Thread: Santa Maria California hit-and-run dilemma

Santa Maria's hit-and-run dilemma
The city is cracking down on unlicensed drivers to curb its chart-topping accident stats

BY JEREMY THOMAS

ALONE AND FORESAKEN
Santa Maria’s impound lots, including this one at Four Corners Towing, are packed with vehicles that have been involved in hit-and-runs or have been impounded from drivers who drive without a license, drive with expired tags, or are suspected of DUI. Two-thirds of the vehicles will never be reclaimed.


PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER

It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Friday evening on Santa Maria’s Main Street. A woman driving a sedan pulls a sharp U-turn in front of a group of 14 Santa Maria Police Department officers and various onlookers. She speeds off with orange safety cones lodged in the car’s wheel-well, and a patrol car soon tracks her down in an alleyway, discovering she tried to avoid the sobriety checkpoint because she doesn’t have a license.

It’s just a half-hour into the department’s bi-monthly checkpoint operation, and she’s the sixth driver caught for the offense—and they’re only stopping every fifth car.

The steady stream of tow trucks hauling away vehicles symbolizes the city’s crackdown on unlicensed and intoxicated drivers—a program that’s getting positive results, according to Cpl. Jesse Silva, head of the department’s traffic division.

“We’re busy out here, no doubt about it.â€

This is why our car insurance is so costly, yes another way these poor Illegal alien's are not hurting anyone. Next I would like the police to arrest and deport them as they are pulled over. I know to much to hope for.