1 Million Fewer Licensed Drivers on State’s Roads

Late to your destination and trapped in traffic? You may not believe it, but the state Department of Motor Vehicles says there are 1 million fewer licensed drivers out there.

The department reports that the number of licensed California motorists fell an unprecedented 5.2% last year from 1994--from 20.1 million to 19 million.

And nobody at the DMV knows why, although theories abound.

The reasons range from the impact of new laws--which have made the DMV a sentry for such things as legal residency--to the flight of businesses from California. More likely, it is a combination of those two factors and various others, including more elderly drivers simply retiring their licenses.

“You take 1 million licensed drivers out of 20 million and it is not the kind of thing you are going to notice sitting in the seat of your car,” said DMV spokesman William Madison, “but it is a significant number.”

Over the past several years, the rate of increase of California driver’s licenses has tapered off. In 1994, the number of licenses issued fell for the first time since World War II, a relatively small 0.3%.

But last year, the plunge intensified. Every county in the state reported a loss in driver’s licenses except tiny Alpine, which remained unchanged from 1989 at 800 licensees.

Populous Los Angeles County led the state in the loss of licensed drivers with 318,700, the DMV said. Among other Southern California counties, Orange lost 99,100, San Diego 97,300, San Bernardino 48,400, Riverside 34,900 and Ventura 24,100.

The DMV does not know why the reduction occurred, Madison said, and may not know for a long time. Since licenses are renewed every four years, DMV officials caution that the recent drop in renewals may reflect conditions that go back to the early 1990s but are only now being seen.

Among the possible reasons for the decrease:

* A 1992 law requiring applicants to provide their Social Security numbers when applying for a new license or a renewal may have kept undocumented immigrants from signing up.

* A year-old law requiring new license applicants to document their legal residency also may have discouraged illegal immigrants. Likewise, the law might have discouraged illegal immigrants from renewing their driving permits.

* More elderly drivers and pensioners may have given up driving or moved to states where the cost of living is lower.

* Although it will not take effect until Monday, a state law authorizing suspension of a license for failure to pay child support might be intimidating to deadbeat parents seeking renewals. Professional truck drivers already face a similar penalty.

* The flight of companies and their employees to other states in the early 1990s only now is showing up on DMV records.

* Fewer 16-year-olds are obtaining licenses because driver training has been eliminated at most high schools by budget-cutting. As a result, more are waiting until they reach 18, when driver training is no longer required, before applying.

Although the price of a driver’s license increased from $10 to $12 in 1992, DMV officials discount the additional cost as a possible cause of the drop-off. “We don’t think $2 is going to make a difference,” Madison said.

Although the department is puzzled over where all the drivers have gone, Madison said some may have joined the estimated 1.2 million motorists who drive without licenses.

“We’ll have to look for the red flags and keep our eyes open,” he said of the illegal drivers who may threaten public safety.

But the number of tickets issued by the Highway Patrol for driving without a license also has declined as the number of licensed drivers has fallen. The CHP said it issued 141,985 such citations in 1993, followed by 138,437 in 1994 and 104,989 last year.

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Fewer Driver’s Licenses

The number of licensed drivers in California tumbled by more than 1 million, or 5.2%, last year, according to the DMV. Every county lost licensed drivers, except tiny Alpine, which stayed at 800. Here is a look at several major counties in the state:

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County 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Alameda 865,900 867,600 868,300 866,100 825,200 Los Angeles 5,596,900 5,555,600 5,509,100 5,418,200 5,099,500 Orange 1,790,500 1,795,800 1,803,300 1,800,500 1,701,400 Riverside 788,600 804,200 814,300 820,300 785,400 Sacramento 719,400 724,600 728,100 726,800 691,000 San Bernardino 930,000 943,100 948,900 949,800 901,400 San Diego 1,725,500 1,732,600 1,735,100 1,730,200 1,632,900 Santa Clara 1,087,800 1,094,800 1,100,800 1,103,200 1,050,500 Ventura 474,200 475,000 475,500 477,300 453,200

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Source: Department of Motor Vehicles