Providing driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants in California improves traffic safety

Abstract

The integration of immigrants presents a major challenge for policymakers in the United States. In an effort to improve integration, several US states recently have implemented laws that provide driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants. These new laws have sparked widespread debate, but we lack evidence on the traffic safety impact of these policies. We examine the short-term effects of the largest-scale policy shift, California's Assembly Bill 60 (AB60), under which more than 600,000 licenses were issued in the first year of implementation in 2015 alone. We find that, contrary to concerns voiced by opponents of the law, AB60 has had no discernible short-term effect on the number of accidents. The law primarily allowed existing unlicensed drivers to legalize their driving. We also find that, although AB60 had no effect on the rate of fatal accidents, it did decrease the rate of hit and run accidents, suggesting that the policy reduced fears of deportation and vehicle impoundment. Hit and run behaviors often delay emergency assistance, increase insurance premiums, and leave victims with significant out of pocket expenses. Overall, the results suggest that AB60 provides an example of how states can facilitate the integration of immigrants while creating positive externalities for the communities in which they live.driver's licenses | immigration | traffic safety | unauthorized immigrants | integration U nauthorized immigration is one of the most divisive political issues in the United States. An estimated 11 million immigrants currently live in the United States without legal documentation (1, 2), and about 8% of newborn US citizens have parents who are unauthorized immigrants (3). The current debate centers on sharply contrasting proposals for how to deal with unauthorized immigrants. Some argue that they should be forcibly deported, and others contend that they should be granted amnesty and given a path to American citizenship (4).Because immigration policy reform has become increasingly gridlocked at the federal level, many state and local governments have begun to implement a variety of policies directed at unauthorized immigrants (ref. 5, pp. 233-237). Some states, such as California and Illinois, have opted for an inclusive and welcoming approach, whereas other states, such as Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia, have taken a more restrictive and exclusionary approach (4, 6). Of these policy reforms, one of the most significant involves giving unauthorized immigrants access to driver's licenses. Because most states require a valid social security number and proof of lawful immigration status, unauthorized immigrants typically cannot legally obtain a driver's license. However, as is shown in Fig. 1, 12 states and the District of Columbia have adopted laws that allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain driver's licenses if the applicant provides certain documentation, such as foreign birth certification or a passport and evidence of state residency. Several other states, such as New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Isl...

Unauthorized Immigrants' Access to Driver's Licenses and Auto Insurance Coverage

“…The Institute for Social Research (2018) also exploited the fact that California's UILP was likely felt more intensely in counties with the most unauthorized immigrants. In contrast to Lueders, Hainmueller, and Lawrence (2017), the Institute for Social Research (2018) did not find any relationship between AB 60 licenses for unauthorized immigrants and hit-and-run collisions when they measured exposure using the share of the county comprised of unauthorized immigrants. The authors speculated that while gaining a license may have initially increased unauthorized immigrants' willingness to interact with law enforcement officials, this effect was offset by the 2016 presidential election and the Trump administration's immigration priorities.…”

“…Using the eventstudy specification from Equation (2), we show in Figure 3 that UILPs are unrelated to the number of licensed drivers in the preimplementation 13. In Table A3 (Supporting information) we analyze the relationship between California's UILP-known as AB 60-and collisions using the SWITRS data and methodology of Lueders, Hainmueller, and Lawrence (2017). First, we descriptively show that AB 60 increased the number of licensed drivers in Figure A1 (Supporting information).…”

2020 National Institute of Justice Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium

“…Research has shown that effective countermeasures to hit-and-run accidents include driver education campaigns similar to those used to reduce drunk driving, reducing the incentive to flee (Lueders, Hainmueller, & Lawrence, 2017) and raising public awareness of the high likelihood of getting caught. Providing trace evidence analyses in your jurisdictions and broadcasting the successes in solving hit-and-run accidents will increase submission of essential trace evidence by crime scene investigators and may, in fact, motivate drivers not to run after a crash, thereby providing the opportunity to render aid to an injured victim and potentially save lives.…”

L’État de New York s’engage sur la voie du « droit de conduire » pour les personnes étrangères en situation irrégulière

“…Si les sans-papiers obtiennent ainsi un droit d'accès au permis de conduire, il s'agit toutefois d'un droit dont les conséquences sont soigneusement encadrées. Parmi les quelques 10.5 millions de sans-papiers21 qui vivent et résident aux États-Unis, nombreux sont ceux disposant d'un permis de conduire dans leur pays d'origine et ayant l'habitude de conduire aux États-Unis22 . Dans les États qui autorisent déjà les étrangers en situation irrégulière à conduire, il a été démontré que ce type de mesure tendait au contraire à renforcer la sécurité routière23 .…”

“…Dans les États qui autorisent déjà les étrangers en situation irrégulière à conduire, il a été démontré que ce type de mesure tendait au contraire à renforcer la sécurité routière23 . Une étude menée en Californie démontrait également que cette mesure incitait à l'immatriculation des véhicules ainsi qu'une diminution des délits de de fuite en cas d'accidents24 , d'où la nécessité de limiter la communication des données des personnes sans-papiers aux agences d'application des lois migratoires afin d'éviter les risques de fuites. À New York, les retombées économiques attendues ne sont par ailleurs pas négligeables et ont certainement pesé dans l'adoption d'une telle mesure.…”