Police Checkpoint
Thread started by
alexdc at 11.16.11 - 12:51 pm
If you support safe streets and would like to end the menace of hit and runs that kill cyclists and pedestrians, take a moment to thank the Culver City Police Department for catching 100+ unlicensed drivers this morning. Call CCPD Traffic Division at 310-253-6251 and tell them how much you support checkpoints to catch unlicensed drivers.
A couple facts to consider:
At least 1 million, and possibly as many as 2 million, California drivers are unlicensed — meaning they are either driving without a license or on a suspended license.
According to figures from the state Legislature, more than half of all people driving with a suspended license were convicted of a DUI, and half of all hit-and-run collisions involved unlicensed drivers.
Four in 10 unlicensed drivers are repeat offenders. Those who have not passed the written and driving tests administered by our state, or who have lost their driving privileges, are four times more likely than licensed drivers to be involved in a fatal accident.
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Wow! Can we just contact the homeland security department and get them out on all of our streets. I love idea of being pullover for no Probable cause.
This reminds me of the old days in the old country with the old ways
"sir, show us our papers please!"
This is going to make me safer on my bike?
TheBrownShirt11.16.11 - 1:12 pm
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actually, since it is only a privilege and not a right to drive a 2 ton machine around, this is awesome. Any time people are operating dangerous equipment that requires proof of ability to operate that equipment on public land, they should have proof on them that shows they are trained to operate it.
bravo
Roadblock responding to a
comment by TheBrownShirt
11.16.11 - 1:19 pm
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Yes it will make you safer. No one is being pulled over. The police require drivers to flash their license to drive a car, and wave them through. It's very simple, driving a car is a privilege, not a right. In order to drive a car, you must be licensed to drive a car. Unlicensed drivers are four times more likely than licensed drivers to be involved in a fatal accident. This is the simplest most effective way the police can keep cyclists safe. Unless you have a better idea?
alexdc responding to a
comment by TheBrownShirt
11.16.11 - 1:20 pm
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More pics from the checkpoint today: http://ht.ly/7w0yG
alexdc11.16.11 - 2:12 pm
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Good Job CCPD, now if only u could throw Christine Dahab in the slammer
JOKER11.16.11 - 2:12 pm
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Think about what we know of CCPD and their enthusiasm for cyclists.
Do you think these driver checkpoints are:
a) A way to keep cyclists safe?
b) A way to generate substantial revenue from towing / impound fees during a time of municipal budget shortages?
c) A way to remind undocumented immigrants (who can't get CA driver's licenses) to stay out of Culver City, and to punish them with punitive fees if they choose to disobey?
I don't mean to be cynical, and I'm all in favor of keeping drunks and bad drivers off the road, but I don't think that's going to be the majority of folks caught up by this.
JB responding to a
comment by Roadblock
11.16.11 - 5:42 pm
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I know that culver cuty pd doesnt like the group rides and I know that people have been harassed by them, but I have yet to encounter any harassment of myself as a single rider or even as a pack the many times Wolfpack has rolled... but that doesnt mean much though I know... I just cant speak from experience yet OTHER than my encounter with them regarding the Dahab case in which the detectives on the site of the crash the night after were extremely sympathetic to the cyclists when they spoke to me. I appreciated that.
Now some of this is difficult but here goes:
"a) A way to keep cyclists safe?"
I'm pretty sure that nothing about this policy was aimed at keeping cyclists safe. Pedestrians? maybe but likely not.Does the policy prevent hit and runs and drunk driving all together? no.
HOWEVER the net outcome of keeping unlicensed drivers off the road considering the statistics stated above which are very real is that I personally think it creates a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians - the most vulnerable of victims of scofflaw drivers.
b) A way to generate substantial revenue from towing / impound fees during a time of municipal budget shortages?
yes... maybe... can you tell me how much of the revenue generated actually goes back to the city? cause most of the time I hear that little money generated by tickets and towing makes it's way back to the city. which sucks. I think the city should be in the business of taxing wealthy forms of transit and putting it back into supporting lower class / sustainable forms of transit busses, bike infrastructure ped safety... etc.
c) A way to remind undocumented immigrants (who can't get CA driver's licenses) to stay out of Culver City, and to punish them with punitive fees if they choose to disobey?
it could be one way for sure... but again, this is about the PRIVILEGE to operate a 2 ton deadly machine on the public streets. i'd prefer to see a policy that keeps people out of these 2 ton machines. If PD targeted bicyclists who have the RIGHT to travel on the public streets then I would have a problem. unfortunately, driving a car costs a lot of money and requires a lot of financial ability. it sucks that our city doesnt facilitate less financially costly ways of traveling. We should work to change that, and I think that the net benefit of this policy is to discourage irresponsible unaccountable but otherwise well meaning and good decent people from operating 2 ton machines. Even the best driver gets into a crash that can incur thousands of dollars of loss onto a cyclist or pedestrian. If the driver doesnt have insurance or financial backing, the victim pays and that is wrong. ride a bike and take public transit and strengthen the movement for active transportation rather than perpetuate our dependence on motor vehicles.
