Elizabeth sitting on Norms motorcycle across from San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge.
On November 1, 2009, the city of San Francisco in California will implement a new policy that prevents city police officers from automatically impounding cars driven by unlicensed drivers. Unlicensed drivers will now be given 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 $2,500.00.
This policy is aimed to protect so-called undocumented or I should say illegal aliens who are otherwise law abiding citizens, from having their vehicles impounded even though they are breaking State law by driving without a license and presumably also breaking State law by not having the required mandatory minimum liability insurance to protect others in case they hit them in their vehicles.
As a personal injury attorney and lawyer my only thought is what the heck? What about law abiding citizens and legal immigrants who follow State law and have a valid drivers license, and also carry mandatory insurance?
This new policy is absurd and an accident waiting to happen. As a matter of fact this new policy may violate State and Federal law to boot.
Look, I am all for protecting law abiding people, but by definition, those driving without a driver’s license are not law abiding are they? Hell, the protected class of citizens that Mayor Gavin Newsom is trying to protect are in fact breaking our laws by being here illegally in the first place.
I think that if someone is hit by an unlicensed and uninsured driver in San Francisco, the city of San Francisco should now be held liable for inviting this type of law breaker into their city by advertising the fact that they are not enforcing State law. It is reasonably foreseeable that law breakers will flock to San Francisco to take advantage.
What about the victims of this policy. Hell, I deal with personal injury victims on a daily basis, especially those that are hit by uninsured and illegal drivers. In the end we all pay for those that choose not to drive with insurance through increased insurance rates.
Furthermore, I do not think that it is wise to allow a major city like San Francisco to pick and choose which State laws it chooses to abide by or enforce.
This new policy is a disaster in the making. Mayor Gavin Newsom, you need to pull your head out of your ass and jump on the team here for the big win. You are endangering legal citizens and legal residents in order to protect those who are breaking the Law!
By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer, Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2009
Welcome, my name is 
This sort of thing really ticks me off.
I moved to the USA legally and got my green card the hard way. I did the test and got my CA drivers licence even though I could have got away with my Australian licence for quite a while. My car and motorcycle are fully insured.
First of all the illegal immigrants should be sent back and secondly if they are driving illegally they should be sent back and banned from entering the USA for life.
OK I grew up in Sydney so I don’t fully understand why illegal immigrants are tolerated, let alone why they are almost given the same rights as us LEGAL immigrants. But this really makes a mockery of the “official” system.
Maybe I’m the fool for going through all the hoops the INS put me through.
Thanks for the tip I’ll be extra careful going across the bridge to San Francisco on the weekends.