Thread: No driver's license? No problem

This article came to mind to post here as I beleive this will being to curb some of the huge problem at least Oregon has with illegal aliens driving unlicensed, getting caught and never paying the fine and/or showing up to court. As well if they do start making consecutive stops and violations for no license a misdemeanor, it could mean that illegals cited more than once will be arrested, and with the scrutiny county sheriffs and local police are now under due to the Dani Countryman case, this could mean that those being arrested would be reported as illegal to ICE!

No driver's license? No problem
Traffic law - A police-chase suspect with 43 violations prompts a look at a legal loophole

Friday, August 24, 2007
MARK LARABEE and NOELLE CROMBIE

The Oregonian

A 24-year-old woman who led police on a chase through Southeast Portland this week with her 3-year-old in the back seat has been cited a whopping 43 times for driving without a license. Seventeen times, she failed to show up in court for traffic citations.

In fact, Kendareen Hudson has never held a valid Oregon driver's license. But until her arrest Tuesday, it didn't stop her from getting behind the wheel.

That's because police in Oregon are powerless to arrest people who repeatedly violate traffic laws or fail to show up for traffic court, a legal loophole that led a group of legislators and state law enforcement officials to gather Thursday in Salem in search of a solution.

"She gets pulled over, she gets a ticket and never shows up or doesn't pay the ticket," Shelley Snow, Oregon Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said of Hudson and drivers like her. "When she doesn't pay the fine, the court orders the DMV to suspend her license."

In Hudson's case, the suspensions stacked up like frequent-flyer miles.

During the past seven years, among other things, she was ticketed for failing to report an accident, driving without insurance, speeding and giving false information to a police officer -- all violations, not crimes.

Typically, such habitual offenders are cited and released on the scene. But they can't be taken to jail, said Lt. Gregg Hastings, spokesman for the Oregon State Police, unless the driver commits a misdemeanor, such as driving under the influence of intoxicants or reckless driving.

"It's extremely frustrating to police officers," Hastings said. "It's a total disrespect for having the privilege of being a driver in our state. It's really thumbing your nose at the system."

And, he said, it's all too common. "We've come across people who have more" outstanding citations than Hudson.

Officers' inability to arrest traffic scofflaws has so frustrated state troopers that Hastings said the agency is discussing whether to ask Oregon legislators for a new law in 2008. He said that perhaps after a certain number of violations, each additional one could be bumped up to a misdemeanor, giving officers the power to arrest people and perhaps stop a tragedy.

The case of Sean L. Hagen, 27, of Woodburn stands out.

Hagen was driving a van that struck and killed George L. Bertoglio, 77, on July 31 in Salem. Bertoglio was in a crosswalk at Center and Liberty streets Northeast, according to the Salem Police Department.

Hagen was cited on failure to yield to a pedestrian, driving with a suspended license and driving without insurance. (He wasn't cited for taking Bertoglio's life because Oregon is one of four states without vehicular homicide laws.)

Since 1999, Hagen has had 16 suspension orders against him.

Prompted by that case, Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, convened a group of legislators and DMV officials Thursday to study the apparent loopholes. She hopes to also enlist judges, police and district attorneys with an eye toward changing the laws in 2008.

Ironically, Winters said, having multiple driving violations used to be a crime punishable by incarceration, but the Legislature eliminated the penalty in 1999.

"I'm going back to look at what the discussion was," she said of the change. "We need to revisit that statute. It's disturbing that one can have that many violations without having any penalty."

Police can impound vehicles if a person is driving with a suspended license or without a license, Sgt. Brian Schmautz, Portland Police spokesman, said. Portland officers do this as a matter of routine because it's the only way to get these people off the road.

It can cost several hundred dollars to get the car back, and a licensed driver with insurance has to be the one to retrieve it, he said.

But according to Schmautz, no law says the person who picked up the vehicle can't give it right back to the license-less driver.

In the latest case, Hudson was suspected of shoplifting when Beaverton police chased her onto Interstate 5. Portland officers eventually picked up the chase, ending the chase with tire spikes in a Southeast Portland neighborhood.

