New York legislators are seeking to make it more difficult for dangerous drivers to keep their licenses and keep driving. The new law, called “Charlotte’s law” would permanently revoke the license of any driver with three felony convictions, including (of course) driving under the influence of alcohol.

Despite the current increased attention being paid to distracted driving, driving under the influence of alcohol remains a leading cause of traffic related fatalities.

Another leading cause of traffic related fatalities are drivers whose right to drive should have been revoked, but wasn’t because there was no legal course of action for authorities to do so.

New York lawmakers were prompted to do so by a traffic crash resulting from the actions of a driver who had 23 traffic citations and 10 previous crashes. They point to this driver as the reason someone was killed and the reason why the laws need to change to prevent anyone else from suffering a similar fate.

What matters here is the impact on all drivers as the result of the actions of a single careless driver. The fact is, taking away someone’s drivers license simply will not keep them driving again. It might keep some people from getting behind the wheel, but a good portion of the most serious risks–the people who are most likely to be careless or even dangerous behind the wheel–will continue to drive whether they have a license or not. They likely won’t have a vehicle registered in their name but they will find a way to get behind the wheel of one any way – some way.

Stupid people do stupid things regardless of what the law allows. That is not to say that creating a law to keep these people from destroying the lives of others is a bad thing, or even a pointless thing. It simply is what it is.