Mayhem Behind the Wheel : Fatal hit-and-run points up need to target reckless drivers

As travelers on the freeways of Southern California, we all know and fear them: the reckless drivers who take their lives, and all of ours, into their own hands.

Sometimes, it goes tragically beyond close encounters. As a horrible hit-and-run accident on the Costa Mesa Freeway last Saturday night demonstrated, these drivers are not just aggravations. After motorists dodged a driver weaving among the southbound lanes, his auto struck a car ferrying a young family, according to police and witnesses; that vehicle overturned, killing an 8-year-old boy inside.

An outraged community responded to an appeal for help by the California Highway Patrol. A 20-year-old suspect was arrested this week on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter after some motorists matched a passing car with the description and hailed a police officer. In a meeting with reporters Wednesday, he blamed the accident on another driver.

The arrest was a good example of cooperation between police and citizens. But that’s not the end of the matter.

The suspect has a history of speeding and reckless driving, according to court records. He of course deserves his day in court, but if he is convicted, this outrage poses a lingering dilemma: Should anybody who piles up four speeding citations in less than two years, and pays about $600 in fines, be allowed to drive at all?

The Department of Motor Vehicles does suspend and revoke licenses, and cars can be impounded. However, the department acknowledges that ultimately there is no way to ensure that problem drivers will stay off the road. That fact poses a challenge. If we can’t guarantee that problem drivers won’t get behind the wheel, we need to find ways to at least make it much tougher for them.