Column on Bad Drivers Hits a Nerve With Readers; Some Call for Tougher Licensing, Stiffer Penalties

I read Ralph Vartabedian’s Your Wheels column regularly and particularly appreciated the latest effort, “Tough to Put the Brakes on Lousy Driving” [Highway 1, May 16], which raises timely and sobering issues.

Department of Motor Vehicles Director Steven Gourley’s statement that “there are ways to assure drivers are more qualified and competent behind the wheel . . . but at what cost to the intrusion on the lifestyles of the people of California?” is an irresponsible random-death sentence for those who use our public roadways.

The highway fatality rate in the U.S. is the shameful, tragic equivalent of three TWA Flight 800 crashes per week, and the person who has the most authority over California’s portion of this carnage is averse to using his most effective tool because it might intrude on someone’s lifestyle.

My friends from Britain tell me they feel safer driving back home because the higher testing and licensing standards there have produced a significantly safer, more competent pool of motorists.

I and many other road users would strongly favor a nationwide campaign to reduce the incidence of incompetent, distracted, aggressive and drowsy driving.

In most states, it is far too easy to obtain and to retain a driver’s license.

John Eldon

Encinitas, Calif.

*

While the attitude of the politicians involved is apathetic at best, negligent at worst, I found the column “Tough to Put the Brakes on Lousy Driving” informative.

A recent article in MacLean’s magazine said 70% of unintentional child deaths in Canada are due to traffic incidents. I believe if the U.S. tracked similar statistics and made them available, it would cause quite an uproar.

Or perhaps a public ad campaign: “This year 15,000 children will be killed by drivers just like you.”

I think that driver training in this state is far too lenient, and I am glad your article supported tougher standards.

Thank you for a well-written, logical piece.

Greg Frazier

Oceanside, Calif.

*

Thanks for bringing the skeleton--bad drivers--out of the closet.

A person driving without ever having had a license should be guilty of a misdemeanor. A person driving with a suspended license should be guilty of a felony.

And a person driving with a revoked license should be guilty of a felony and have a mandatory prison sentence--10 years, for example.

As you point out, it is very difficult to lose your license. Therefore, once you have lost it, you have pretty much proved the case that you are a menace to society. When you demonstrate your subsequent lack of judgment and inability to control yourself by driving anyway, you have proved that you cannot be trusted with your freedom.

Trevor Bourget

Poway, Calif.