Staff Reports
In a tragic and preventable event, California is making headlines yet again as a deadly trucking accident has claimed the lives of several individuals, including two beloved assistant basketball coaches from Pomona High School. The driver responsible for this catastrophe is an illegal immigrant from India, who astonishingly managed to obtain a commercial driver’s license in California. How, one might ask, did someone who entered the country illegally, manage to obtain a license and operate a massive vehicle that requires significant skill and responsibility? Well, it seems California has its own unique interpretation of the term “vetting process.”
Despite the Department of Transportation’s apparent efforts to investigate these glaring mishaps, the reality paints a different picture. The state is often too busy prioritizing political agendas over the public’s safety on the roads. Leaders like Secretary Duffy must feel like they are playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, as more and more incidents occur due to these flawed licensing practices. After all, when you hand out commercial licenses like candy, it’s only a matter of time before something goes terribly wrong.
The driver, who entered the U.S. via the southern border, was later released into the country by none other than the Biden administration. This kind of open-border policy seems to invite chaos, as illustrated by the number of dangerous and deadly incidents piling up — this crash being at least the fourth of its kind. The administration’s policy might as well come with a warning: “Welcome to America, here’s your truck keys, and good luck!”
If our roads could talk, they would probably scream in terror, considering that Oklahoma recently conducted a sting operation revealing that a shocking 20% of commercial driver’s licenses examined were invalid. The comforting thought of sharing the highway with drivers who might not even understand the rules of the road or be legally eligible to drive is enough to make any law-abiding citizen shudder. One has to wonder what happened to good old common sense.
In a move that’s long overdue, the U.S. Department of Transportation has decided to withhold $30 million from California until they get their act together. It’s nice to see some accountability finally being taken, even if it’s as rare as a unicorn sighting in Sacramento. Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom seems to have taken a vow of silence on the issue, preferring to dodge accountability like a game of political hopscotch.
While people everywhere hope for common-sense solutions, it remains to be seen if California will prioritize public safety over playing political favorites. Until then, motorists continue to share the road with drivers who probably should have never been licensed in the first place. Let’s just hope these much-needed crackdowns lead to fewer tragic headlines and more responsible oversight in our country’s licensing systems.
