In an opinion piece for CURBED, writer and urbanism editor Alissa Walker argues that states should be revoking more licenses from people with dangerous driving records. Walker highlighted an interstate agreement from the 1970s that — theoretically — should make it easier for DMVs to share information about infractions and accidents with agencies from other states, but the system is hardly maintained and rarely used. The system that is supposed to protect the public by revoking licenses is, Walker argues, designed to fail in areas where life depends on access to a car.
“Driving is deemed so essential a privilege that even the judges and juries in dangerous-driving cases are less likely to wrest it away,” Walker says. In New York City, Walker points out that the city’s plan to get vehicles with five red-light or 15 speeding infractions in a year off the street has only impounded five cars. Another OP-Ed from SFGate argued that San Francisco police are excessively ticketing people with minor traffic violations “while doing an ineffective job of enforcing the most dangerous driving behaviors on our most dangerous streets.”