The next time someone tells you that gunowners should be licensed like automobile drivers:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ao/20000712/cr/illegal_drivers_kill_8_000_a_year_1.html
Wednesday July 12 05:55 PM EDT
Illegal Drivers Kill 8,000 a Year
WASHINGTON (APBnews.com) -- Unlicensed drivers -- many with revoked permits or multiple prior suspensions -- are responsible for 20 percent of all fatal crashes, according to a traffic safety study released today.
The study found that 8,000 people die each year in accidents involving drivers illegally operating vehicles, prompting calls for stricter penalties for those who drive without a license or those who drive on revoked or suspended licenses.
"That is an astonishing figure who account for an equally astonishing number of victims," said David Willis, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which commissioned the study. "It's the same as 40 to 50 [large commercial airliners] falling out of the sky each year."
Twenty-eight percent of the illegal drivers had received three or more license suspensions or revocations in the three years before their fatal crashes, the report said.
There are 180 million drivers registered in the country, and 33.6 million (just under 19 percent) are driving with
suspended, revoked or denied licenses or with serious motor vehicle convictions on their record, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Alcohol plays big role
Alcohol plays a significant role in these accidents, said the study's author, Lindsay Griffin, a researcher with the Texas Transportation Institute. Among the illegal drivers, 47 percent had their licenses revoked because of one or more driving under the influence convictions in the three years prior to their fatal crashes.
"Clearly we have a major public health problem," he said. "People whose licenses are being revoked or suspended are out there killing people."
The report examined highway accident data including almost 300,000 drivers involved more than 183,000 fatal accidents between 1993 and 1999.
In New Mexico -- the state with the worst record -- 23.9 percent, or one in four, of its highway fatalities involve unlicensed drivers, followed by the District of Columbia, Arizona, California and Hawaii, the report said.
In Maine, only 6.4 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes did not have valid licenses. Researchers said they could not identify why certain parts of the country had higher rates of unlicensed driver crashes than others.
Earlier studies suggest between 30 percent to 70 percent of individuals who have had their licenses suspended or revoked continue to drive, Griffin said.
Take away their cars
The report calls for tougher sanctions against such roadway scofflaws, whom Griffin described as engaged in "chronically aberrant behavior."
Driving on a suspended or even revoked license rarely translates to jail time, said Lt. Patrick Burke of the Metropolitan Police Department. In most cases violators pay a $75 fine at the police station and could be driving again in an hour, he said.
The District of Columbia City Council is considering measures that would force violators to face charges in court. The police department is also looking at impounding vehicles as an option, Burke said.
California has had some success with its model vehicle impoundment law enacted in 1995, researchers said. "Taking away their cars has had a good deterrent effect," said Griffin.
The report also recommended ignition locks and electronic drivers licenses as possible measures to curb unlicensed drivers. The electronic drivers license is a "smart card" that works with an ignition system to verify a driver's identity and authorize vehicle operation.
The electronic license idea, while still in the developmental stages, raises an array of privacy issues that would have to be resolved before it was implemented, said Griffin.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ao/20000712/cr/illegal_drivers_kill_8_000_a_year_1.html
Wednesday July 12 05:55 PM EDT
Illegal Drivers Kill 8,000 a Year
WASHINGTON (APBnews.com) -- Unlicensed drivers -- many with revoked permits or multiple prior suspensions -- are responsible for 20 percent of all fatal crashes, according to a traffic safety study released today.
The study found that 8,000 people die each year in accidents involving drivers illegally operating vehicles, prompting calls for stricter penalties for those who drive without a license or those who drive on revoked or suspended licenses.
"That is an astonishing figure who account for an equally astonishing number of victims," said David Willis, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which commissioned the study. "It's the same as 40 to 50 [large commercial airliners] falling out of the sky each year."
Twenty-eight percent of the illegal drivers had received three or more license suspensions or revocations in the three years before their fatal crashes, the report said.
There are 180 million drivers registered in the country, and 33.6 million (just under 19 percent) are driving with
suspended, revoked or denied licenses or with serious motor vehicle convictions on their record, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Alcohol plays big role
Alcohol plays a significant role in these accidents, said the study's author, Lindsay Griffin, a researcher with the Texas Transportation Institute. Among the illegal drivers, 47 percent had their licenses revoked because of one or more driving under the influence convictions in the three years prior to their fatal crashes.
"Clearly we have a major public health problem," he said. "People whose licenses are being revoked or suspended are out there killing people."
The report examined highway accident data including almost 300,000 drivers involved more than 183,000 fatal accidents between 1993 and 1999.
In New Mexico -- the state with the worst record -- 23.9 percent, or one in four, of its highway fatalities involve unlicensed drivers, followed by the District of Columbia, Arizona, California and Hawaii, the report said.
In Maine, only 6.4 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes did not have valid licenses. Researchers said they could not identify why certain parts of the country had higher rates of unlicensed driver crashes than others.
Earlier studies suggest between 30 percent to 70 percent of individuals who have had their licenses suspended or revoked continue to drive, Griffin said.
Take away their cars
The report calls for tougher sanctions against such roadway scofflaws, whom Griffin described as engaged in "chronically aberrant behavior."
Driving on a suspended or even revoked license rarely translates to jail time, said Lt. Patrick Burke of the Metropolitan Police Department. In most cases violators pay a $75 fine at the police station and could be driving again in an hour, he said.
The District of Columbia City Council is considering measures that would force violators to face charges in court. The police department is also looking at impounding vehicles as an option, Burke said.
California has had some success with its model vehicle impoundment law enacted in 1995, researchers said. "Taking away their cars has had a good deterrent effect," said Griffin.
The report also recommended ignition locks and electronic drivers licenses as possible measures to curb unlicensed drivers. The electronic drivers license is a "smart card" that works with an ignition system to verify a driver's identity and authorize vehicle operation.
The electronic license idea, while still in the developmental stages, raises an array of privacy issues that would have to be resolved before it was implemented, said Griffin.