"I don't mean to be cynical, and I'm all in favor of keeping drunks and bad drivers off the road, but I don't think that's going to be the majority of folks caught up by this. "
dude you are right. and I hate to make this a n argument of classim, but that is what a car is. it is a classist form of transportation that has real consequences for those underprivileged travelers who become victim to driver error. if you choose to use a classist form of transportation then you unfortunately have to be responsible for the increase in liability.
Roadblock responding to a
comment by JB
11.16.11 - 6:05 pm
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I agree drivers have to be responsible, but I still think there are better ways than these checkpoints.
The real problem is that there's NO WAY for undocumented immigrants to get a driver's license, no matter how sober and law abiding and responsible they are, which makes them an ongoing target for things like this.
It would be really interesting to see if any data is being collected on the reasons for these drivers not having licenses, as people who've had their license taken away for drunk/dangerous driving need to be off the road.
"can you tell me how much of the revenue generated actually goes back to the city? cause most of the time I hear that little money generated by tickets and towing makes it's way back to the city. which sucks. I think the city should be in the business of taxing wealthy forms of transit and putting it back into supporting lower class / sustainable forms of transit busses, bike infrastructure ped safety... etc. "
I agree with more road taxes being used for transit. (I quit AAA and joined Better World Club http://www.betterworldclub.com/ because I was tired of paying for anti-transit lobbying), but these impounds are a solid moneymaker.
See, e.g. http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/after-city-scandals-lawmakers-crack-down-car-impounds-12591
"Thirty-day impounds generated an estimated $40 million statewide in the 2009 fiscal year, reporting by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found. Vehicle seizures have been growing in recent years, as the practice of combining sobriety and driver's license operations has become standard in the past decade."
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/brown-may-get-last-word-car-impound-controversy-12119
"Drivers who don’t have a license or have had their driving privileges suspended or revoked can have their cars impounded for 30 days. The fees and fines that car owners must pay to retrieve their vehicles often reach more than $1,500."
JB responding to a
comment by Roadblock
11.16.11 - 6:19 pm
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wow, some people will bitch about anything here. it's pretty easy to get a driver's license. if you can't, then you're probably a fucking dumbass and shouldn't be driving anyway.
vigilAnthony11.16.11 - 6:25 pm
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"I agree with more road taxes being used for transit. (I quit AAA and joined Better World Club http://www.betterworldclub.com/ because I was tired of paying for anti-transit lobbying), but these impounds are a solid moneymaker. "
awesome. The state is going broke. Tax the wealthy forms of transit.
The undocumented worker issue is a difficult question. how do you empower an disenfranchised person to be able to use a privileged form of transportation.
I'm bummed to have to be in a country in which there are people who are not recognized by society. On the same token I personally am hardly recognized by society because I ride a bicycle. At the end of the day, my dream is that the world joins me as I ride a bicycle like is done in other societies... We are talking about life and death here. So maybe the solve is not to allow unlicensed drivers to continue driving, it is to push to allow undocumented workers to attain the privilege of driver licenses. I would support that, but I would also support facilitating easier travel without having to be recognized by the state at all.
Roadblock responding to a
comment by JB
11.16.11 - 6:29 pm
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facilitate easier travel via public transit that would NOT require being recognized by the state. meant to say.
Roadblock11.16.11 - 6:31 pm
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in fact. tax more cars off the road precisely because the state is going broke and cant fix the roads we have that are being destroyed by every single 2 ton vehicle trip.
Roadblock11.16.11 - 6:34 pm
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If we could prove cars to be a form of classism, couldnt we consider crimes against cyclists a hate crime?
buckchin responding to a
comment by Roadblock
11.17.11 - 1:56 pm
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To all you who disagree with this action;
Your opinion would change in an instant if you were to be hit by or involved in an
accident involving a unlicenced driver. Even more so when no legal action is taken
at that driver because of their non exsistant imigration status,and non registared car
of no value that they can simply walk away from.
Then there is also the aspect of the deadbeat alcoholic U.S. citizen who loses their
licence for DUI but continues to drive anyway.
For those of us who follow the rules of this country we live in, this is a minor inconvienence as compaired to concequences of being involved in an accident with these unlicenced drivers.
I spend thousands of dollars each year to have the privilige of driving legaly. I would
rather spend the insurance and registration fee money on a new bike but being able
to drive is manditory to remain employed.
Dedicated81811.20.11 - 10:12 am
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mexico needs to stop importing the poverty and fat brawdz.
sickz12.3.11 - 5:11 pm
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