registered owner can contest the forfeiture at a hearing.

City officials consider the new regulation a viable tool to crack down on drivers who avoid the law.

“About 25% to 30% of all hit-and-run felonies are caused by unlicensed drivers on the road,” Lopez said. Unlicensed drivers “don’t care if they’re not the registered driver; or they think it’s an old clunker and will leave the scene of a traffic accident.”

Chick said that “by putting teeth in this law, we are sending a tough message.”

“Sadly, in the San Fernando Valley during the last few years, we have had more people dying in traffic accidents than by gun violence,” Chick said. “This is one tool to go after drivers to keep them off the roads of the city of Los Angeles.”

Although the law went into effect in January, it was only recently implemented in Los Angeles because only district attorneys have the jurisdiction to enforce state asset forfeitures, according to state law. But Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti resolved that problem by designating several deputy city attorneys to enforce the vehicle forfeiture law.

The county counsel also required that the city indemnify the county in the event of any civil judgment arising out of a forfeiture. The measure was approved by the City Council on Nov. 21.