Why California's dangerous drivers get to keep their licenses | Hacker News Reader

Why California's dangerous drivers get to keep their licenses

calmatters.org

18 pointscolinprince7 comments

> We found nearly 40% of the drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter since 2019 have a valid license.

> Even when the DMV does take away motorists’ driving privileges, state officials, law enforcement and the courts are often unable or unwilling to keep them off the road. We found cases where drivers racked up numerous tickets while driving on a suspended license and faced little more than fines before eventually causing a fatal crash, even though authorities could have sent them to jail.

It seems clear the main problem isn't people who retain their licenses, and further taking licenses away doesn't adequately deter dangerous drivers from getting behind the wheel.

Is the solution imprisoning those who are caught with invalid driving credentials? How would that jibe with the progressive goal of lowering incarceration, especially for (directly) nonviolent offenses such as driving on a suspended license? Or do we look to technology for a solution (this being HN after all)?

Could this be addressed by seizing and auctioning off vehicles driven by repeat offenders? I'm sure that some of these vehicles are loaned by relatives or friends of the offenders, and some of those vehicle lenders would get a terrible surprise when their vehicle is seized, but it's better than doubling down on prison or just letting dangerous drivers keep driving.

I recently served on a grand jury that saw several "Xth offense driving without a license" cases. It was clear that minor punishments were no deterrent at all. Seizing vehicles might help a little, but as you say, they'll borrow one or buy a cheap beater.

There's probably no way to really crack down on it without heavy penalties, but from what I hear, California isn't big on penalizing criminals these days. Can't say I love the idea of feeding and housing another whole class of criminal either. There may not be much of a solution.

How does the saying go? If you want to kill someone and get away with it, hit them with your car. Negligence and belligerence behind the wheel are both treated with kid gloves and people are out driving afterwards like nothing ever happened. Knowing such a high percentage of incompetents, assholes, and lunatics are out there driving along with me is chilling.

I read this a few days ago. It is something I have seen personally in CA. Even when the given person stays in the same area, bureaucracies are totally willing to give drunk drivers a drivers license, even after a judge says they shall never have one again.

The root cause is a lack of viable alternatives.

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