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Impound policy goes after the poor

Tuesday, August 17, 1999

By LISA DAUGAARD
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

"Operation Impound," Seattle's program to confiscate cars driven by people with suspended licenses, has been touted as a tough but fair step to deal with drivers who pose a threat to public safety. In truth, it has mostly punished people who deserve a hand up, not a crackdown.

Those of us who oppose the impoundment program would have little problem with seizing cars driven by people who are suspended because of dangerous driving -- convictions for DUI or reckless driving, for example -- as long as the impoundment procedure provided due process in case of error.

But Operation Impound's main impact has not been on dangerous drivers. The crushing majority of drivers affected by the tow program since it began in January 1999 have been suspended, not because they're unsafe, but because they're poor. The city's own figures show that 89 percent of those whose cars have been impounded since the program started were suspended for non-payment of fines, mostly for minor traffic and equipment violations. In a city that's just 10.1 percent African American, 39.5 percent of all cars seized by Operation Impound have been driven by black drivers, reflecting the fact that license suspension and race are closely correlated with poverty.

Common sense says that drivers suspended for failure to pay a fine aren't any more dangerous than drivers who get tickets they can afford to pay. A software millionaire living in Madison Park who likes to drive 60 miles per hour on Lake Washington Boulevard -- and who can easily pay the speeding fines -- will never get suspended, and so is not at risk of impoundment.

Ironically, under our current laws, a careful driver in the Central District who gets ticketed for a cracked taillight and cannot afford to pay the fine in full within 15 days, will be suspended. If she has to drive again, to get to work or day care not well-served by the bus system, she is at risk of impoundment and criminal prosecution. This is so even though the Department of Licensing concurs that the driver is safe -- DOL is quite prepared to license her, just as soon as she writes out a big-enough check to cover her outstanding debts.

City Attorney Mark Sidran points to one sad example of a girl killed in an accident apparently caused by two drivers racing down Des Moines Way. One of the drivers had a suspended license due to failure to pay traffic fines. It is, of course, tragic whenever anyone is killed due to reckless driving -- whether the driver is licensed or not. But such examples do not always tell us much about public policy. My great-grandmother was killed by a duly licensed driver while she was walking in a crosswalk at lunchtime in Moses Lake. Obviously, that does not mean we should impound the cars of all licensed drivers because some of them cause accidents.

The city attorney always cites the same California study to argue that "suspended drivers" are accident-prone. But he ignores the fact that California does not suspend driver's licenses for failure to pay traffic fines. The population of suspended drivers in California covered by their study was overwhelmingly people suspended for unsafe driving -- almost exactly the opposite of the profile of Washington's suspended drivers, 85 percent of whom just couldn't pay their fines.

Why don't people pay? Why do they keep driving? Are they all scofflaws? Far from it.

When a traffic ticket is issued, drivers are given three options: request a hearing to contest the infraction, request a hearing to provide an excuse for the infraction or pay the entire fine (which can run as high as $480) within 15 days. No option is provided for those who admit that they committed a minor violation but need time to pay. Many local courts will not provide time payments even if the driver asks.

Most suspended drivers want desperately to settle their debts and get their license back, but simply can't get courts to work with them to make reasonable payment arrangements. Then, in order to get kids to school or to day care or themselves to work on time, many members of our community are faced with an impossible choice: either drive while suspended or miss work, leave children unsupervised, keep kids out of school, miss critical medical appointments and so on. Given that choice, many responsible people will choose to drive.

Over the past few years, the Central Area Motivation Program, the Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office and other community members have worked hard to create a "win-win" solution to the suspended license crisis, in which courts could get their money and drivers could get their licenses.

Seattle Municipal Court has been receptive and recently started pilot programs that assess each individual's ability to pay, create realistic payment plans, reduce fees if justice requires it and release license suspensions when drivers enter into good-faith agreements to pay. (Incidentally, this flexible fine structure is required by statute in California, which may explain why they don't have to suspend licenses to get people to pay their fines.)

The court needs additional staff to allow the conversion of fines to community service and to fully meet the needs of the thousands of drivers who want to participate. Already, though, these programs have shown remarkable gains in revenues collected for the city, as well as allowing drivers to regain their licenses and drive legally.

It is indeed ironic for promoters of the impoundment program, such as the city attorney, to now claim credit for the joint efforts of the court and community organizations in making it easier for drivers to get their fines paid. Those efforts started before Operation Impound, the programs exist independently of the tow operation and they will continue to work if impoundment is ended for this category of suspended drivers.

This fall, Seattle Municipal Court will host a summit conference for other courts throughout King County to examine how the re-licensing model can be extended to other jurisdictions. The courts will need resources from local and/or state governments to implement this plan. This is the way forward.

Impoundment of cars driven by people with licenses suspended for unpaid tickets is a step in the wrong direction: It makes poor people poorer and does nothing to remove the obstacles to low-income drivers restoring their licenses. We should all hope that local and state government will have the wisdom to replace a punitive gimmick with a constructive solution.

Lisa Daugaard is a staff attorney with the Seattle/King County Public Defender, one of several attorneys there working on a project to reduce racial disparity in the criminal justice system.

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