James Monroe Crumble shouldn’t get behind the wheel of a car. Yet that’s exactly where police have found him — 68 times, says the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He has the most traffic tickets of any Minnesotan for driving without a valid driver’s license. He got his first ticket in 1999, on his 15th birthday, and the latest last Sunday. He is a prime example of a category of drivers who authorities say care little about traffic laws. In Minnesota, 14,091 people have been cited five or more times because they never got a license or have had it withdrawn, found a Star Tribune analysis of state traffic records. More than 500 have been cited 14 or more times.
Court records show that such illegal drivers stay on the road even after repeated convictions, fines, jail stays, and court orders not to drive. Many of them can’t or won’t get auto insurance, and instead drive vehicles registered in others’ names. As a group, these drivers are at least twice as likely to be involved in a fatal accident. Repeat offenders are difficult to keep off the road. In some cases, it appears the only times they aren’t driving is when they are locked up. “They just do not care what the courts say,” said Gregory Pye, St. Paul police traffic enforcement commander. “They do not care about the norms of society. They see their own needs as paramount.”