BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 1888
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Gatto
VERSION: 6/20/12
Analysis by: Eric Thronson FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 26, 2012
SUBJECT:
Traffic violator schools: commercial drivers
DESCRIPTION:
This bill permits a commercial driver's license holder to attend
a traffic violator school (TVS) if the person commits a traffic
offense while driving a non-commercial vehicle.
ANALYSIS:
Under existing law, DMV assigns one, two, or three points to
drivers' records for various traffic violations. A driver
becomes a "negligent operator" if he or she accumulates 4 or
more points in 12 consecutive months, 6 or more points in 24
months, or 8 or more points in 36 months. DMV may suspend or
restrict the driving privilege of a negligent operator.
Existing law defines a TVS as a business which provides traffic
safety instruction, such as classroom defensive-driver concepts,
for traffic law violators referred by the courts or people who
elect to attend to improve their own skills. Holders of
non-commercial class C (passenger cars and light-duty trucks)
and class M (motorcycles) driver's licenses may attend a TVS,
while existing law prohibits attendance by class A, B, or
commercial class C driver's license holders (generally
commercial trucks and large vehicles) regardless of what type of
vehicle the violator was operating at the time of the offense.
The benefits of attending a TVS are two-fold. First, DMV does
not apply a point to a driver's record for the first conviction
in an 18-month period, which extends the time before a driver
can be considered a negligent operator. Second, DMV holds the
offense confidential, or "masks it," for insurance premium
calculations and other purposes. By attending a TVS, a traffic
violator essentially gets to pay a one-time fee to avoid
receiving a point against his or her driving record, which
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reduces future car insurance costs as well as the chance of DMV
suspending or revoking the violator's driving privileges.
This bill permits a driver holding a class A, B, or commercial
class C license to attend a TVS if the person commits a traffic
offense while driving a vehicle requiring only a class C or M
license. In addition, this bill requires DMV to disclose and
not mask the violation if the commercial license holder attends
a TVS. DMV will not, however, apply the conviction toward the
driver's negligent operator point count.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, maintaining a sufficient
supply of high-quality commercial drivers in the state has
become problematic because drivers are retiring and trucking
companies are increasing their driver standards in order to
control insurance costs and meet regulatory mandates. If
commercial drivers receive a traffic ticket while in their
personal vehicle, the negligent operator point counts against
their commercial driver's license. The author contends that
every point accrued threatens a commercial driver's livelihood
as well as the viability of the trucking industry in
California. This bill affords a commercial driver the same
rights as other drivers to attend a TVS to remove a point from
his or her driving record. The author believes this will help
keep California's trucking industry functioning by providing a
means of dealing with minor violations not committed while on
the job.
2.Commercial drivers are held to higher standards . Both state
and federal law hold a commercial driver to a higher standard
than other drivers, including initial and on-going training
requirements, stricter monitoring of driving behavior, and
increased sanctions for unsafe operation. In order to qualify
and maintain his or her license, a commercial driver must
demonstrate additional skill and knowledge beyond what
existing law requires of most drivers, be medically qualified,
and in some cases pass a federal background check. This is
because commercial drivers are professionals often moving
heavy vehicles with precarious or dangerous loads through
increasingly congested streets and freeways. While a minor
mistake made in a passenger vehicle can usually be corrected
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and remain inconsequential, small deviations by commercial
vehicles can lead to drastic and even fatal consequences.
This bill lowers the state's standards for commercial drivers
by reducing the consequences for bad driving behavior, whether
or not in a commercial vehicle.
3.The negligent operator point system works . DMV developed the
negligent operator system because data indicated that a driver
who receives multiple traffic safety violations is more likely
to be the cause of accidents, injury, and death. DMV has
conducted extensive research on the negligent operator point
system and concludes that it has a positive impact on traffic
safety by reducing violation recidivism and crashes by
reducing dangerous driving behavior. Conversely, research on
the TVS program concludes that completion of TVS as a means to
reduce the consequences of a traffic safety violation has a
negative impact on traffic safety. Drivers who attend a TVS
are more likely to reoffend. For drivers operating commercial
vehicles, using the most effective method for eliminating
risky behavior is critical, even if the violation occurred in
a non-commercial vehicle. By allowing a commercial driver to
attend a TVS and avoid receiving a negligent operator point,
this bill postpones the consequences the violator would
otherwise face, even though the system has proven to be
effective in changing hazardous driving behavior.
4.Is this the solution to the stated problem ? The problem this
bill is addressing, according to the author, is maintaining
the number of high quality commercial drivers in the state
necessary to address our needs. There appears to be two
issues undermining this solution to the stated problem.
First, a review of DMV records indicates that within a
population of about 700,000 commercial driver's license
holders, less than 1,100, or 0.16 percent, were actually
subject to negligent operator hearings last year. Of those,
only 82 had their licenses suspended or revoked. These
numbers seem to indicate that the accumulation of points
against these drivers' records is not a significant threat to
the population of licensed commercial drivers.
A second issue with this bill's proposed solution involves the
drivers who would benefit from this bill. It seems that, if
maintaining a cadre of high-quality commercial drivers was the
goal, then minimizing the consequences of poor driving
behavior, whether or not on the job, would be antithetical to
that aim. If this bill becomes law, the poorly-behaving
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drivers would be able to maintain the same rights and
privileges as the best commercial drivers on the road. While
this bill may help keep more commercial drivers licensed, it
would likely lead to a lower level of overall driver quality
as the traffic offenders that otherwise would lose their
commercial drivers licenses may be able to continue to operate
their vehicles.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 75 - 0
Appr: 17 - 0
Trans: 13 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 20,
2012)
SUPPORT: American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees
American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees -
Local 1902
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated
Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Grocers Association
California Teamsters
California Tow Truck Association
California Trucking Association
United Transportation Union
OPPOSED: None received.
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