Thread: San Fran: Illegals get pass on lack of driver’s license

By Dennis Wyatt
Managing Editor
dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
209-249-3532
POSTED Oct. 27, 2009 3:53 a.m.

San Francisco seems to have a thing against law-abiding citizens.

That city’s police department is now cutting those driving illegally – without a license – a big break. Starting Sunday San Francisco Police will cease impounding vehicles the first time any driver is pulled over that isn’t licensed to drive. And it’s all because a San Francisco supervisor pushing the issue thinks it is unfair to illegal immigrants.

Of course it is perceived as unfair to illegal immigrants since you have to be in this country legally to be able to access the privilege to drive. Note that driving is just that in this country – a privilege and not a right. Backers of the new rule say it is an unfair hardship on illegal immigrants to impound their cars. Forget the fact you need a driver’s license to buy auto insurance which means they are also driving around illegally without insurance. Thanks to the generous policy of San Francisco won’t have to have that little responsibility applied to illegals either.

Here’s how the new policy works: Unlicensed drivers pulled over will get 20 minutes to reach a relative or friend with a valid license as well as insurance who can take possession of the vehicle. Naturally, if the unlicensed driver doesn’t have a cell phone, San Francisco cops will help them contact someone. And if someone doesn’t show up within 20 minutes, the patrol officer then radios for permission to have the car towed. It gets better. The second offense within six months results in a tow automatically but the clock starts all over again if the unlicensed driver isn’t pulled over during a six-month period.

You got it. An unlicensed driver could go for decades violating state vehicle code laws and still keep their car.

Kind of makes you feel warm and fuzzy about having to get a driver’s license plus make sure you have adequate insurance coverage.

There are a lot of people out there who aren’t illegal immigrants who are horrific drivers and can’t get licenses. So will they be getting a pass too in San Francisco to keep going on their merry way after they get their car back from a relative or friend and continue to pose a threat to law-abiding motorists and pedestrians?

In order to allow illegal immigrants to skirt the law San Francisco must do the same with all other unlicensed drivers.

What about drivers on a suspended license for various crimes such as driving under the influence, repeatedly driving at reckless speeds, or other chronic traffic infractions? Technically they’re unlicensed drivers.

All of this is being done with the blessing of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who wants to be governor of California.

That means – if elected – he’d be the head state bureaucrat. What will stop him from giving into political correct pressure and suspending the impound law statewide if he’s elected?

If Newsom has no problem coddling up to the political correct crowd’s “victim du jourâ€

This will blow up in their faces......

Mayor Gavin Newsom's office has argued that San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy protects undocumented immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding residents.

But as The Chronicle's Phil Matier and Andrew Ross reported Monday, San Francisco has a new policy starting on Nov. 1 that prevents city cops from automatically impounding cars driven by giving never-licensed drivers 20 minutes to find someone with a valid license to drive their car. Only if an unlicensed driver is caught again within six months, is there an automatic 30-day impound, which can cost around $2,500.

So otherwise law-abiding residents now refers to people who only violate federal immigration law and the state law that requires that drivers have valid licenses. (And auto insurance.)

Consider it a sop to the pro-illegal immigrant lobby, which has been angered by the Newsom decision to allow SFPD to notify federal immigration officials when illegal immigrant juveniles are arrested on felony charges. After all, Newsom is running for governor.

"We recognize that this is a problem within the Hispanic community, where people working here can't get a driver's license because of their immigration status," Police Chief George Gascon told Matier and Ross.

Gascon told me that the new policy should not be confused with a get-out-of-jail free card. Unlicensed drivers will be cited and subject to fine. "We're stopping them from driving. We're replacing a licensed and uninsured driver with a licensed and insured driver," said the chief.

Except that they'll be letting unlicensed drivers keep their cars -- after they have been chauffeured home by a licensed pal.

Gascon also argued that the new policy should discourage unlicensed drivers from fleeing the scene of an accident. He also believes that locals will buy better vehicles -- not "throwaway cars" -- if they believe they can keep them.

Great. Now cross your fingers and hope that you aren't in an accident with an unlicensed driver. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety updated its study of fatal accidents last year and found that from 2001 through 2005, 20 percent of fatal car crashes involved one or more unlicensed or improperly licensed drivers. In California, 29 percent of fatal crashes involved an unlicensed or invalidly licensed driver. Now, 1,964 those drivers had their licenses suspended or revoked, but 1,802 were simply unlicensed, while 1,200 were unknown -- which often means they fled the scene. Those folks should not have been behind the wheel.

Gascon asserts that the new policy "has nothing to do with immigration per se" -- as it also could apply to people who can't afford to get a license or undergo driver training. "It's a much broader population."

OK, but there is another "broader" population -- people who ride the bus. If this were the desert, you might understand the argument that people need their cars to get to work. But this is San Francisco -- with BART, cable cars and Muni. If Newsom and company don't think people without licenses should be limited to the bus, then why spend more than $700 million on public transit each year?

Talk to City Hall about how expensive it is to park, and city solons will tell you there is no right to drive. But if you break federal immigration law, they'll work on it.

http://tinyurl.com/yklqqu8

Not to sound too cold hearted, it wouldn't faze me much if San Francisco slid into the Pacific ocean. This city has become an open sewer of radical thought and behavior and represents everything that is wrong with this country. People voted in people like Newsom so they got what they wanted. I have NO desire to visit this city any longer.

Originally Posted by TexasBorn

Not to sound too cold hearted, it wouldn't faze me much if San Francisco slid into the Pacific ocean. This city has become an open sewer of radical thought and behavior and represents everything that is wrong with this country. People voted in people like Newsom so they got what they wanted. I have NO desire to visit this city any longer.

I lost my desire to visit this city looong before I joined this fight. In fact, I would not mind either if it slid into the ocean. The place used to be very cosmopolitan....now it's just a cesspool.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-175923.html
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