Portland officers gave her tickets for attempting to elude police, reckless driving and child endangerment, the latter being a charge Hudson is familiar with. She was cited in 2003 and 2004 for not properly belting a child in a safety seat. In the latest case, the child was taken into state custody.

Hudson's driving habits may have finally caught up with her. In addition to charges of theft and violating parole, she remains in the Washington County Jail on a felony charge of attempting to elude police.

Mark Larabee: 503-294-7664; marklarabee@news.oregonian.com Noelle Crombie: 503-294-7664; noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... xml&coll=7

That's because police in Oregon are powerless to arrest people who repeatedly violate traffic laws or fail to show up for traffic court, a legal loophole that led a group of legislators and state law enforcement officials to gather Thursday in Salem in search of a solution.

...DUH...WHAT????????????????

Officers' inability to arrest traffic scofflaws has so frustrated state troopers that Hastings said the agency is discussing whether to ask Oregon legislators for a new law in 2008

...Discussing?...Discussing??...Discussing???...wh at's to discuss you idiots? ACT !!!

You gotta understand....this is Oregon, land of the libertards and socialists.

Originally Posted by AmericanElizabeth

You gotta understand....this is Oregon, land of the libertards and socialists.

...Oh yeah, I forgot. Now this kind of thing makes perfect sense. I think I'd rather stick needles in my eyes than drive on Oregon roads.

Was it the mass migration of libtard Californians moving to Oregon that got the state all messed up, or was Oregon pretty screwed before the California invasion?

Was it the mass migration of libtard Californians moving to Oregon that got the state all messed up, or was Oregon pretty screwed before the California invasion?

Oh boy, is that a loaded question or what? (it's a no-win answer in either case...) I better just keep my silence on this one...

For certain though, yes, that is really stupid loophole which some moronic legislator had insisted exist - for whatever reason (just my hunch, not sure on the details though...).

In general, Oregon drivers [maybe I should say native Oregon drivers rank high nationally in terms of law obediance, obeying speed limits, overall courtesy - as a general rule. I know, I know - someone is going to post after me and say some horrible things - some of which I'm sure are true. But, overall my experience has been relatively problem free compared with the areas of the country I've lived.

.... All just IHMO of course...

Oh my! Your kidding me right! You get a traffic ticket in TX, you have 10 days to pay or set a court date. If you don't, they issue a warrant. The next time you are stopped, you go to jail.

Dixie

An afterthought...

One can easily see that with the loophole outlined in the OT, combined with de facto sanctuary policies.... well, guess what? Yes, it is a transportation/legal disaster just primed and itching to happen.

What would happen if we, American citizens, drive without a license. Just seems like a double standard.


A year and a half ago, I had a relative get hit in the rear end. The driver that hit my relative was illegal, but he did have insurance. He had a fake driver's license. The police officer wrote him a ticket and let him go. Fortunately, he had insurance and it did pay for my relative's damages.

I think today in my state they wouldn't let an illegal off the hook so easily. But then again....who knows?

Well not sure about your own family roots here PhredE, but mine go fairly far back and according to my mother and my late father, they both held the opinion that things went to hell in a hand-basket after the Californians in the 60's and 70's started coming up, you know, the hippies (my father called them "those d__m morons").

According to them both they had said that Oregon was a fairly sparsley populated place, Portland up till the mid 70's was still a large town, not quite a city (on the terms of what many major cities were at that time) yet, and as well, the mainstream of the population, even in highly liberal Eugene was still mostly local families, farming and the university.

Really, the area we live in right now, I am 40 and can remember when it was still a rural area with nothing much but farms, now it is just another suburb with all too many illegals chipping away at it.

As for the driving thing, yeah, it is completely nuts that it has been like that, and it does need to change. The way our courts, police and DMV here work, it has made Oregon a huge magnet for illegals to come here and get a license. Still many do not, not knowing it is so easy to cheat this already too liberal system for fear of the authorities.

I have hope yet, that with this being something the government here is finally looking into, that this will not only be the right thing just because it is, but it will make those loopholes the illegals have long taken advantage of here, go away.

Originally Posted by AmericanElizabeth

You gotta understand....this is Oregon, land of the libertards and socialists.

I almost spit Pepsi all over my screen from laughing so hard Lets hope common sense prevails.