DMV says licensing illegals will reduce collisions
January 16, 2013
A California Department of Motor Vehicles study is recommending that the state license illegal immigrant drivers. [LA Times]
The DMV study determined that unlicensed drivers, the majority of whom are illegal immigrants, cause nearly three times as many crashes as licensed drivers. It suggested that California could reduce its total of several thousand yearly fatalities by testing and licensing all drivers.
Immigrant rights groups agreed that licensing illegal aliens would make the roads safer. Los Angeles Central American Resource Center board president Angela Sanbrano told the LA Times that denying driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants “really goes against public safety.”
“The current law forces people who would otherwise be properly licensed to drive without one,” Sanbrano said.
Supporters of licensing illegal immigrant drivers also point to the cost of uninsured motorist claims. State data shows that insurance companies paid out $634 million in 2009 for collisions caused by uninsured drivers.
But, opponents of illegal immigrations say the state should not use statistics to encourage people to break the law.
“One study shouldn’t trump the obvious — if you don’t want illegal aliens in the country, why do you want to encourage them to be on the roads?” said Bob Dane of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “It just defies common sense.”
The DMV study included 23 years of data on fatal accidents.
Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo introduced a bill last week that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses if they show they pay taxes.
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Hum..Illegal..Illegal… yeah, yeah.. now I remember….it means wrong, against the law etc,etc. Bet we can make our roads safer by sending the ILLEGAL’s back, hows that for a cure.
Surely its more profitable to Ca to collect citizenship filing fees than just a crappy old drivers license. Ohh..shoot ,I forgot sending them back means no votes for a certain political group though so scratch that idea.
Legally on the roads but cant read English ? I see mucho lawsuits a brewin. No comprende English which means all the signs will have to be changed out. That outta save us legal residents and citizens a few bucks at current government worker rates.
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The Federal Govt has the rule on the books that says to drive in this country you will speak and read in English, but not here in the land of the fruits and nuts, Ca will not enforce the no speekie english rule.
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Your political party is dying, illegals did not cause the loss, get over it.
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Yep, spot on, kettle! Good riddance to those evil Democrats!
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They both need to die so we can start over with some intelligent independent thinkers.
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Agreed!
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this is absolute bull s!#t i just threw up!!!!
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Ins. Co’s., DMV and of course politicians want their votes and/or money. And they use fear tactics as usual.
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Democrats never cease to amaze me.
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This wil add to the growing resentment of Mexicans, illegal or otherwise.
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Fallacy Number 1.: Having a license will reduce uninsured motorist costs.
There are a goodly number of licensed drivers tooling around sans insurance.
Fallacy Number 2.: Unlicensed illegals cause three times as many crashes as licensed drivers.
This is a prime example of correlation is not causation. You’d need to compare licensed illegals only with unlicensed illegals to establish causation.
Fallacy Number 3.: Giving them a license encourages them to break the law.
Circular; they are already breaking the law (sic) just by being here
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What is the correct way to express the finding “The DMV study determined that unlicensed drivers, the majority of whom are illegal immigrants, cause nearly three times as many crashes as licensed drivers.” In each accident, police determine who is at fault or who caused the accident based upon California driving rules. The DMV did compare licensed drivers with unlicensed drivers. They are then saying that the majority of the unlicensed drivers are illegal immigrants.
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And the DMV makes how much money by having another umpteen million license fees on the books?
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bravo! always go to the root cause; the State wants its money
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…until the poor illegals can’t pay, and the government cannot deny them their rights, as illegal citizens, so a new program would have to be implemented to pay their fees for them (like they get medical, food, education, etc. paid for already).
Oh well, maybe we can just tax the rich some more to cover all this, too.
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yes. and you said the magic word(s); a new program
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tomsquawk says:”bravo! always go to the root cause”
Thinly veiled racism and fud.
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Oh goody! Now when I’m stuck behind a banged-up ’91 minivan on Spring St. in Paso–AKA The Illegals’ Sanctuary City of SLO County–I’ll feel soooo relieved knowing that the gentleman behind the wheel deserves a license!
So what if he’s going 14MPH in a 35 zone and has 13 people–including infants on laps–crammed inside with no seatbelts. So what if he has no insurance. So what if he can read, write, or understand English. So what if he thinks turn signals are optional.
Just shut up you ignorant, legal residents, move aside, and give him his flippin’ license…which–as we all know–is just the next step closer to giving illegals the right to vote.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Just to show the “logic” of government, you know the same people who will be running your health care. The esteemed Mr. Alijo says give them a license if they pay taxes. If they are illegal, they don’t pay state and federal income tax because they don’t have a SS#. If they have a SS#, it’s stolen.
The DMV, once again the same bureaucrats who will be running your health care is touting a study that shows more unlicensed drivers get into accidents. The solution? License them. Then they will tout a multi million dollar study that shows that the accident rate has dropped with unlicensed drivers. This is my predication.
California – one party state of fruits, nuts, kettles and taxes.
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