Exclusive: Illegal Aliens Are Nation’s Most Lethal Drivers – Part II
The Editors


Author: The Editors

Date Published: 2006-12-18



In this six-in-a-series of FSM reports on the horrors of illegal immigration, we must point out again that the people who pay for all the multi-millions of dollars in medical expenses due to these accidents are we, the citizens of the United States. So the next time you want to complain to your Congressperson about spiraling medical and health costs, look no further than the illegal alien community, and insist that we deport these perpetrators asap. If you’d like to complain starting right now, we invite you to do so - at the end of this article you will find the link you’ll need.

Illegal Aliens Are Nation’s Most Lethal Drivers – Part II
The Editors
 
It is worth noting that illegal alien drivers are not only killing Americans and themselves. Some of the most horrific accidents are as a result of an illegal alien transporting other illegal aliens. For a few examples, see: Van stuffed full of immigrants takes deadly roll or 9 suspected illegal immigrants killed in Yuma crash or Driver in Crash Held on Smuggling Counts. In the first two incidents there were 21 illegal aliens in the accident vehicles. In the third there were “only” 11 in the van, with four dying. The medical costs on the local community for such accidents are enormous.
Who pays for the carnage? American citizens, of course. As noted in When illegal immigrants crash, taxpayers usually foot the bill,“the only trauma center in Southern Arizona, Tucson's University Medical Center…At the current run rate we'll incur 5 - 6 million dollars in un-reimbursed costs for taking care of foreign nationals.” That is just the unpaid emergency medical costs for one hospital in one city. Since there is no such thing as a free lunch, the insured pay for the treated uninsured through higher medical costs and insurance premiums.
How many Americans are being killed in traffic accidents by illegal aliens? As noted by a Media Matters article interview, Boyles guest acknowledges "no one really knows how many Americans per day are being killed by illegal aliens"as it is all a guess based on bits and pieces starting with the fact that nobody knows how many illegal aliens are actually in the USA. 
The estimates on the number of illegal aliens in the USA range from a generally accepted low of 10-12 million to a few estimates of 20 or more million. Census Bureau Distortions Hide Immigration Crisis Real Numbers Much Higher says that thenumbers may actually be far higher.
For the sake of argument we’ll use 15 million. A straight proportional participation of illegal aliens in traffic accidents can now be estimated. Thus 15 million illegal aliens in a population of 300 million is a 5% participation level. However, as some data have suggested, the participation may be much greater than the representation. In any case, as far as we are aware, no one tracks accidents or crimes by resident status. As previously noted, coming up with a more accurate number is complicated by the fact that the mainstream media seem to go out of their way not to report residential status of the person involved in a crime or accident. Even in some of the references used in this report you will have to dig deep to find the resident status of the perpetrator. Regardless, the number is considerable and we need to ask ourselves if having 5% collateral damage for a “victimless crime” is acceptable.
In 2000, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a comprehensive report Unlicensed to Kill detailing the carnage being caused by unlicensed drivers. While the report did not identify if the unlicensed drivers were illegal aliens, it did note that of the 278,078 drivers involved in fatal crashes in the US between 1993 and 1997 some 3.7% were unlicensed, 2.7% were of unknown licensed status, and another 7.4% were driving on invalid licenses. The end result is that during the period, 42,049 people were killed in crashes involving at least one driver who was unlicensed, driving on an invalid license, or with a license of unknown status. The report also notes that DUI drivers also played a significant part in the highway carnage. 
As previously noted, a high percentage of illegal aliens tend to drive without licenses. While the number of illegal aliens involved in the 278,078 fatal crashes during the examined period is unknown, if just 5% of the 42,049 deaths were caused by illegal aliens, that is over 2,000 American citizens killed during the five year period which is an average of 400 citizens per year. While the absolute number of traffic deaths caused by illegal alien drivers is unknown, but most likely much higher than just a 5% participation rate, how many Americans should needlessly die to save a few cents on every head of lettuce?
In 2003, the AAA Foundation released Unlicensed to Kill – the Sequel, which goes into more detail regarding state practices. The report noted that the data showed a wide variation across states in the proportions of drivers involved in fatal crashes who lacked a valid license – from a low of 6.1% in Maine to a high of 23.1% in New Mexico. Arizona and California closely followed New Mexico. Reviewing the involvement, there is a strong correlation between the percentages and the states with higher proportions of illegal aliens, although the report does not make that link. By the way, regardless of residency status, both reports basically say that vehicle impoundment is the best method to prevent unlicensed drivers from killing people, as most offenders are usually arrested on prior DUIs. California also uses it to get older, more polluting vehicles off the roadway and their laws have resulted in forfeiture in approximately half the cases. It was also noted that in the vast majority of cases, an unlicensed driver with a DUI was not the owner of the vehicle. 
