2 ms·

Ok, after reading your response, I was somewhat confused, and now looking at the code, it seems like the drivers licenses are done in California is quite a bit

Ok, after reading your response, I was somewhat confused, and now looking at the code, it seems like the drivers licenses are done in California is quite a bit different than here, in Australia. It seems that in California, at least, there is a legal distinction between a 'revoked' license and being 'unlicensed'. In Australia, AFAIK there's no distinction; if you commit an offence serious enough to have your license revoked, then you no longer have a license and are unlicensed; i.e. it's the license that gives you the right to drive, and if your license is revoked then you don't have a license any more. It's the same deal for suspensions - in Australia, if your license is suspended, then you're by definition unlicensed for the period. So there may be a semantic mismatch where I misunderstood you. It would seem that in California, pretty much the only way you could get a 12500(a) is if you'd never held a license at all; in this case, it fits your assertion that Hispanics are the only _unlicensed_ drivers.

rdl 13y ago
There are a tiny number of people who don't get licenses because they don't believe the state should have the authority to license them, and maybe a few others who don't because they're otherwise on the run for other crimes (but never got a license), and others who have licenses but are living under other identities (which isn't strictly illegal; only if it's being done to defraud. If you thought MS-13 was out to kill you, it might be prudent to give up your identity, including your license, assume another identity, and thus be "unlicensed") There are also people who have non-valid licenses by being in-state for a long time with another state license, or perhaps a foreign license (i.e. they had a UK license, came to the US for a long time, failed to correctly get a CA license when they were able to do so.) But those are all in the statistical noise, I think, vs. undocumented immigrants who either can't get licenses (most states) or don't (because they're afraid CA DMV will turn their records over to DHS ICE, I guess?)

rdl 13y ago

There are a tiny number of people who don't get licenses because they don't believe the state should have the authority to license them, and maybe a few others who don't because they're otherwise on the run for other crimes (but never got a license), and others who have licenses but are living under other identities (which isn't strictly illegal; only if it's being done to defraud. If you thought MS-13 was out to kill you, it might be prudent to give up your identity, including your license, assume another identity, and thus be "unlicensed") There are also people who have non-valid licenses by being in-state for a long time with another state license, or perhaps a foreign license (i.e. they had a UK license, came to the US for a long time, failed to correctly get a CA license when they were able to do so.) But those are all in the statistical noise, I think, vs. undocumented immigrants who either can't get licenses (most states) or don't (because they're afraid CA DMV will turn their records over to DHS ICE, I guess?)