Some members of the hippie-dippie Seattle City Council have resumed their crusade against public safety by trying to make driver licenses optional:
Five years after Seattle began its controversial practice of taking away the cars of those who drive without a valid license, the City Council is poised to make some dramatic reforms to its impoundment program.The P-I seems to be sympathetic to those who insist on driving without following the same rules as the rest of us.
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But if City Councilman Nick Licata, a longtime impoundment foe, has his way, the city won't wait to see whether a federal judge dictates changes to Operation Impound.Taking advantage of the open-mindedness among the newly elected council members about the issue, Licata has put forward a new proposal that the city stop impounding the cars of those with third-degree license suspensions -- suspensions that result from failure to pay tickets for parking violations, speeding or driving without insurance, or for missing court appearances for traffic violations. These cases account for about 87 percent of all suspended license impounds
Late one fall night in 2002, Marilyn Bloom decided to drive a few blocks to a nearby 7-Eleven to satisfy a craving for licorice.I don't understand why it is relevant that this woman is disabled. Are disabled people supposed to be exempt from obeying the law? Or is being disabled supposed to be such a good thing that we are to encourage the creation of more disabled people by letting incompetent drivers on the streets so they can cause more accidents? Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 18, 2004 12:12 PMWhen a police officer pulled over the disabled woman in her light blue, 26-year-old 240-D Mercedes, she learned that her license had been suspended because she had failed to pay a ticket for driving without insurance. Bloom, who lives on $565 a month in Social Security disability income, said she had not been able to save the $400 to pay it off.
The "right" reason to consider making drivers licenses optional.
From the Hilldale College website Imprimis
Rolling Back Government:
Lessons from New Zealand
Maurice P. McTigue
The Department of Transportation came to us one day and said they needed to increase the fees for driver’s licenses. When we asked why, they said that the cost of relicensing wasn’t being fully recovered at the current fee levels. Then we asked why we should be doing this sort of thing at all. The transportation people clearly thought that was a very stupid question: Everybody needs a driver’s license, they said. I then pointed out that I received mine when I was fifteen and asked them: “What is it about relicensing that in any way tests driver competency?” We gave them ten days to think this over. At one point they suggested to us that the police need driver’s licenses for identification purposes. We responded that this was the purpose of an identity card, not a driver’s license. Finally they admitted that they could think of no good reason for what they were doing – so we abolished the whole process! Now a driver’s license is good until a person is 74 years old, after which he must get an annual medical test to ensure he is still competent to drive. So not only did we not need new fees, we abolished a whole department.
http://www.hillsdale.edu/newimprimis/2004/april/default.htm
Posted by: kevin on May 18, 2004 02:00 PMI am a big Hillsdale fan - spent thousands sending our daughter there for four years. But the New Zealander's logic departs for unknown places. Driving is a public safety responsibility. If you cause an accident and you cannot be identified - sometimes if you can be - you escape responsibility.
And Nick Licata is on another planet. He is clearly in favor of not enforcing parking laws.
Posted by: Ron on May 18, 2004 08:44 PMI was born in New Zealand and received my driver's license at age 15.
Despite the fact that there have been many, many times that I deserved a ticket for driving irresponsibly, (fast - as many of my country folk do) I have never been caught. I have never caused an accident and never been in one (at least in an auto). Sometimes it takes about 50 years for someone to mature and become more responsible and strictly adhere to driving laws which have been established for public safety.
I consider it a privilege to drive an auto and consider it a learned skill that not everyone is particularly good at. It is my humble opinion that driver's licenses are given out too freely, without enough consideration as to who the establishment may be "unleashing" into the fray.
I believe in ongoing education - constant reminders and updates are necessary for any subject matter in life - it's like learning to walk and talk. We all need to be reprogrammed on a regular basis, e.g. consider the driver who (in America) swings the wheel to the left prior to turning right. This bad habit is one of many that should and could be addressed if there were ongoing educational requirements at various intervals (say for arguments sake, once every four years). Perhaps everyone should view a film on accident prevention and the safest way to operate a vehicle prior to license renewal. (Not everyone takes time to read and comprehend available literature on safe driving - they're only interested in passing the initial test and paying the fee and saying "I'm legal.") As for the driver's test, I can remember wearing a mini skirt and showing a lot of knee that did not go unobserved by the test driver, and I did not display a great deal of common sense at age 15.
The food industry is a prime example where initial and ongoing education is required for all who wish to work in that field.
Nursing is another. Most industries require ongoing education and training for their workers. Most provide videos which show cause and prevention.
I could write a book on this subject. There are many other good reasons why driver's license renewals should continue but I shall end by stating that I am not in agreement with the New Zealand government in this matter and it must have been a Labor Party plot to win an election.
Thank you.
Posted by: Elaine Bremner on July 17, 2004 09:38 AM