Revoked Driver Licenses
 

I just read in the Daily Sun that yet another person was arrested after an accident for driving with no license because his was revoked (in 1997). The man is now age 37. He had been convicted of manslaughter with a car at that time. Assuming he had some prison time served and then released but still with no driver license - how is he ever expected to find and hold a job without a license?

Chances are that he has been driving ever since getting out of prison and just got caught because of the accident.

Wouldn't some sort of supervised provisional license be better for this person or persons like this so they could legally drive, hold a job, but still be under some supervision for drug and alcohol testing or psychlogical testing on a periodic basis?

Driver licenses are revoked for many reasons, not all of which have anything to do with driving. Never made sense to me to pull the license for someone who isn't paying child support because they're unemployed. That will certainly help them find a job.

To me, a license should be pulled if you are convicted of driving while under the influence whether alcohol, an illegal drug or a legal drug. Do your rehab and get a limited license (work, school, etc.) for six months with a mandatory weekly drug test. If you stay clean, then full driving privileges. Second offense, one year limited license . Third offense, book em Danno.

Other offenses, have the driver pay fines, weekends in jail, community service but don't yank the one thing they need to basically survive. So, guess I'm on the same page as you except for substance abuse issues.

I don't know the answer, but I will ask my friend, Woody. Woody has been blind since 1985 and goes to work every day.

I also had a blind co-worker and he took the Wash. DC Metro to work. Maybe Woody had a special transportation network for disabled persons?

However, in Oxford, Florida, that doesn't work. No public transportation system.
Maybe no family to provide transportation. How does that person do anything such as work, shop, etc?

The ideas suggested by Redwitch and myself sound very reasonable, don't they?

Yes, they do, but to tell the truth, my days of worrying about how to right all the wrongs are far behind me. My apathy has outfought my empathy.

I hope it doesn't go unnoticed that this poor fellow who drives with a revoked license did kill a human being. I surely don't know the facts of the case, but for a judge to revoke his license for such a long time period leads me to believe negligence at least, and drugs and/or alcohol was involved. The victims family will never be whole again, my sympathies go out to them.

Of course there is a victim impact, no one is doubting that.

However, the question is how does a person - even an ex-con - get a job with no driver license?

Isn't the provisional license a good idea?

If you do not agree - what would you suggest? This is an open forum for discussion and ideas.

Maybe he could walk to work, just like the man who was recently on television that walked 10+ miles everyday for 10 years and never missed a day of work.

How far is it from Oxford to Walmart? Walmart hires workers.

County social services often have volunteer drivers who take people to the unemployment office, hospitals/clinics, etc.

Either get volunteer drivers to take the guy to/from work, or see if big churches and charity groups with buses would run routes to pick up workers and take them.

I could also see having work-limited driving privileges WITH drug/alcohol testing or device on the wheel.

Many of our nation's problems are due to perverse or reverse incentives to NOT WORK.

The fact that he continued to drive to me shows that he still has no regard for the law. I don't know what, if any steps were taken upon his release as to restitution, rehabilitation, work program, etc. I do know that he was driving when he was not licensed, and he was involved in another accident. In this particular case, this person should not be driving, period. Let him suffer a little by living near a workplace, walking to work, riding a bike, public transportation, a ride from a friend or co-worker. He has many options I believe.

Bicycle, walk? My grandmother who raised me was a no nonsense woman, with all the buts and supposes and excuses she had one response. "You burn your butt, you sit on the blister".

:clap2:

I'm stealing that.

I like that logic, Gracie.

How about this for a novel idea...don't let him out of jail until he's truly worked off his debt to society, including the payment of restitution to his victim's family. Oh, excuse me, but it's "cruel and unusual punishment" to make inmates work. How insensitive of me! Perhaps if they were forced to work for their daily bread like law-abiding citizens, our penal system wouldn't produce so many recidivists. There are more excuses for why an unmotivated person can't hold a job...but if a blind person, or a young mother working two jobs to support her kids, or our military personnel coming home from war with missing body parts, can get out of bed each day to go to work, so can this poor excuse for a human being (heaven forbid he has to walk or ride a bicycle). Maybe the taxpayers' generosity makes it too attractive for him to not do so.

In most states the penalties for a Vehicular Manslaughter include permanent revocation of their driver's license.