Editorial: Unlicensed driver proposal petition calls for close scrutiny

Be careful about what you sign. A Jefferson County man has promised to try to bring a troublesome Denver law to Aurora, telling The Aurora Sentinel reporters he plans on circulating petitions soon to force the measure on the ballot.

Dan Hayes, who lives on the west side of the metro area, is the force behind a measure passed last year by Denver voters that forces police to tow away cars driven by motorists without a valid driver's license.

The idea sounds good on the surface. Who wants unlicensed drivers tooling around? It sounds especially good to voters who like the idea of punishing illegal immigrants for driving on Colorado roads, and that's what this is really all about.

Hayes and fellow backers of the measure make no bones about the law targeting illegal immigrants. Illegal residents cannot obtain a driver's license.

During the Denver debate, proponents used horror stories about reckless illegal-alien motorists careening through Denver streets and repeatedly causing wrecks and then getting off without a hitch, only to do more damage with the same car someplace else.

There's no doubt there are large numbers of illegal residents here in Aurora and across the metro area, and that many drive cars without a valid license. But it's more than an exaggeration to say they're creating a regional demolition derby on metro-area roads.

A much greater risk to law-abiding metro-area residents are licensed drunk-drivers, licensed uninsured drivers, and licensed drivers speeding down the road with cell-phones glued to their ears.

Despite that, Hayes’ bill comes with risks of its own.

First off, it forces police to make become defacto immigration officers. The law requires that police impound the car, so they must wait for a tow company, fill out serious paperwork and manage the system that keeps track of impounded cars.

Police already have plenty to do without taking on more bookkeeping and babysitting.

It also prevents cops from being “nice guys” to people, sometimes late at night, who may have an expired driver’s license and someone else in the car licensed to drive. As the law stands, another licensed driver can drive a car away, but not with this law.

But the most unfair and painful part of this proposal is the impounding process. The measure requires car owners to post a $2,500 bond to get a car out of the impound lot. That money is held for one year to ensure that the auto isn’t driven by an unlicensed driver again. It means that local bank and finance companies lose big when a car owner is an unlicensed driver or allows the car to be driven by an unlicensed driver.

It’s too early for local police and city officials to weigh in on the measure, but no one has been clamoring for such a bill. State lawmakers have shied away from the measure for the same reasons Denver officials begged voters in that city to turn it down.

It could be there’s some good from a measure that’s more carefully crafted and allows for common-sense exceptions and a focus on safety. The problem of uninsured motorists is a far more pervasive and dangerous problem, and all motorists would like be well-served by addressing that problem with solution along these lines.

But any such solution deserves the full attention and scrutiny of elected state and local representatives and an opportunity for thoughtful public hearings.

Keep all this in mind if this proposal comes before you on a petition. Although we have yet to see the final idea, what we’ve seen so far merits turning the measure aside before it ever gets to the ballot.