Compare that with the information from the East Coast in the article Harvest of death on the Eastern Shore where the participation of illegal aliens is actually noted.
As reported in a 2001 article, Cultural Impact, from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD):“…when you combine the Hispanic drinking culture with the lack of education on drunk driving prevention, you end up with tragic consequences." The article goes on, “According to research compiled by Dr. Catherine Clark of the Alcohol Policy Group in Berkeley, Calif., Hispanic drivers are more likely than Anglo drivers to consume more alcohol more frequently and have been shown to be more likely than Anglos to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level over .05 percent.” MADD’s data indicate that 42% of all traffic fatalities involved alcohol, the percentage is increasing, and Hispanics as a group are involved at a much higher rate than their portion of the population. 
As noted in a 2003 article in the Austin American Statesmen, A troubling trend: Hispanics and DWI - Latinos account for nearly half of 2002 Austin arrests:  
“Of 3,007 drunken driving arrests in 2002, 43 percent involved Hispanic men, even though they make up only about 11 percent of Austin's driving population.
Including women, Hispanics made up 47 percent of the DWI arrests but only 21 percent of Austin drivers.
…Statewide, 42 percent of the people arrested in 2002 for driving while intoxicated were Latino, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
In Austin, 46 percent of the people arrested for drunk driving from 1999 to 2002 were Latino, according to the Austin Police Department.”
The impact of illegal Hispanic aliens on the law-abiding Hispanic portion of the DWI statistics is mostly unknown but it is probably sizable and giving the Hispanic community a bad reputation.
Looking at one particularly egregious component of traffic accidents, hit and runs, nationally 11 of every 100 traffic accidents are a hit and run. After a hit and run driver flees the accident scene, something very common when the driver is an illegal alien, the unfortunate victim is responsible for all the expenses, as well as suffering the inconvenience of being without a car while it’s being repaired. Fortunately, the vast majority of hit and run accidents only cause vehicle damage but many drivers, including most notably illegal aliens, do not have insurance, let alone adequate insurance, to handle any expenses, even if only to repair the unfortunate victim’s car. Thus, if you do not carry comprehensive insurance on an older car and are hit by an illegal alien that destroys your car, you are left without a car. As bad as that can be, unfortunately, there are also many deaths and serious injuries as well, for which the victim’s insurance must also pay.
How many hit and run accidents are there? As reported by Deadly Roads, as of November 13, 2006, there have already been 1,346 killed and 91,562 injured in hit and run accidents in 2006. Extrapolating for the year, 2006 will end up with about 1,540 killed and 104,700 injured by hit and run drivers. If the illegal alien population was responsible for just 5% of the carnage, that would result in 77 killed and 5,235 injured by illegal aliens in just hit and run accidents in 2006. However, as previously noted, the data suggests that the proportional involvement of illegal aliens is far higher. As noted in Not all Hit and Run Accident Victims Die, often the injuries are often crippling, life long, and require many years of treatments and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in medical costs.
Frosty Wooldridge in Spiral Of Immigrant Corruption In America says, “To give you an idea of how fast the United States careens into Third World standard operating procedure, in Greeley, Colorado last year, police recorded 270 hit and run accidents for that year. Greeley, with less than 70,000 residents, houses the largest contingent of (illegal alien) Mexicans in Colorado.” 
For what is happening in California see California's hit-and-run crisis - More flee fatal accidents here than any other state where it is reported: “
“The number of fatal hit-and-run traffic deaths statewide jumped by 19 percent from 1999 to 2001, federal statistics show. Nearly 300 people are killed annually in hit-and-run accidents in the state.
Hit-and-runs accounted for 7.8 percent of the state's fatal crashes in 2001, the latest year for which figures are available from the U.S. Transportation Department. The figure is more than twice the national average of 3.8 percent - and a full percentage point higher than the next-highest state, Arizona.”
Again, no one is tracking the illegal alien component of the carnage, making it impossible to do an accurate cost/benefit analysis to see if the collateral damage is worth it.  We would guess it is not.
The US Dept. of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that in 2004 there were 6,181,000 traffic accidents that killed 42,636 and injured 2,788,000. The NHSTA also reported that the economic costs for traffic accidents in 2000 was $230.6 Billion. If illegal aliens are responsible for just 5% of it, that is 309,050 accidents, 2,132 deaths, 139,400 injuries, and a cost of $11.5 billion. As previously noted, data suggests that illegal aliens are involved at a far greater rate than their representation in the general population – in one study it was five times as much. Even if only twice as much, we’ll let you do the math on the collateral damage.
Illegal alien drivers kill and injure far more children than alar and second hand smoke. Combined. Which got all the press?
So much for a “victimless crime.”
C’mon America…this is YOUR problem and only YOU can clean it up. Your elected officials will not do this unless you tell them to. Go here to register your complaint. Your thoughts matter.
 
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