Readers React: No, licensing immigrants here illegally has not made California roads any safer
To the editor: My son was killed by an unlicensed driver in November 2010. I originally believed that licensing those here illegally would make the roads safer. My extensive research on the issue made it very clear that licensing this group of people would not make the roads safer, as I testified in Sacramento against AB 60.
Unfortunately, my conclusions were correct.
According to former Assemblyman Luis Alejo, author of AB 60, “our roads and highways are safer for everyone.” (“California driver’s license program for those here illegally surpasses 1 million drivers,” April 5)
Since illegal immigrants became eligible for driver’s licenses in 2015, traffic fatalities through 2016 have increased by 19%. In 2016, California had the most traffic deaths (3,680) since 2007 (3,967). Los Angeles saw a roughly 40% increase in 2016.
Furthermore, the article stated that according to Stanford University researchers, hit-and-run collisions dropped an estimated 7%. That “study” was based on a “formula”
In 2014, Los Angeles had 22,520 hit-and-runs. By 2015 that number had risen to 26,557 and had already surpassed 14,000 halfway through 2016, representing an increase of about 20% in the period the Stanford researchers claimed hit-and-runs were down statewide by 7%.
Safer? Really?
Don Rosenberg, Westlake Village
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