Providing driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants in California improves traffic safety

Abstract

The integration of immigrants presents a major challenge for policymakers in the United States. In an effort to improve integration, several US states recently have implemented laws that provide driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants. These new laws have sparked widespread debate, but we lack evidence on the traffic safety impact of these policies. We examine the short-term effects of the largest-scale policy shift, California's Assembly Bill 60 (AB60), under which more than 600,000 licenses were issued in the first year of implementation in 2015 alone. We find that, contrary to concerns voiced by opponents of the law, AB60 has had no discernible short-term effect on the number of accidents. The law primarily allowed existing unlicensed drivers to legalize their driving. We also find that, although AB60 had no effect on the rate of fatal accidents, it did decrease the rate of hit and run accidents, suggesting that the policy reduced fears of deportation and vehicle impoundment. Hit and run behaviors often delay emergency assistance, increase insurance premiums, and leave victims with significant out of pocket expenses. Overall, the results suggest that AB60 provides an example of how states can facilitate the integration of immigrants while creating positive externalities for the communities in which they live.

Keywords: driver’s licenses; immigration; integration; traffic safety; unauthorized immigrants.

Fig. 1.

States granting unauthorized immigrants access to driver’s licenses. Twelve states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Fig. 2.

Effects of AB60 on accidents per capita, the share of fatal accidents, and the share of hit and run accidents. (A) Average accidents per capita generally declined from the pre- to post-AB60 period. However, this reduction in accidents is unrelated to the share of AB60 licenses issued in a county. (B) Similarly, there is no relationship between the share of AB60 licenses issued and changes in fatal accidents. (C) The rate of hit and run accidents increased from the pre- to post-AB60 period in counties that issued few AB60 licenses. However, these increases are markedly reduced in counties where many AB60 licenses were issued.

Fig. 3.

Correlation between changes in outstanding driver’s licenses and auto registrations. The best-fitting lines summarize for each year the relationship between the annual percentage changes in all outstanding driver’s licenses and auto registrations separately for counties with few (Left) and many (Right) AB60 licenses issued in 2015. The correlation is close to one for all years except 2015 (red), when the correlation drops considerably and is no longer statistically significant for the counties that issued many AB60 licenses. This decline in the correlation indicates that unauthorized immigrants who obtained AB60 licenses were much less likely to also register a car.