CHECKING IT TWICE DEPUTIES CATCH UNLICENSED DRIVERS.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A fleet of tow trucks and a dozen patrol cars worked what looked at first glance to be a major traffic accident, but actually was preventive work, aimed at getting society's most dangerous drivers off the road.

The sheriff's deputies, tow jockeys and volunteers were gunning for unlicensed drivers, often wanted for leaving the scenes of accidents.

``The number of hit-and-run collisions increases dramatically when there are a high number of unlicensed drivers on the road,'' traffic Deputy Anthony Arnold said. ``People are afraid to stop when they hit someone or something because they're afraid they'll get in more trouble for not having a license.''

Deputies from the Santa Clarita sheriff's station set up a roadblock midday Thursday on San Fernando Road near Oak Ridge Drive, funneling 1,294 cars through and checking the licenses of 1,112 drivers. The majority made it through with just the inconvenience of a slowdown.

Eighteen of them went to jail. Thirteen got citations. Nearly a dozen cars were impounded.

The problem is nationwide. According to a study done by the AAA Foundation, 20 percent of all fatal crashes have involved at least one unlicensed driver or one who is driving with a license that has been suspended or revoked.

The foundation's report also found that up to 70 percent of drivers whose license privileges were suspended or revoked continued to drive. Also, many unlicensed drivers are also uninsured, compounding the problem when they are involved in accidents.

Part of law enforcement's job is getting the public to take license suspensions seriously.

``They think it's a joke,'' said Deputy George Guevara, who has worked traffic in the Santa Clarita Valley for several years. ``They think that they can just continue to drive even though the court has taken their license away. Some of them get mad at us for stopping them.''

``Traditionally, when you stop someone and their licenses are suspended or revoked, they don't care, no matter what,'' said California Highway Patrol Officer Wendy Hahn. ``A lot of times we find people with revoked licenses that were revoked 10 years ago. The licensing laws tend to just keep the honest people honest.''

The proportion of unlicensed drivers varies widely state-by-state, with 6 percent in Maine and 23 percent in New Mexico. According to reports issued by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the Pew Hispanic Center, the states that hold the largest population of illegal immigrants are also the states with the highest hit-and-run fatalities. California ranks at the top with 24.1 percent of the known 11.1 million unauthorized residents.

``Unfortunately, the undocumented drivers here do that (drive unlicensed) more than the natives,'' Hahn said. ``If they've been involved in an incident, they flee because they don't want to deal with immigration.''

This was the third year for the license checkpoint; a 2005 effort was closed down early because of its impact on afternoon commuter traffic, yielding just two arrests and one citation. A 2004 checkpoint resulted in 21 arrests and 15 citations.

Hold those statistics up to the number of hit-and-run accidents and you can see a connection: There were 506 hit-and-run accidents in 2004 and 588 in 2005. This year, there have been 104 hit-and-run crashes to date.

``We're impounding cars of those drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked or have never had a license,'' Arnold said. ``We have the right to impound them for 30 days. If they have a license and it's just expired, they're cited at the scene and their car is not taken.''

The checkpoint operation involved 20 deputies, one sergeant, 15 volunteers and sheriff's Explorers and three trucks from Wolf's Towing, which took 11 cars to its impound lot in Canyon Country. Their trucks were loaded with vehicles that ran the gamut from a bright yellow Triumph Daytona speed bike to utilitarian family cars.

Those drivers who keep their licenses current are affected by the unlicensed driver conundrum when they pay their insurance premiums.

``Unlicensed drivers affect the collision as well as the uninsured motorist coverage on policies,'' said Hillary Whitcomb, public affairs specialist for State Farm Insurance. ``The rates for those two categories take into consideration our costs of claims and repairs.''

The tow company operators didn't seem to mind being busy. To them, 30-day impounds are money in the bank, whether or not the owner redeems the vehicle.

``They have to pay the storage rate of $22 per day. Then they have the $97 impound fee and a $93 release fee,'' said Wolf's driver Bobby Huggins as he paused to complete paperwork. ``We auction them off all the time; every Tuesday morning there's a lien sale of vehicles that we've towed away and people either don't want them or they can't pay the fees.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A sheriff's deputy slows cars to check the licenses of drivers on San Fernando Road in Santa Clarita on Thursday.

(2 -- color) Deputy Jeremy Conn asks a driver for her license at a checkpoint looking to nab unlicensed drivers.

(3) Deputy George Guevara fills out reports on drivers without licenses who were caught at the San Fernando Road checkpoint.

(4) A driver without a license awaits booking. The checkpoint sent 18 drivers to jail and resulted in 13 citations. Nearly a dozen cars were impounded.

David Crane/Staff Photographer