Drivers who get behind the wheel in Virginia without first earning a driver’s license would face significantly stiffer penalties under measures introduced in Richmond by two Northern Virginia lawmakers.

Del. David Albo, R-Springfield, and Del. Thomas Rust, R-Herndon, want to require that unlicensed drivers be arrested, fingerprinted and photographed, instead of the current practice of the police issuing summonses.

The mandate, Albo said, would ensure that people repeatedly violating the law are properly punished — the first violation carries a maximum six-month jail sentence, while additional violations can bring up to a year behind bars.

The bill, Albo added, also would make it easier for law-enforcement authorities to detect illegal immigrants, who are not eligible for driver’s licenses under Virginia law.

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“This would not apply if you just forgot to put your license in your pocket before driving,” Albo said. “This is for people who just do not have licenses. If you walk across the border and get pulled over and don’t have a driver’s license, you can say your name is Mr. X. Then, the second time, you can say you’re Mr. Y, because you legally don’t exist on any record anyplace. These people are not giving their real names and their real information. If you get caught driving without a license, you would have to be fingerprinted so if you get caught a second time, you cannot lie about who you are.”

Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the bill also would improve road safety by reducing the number of unlicensed drivers.

“Unlicensed drivers are an important part of the driving population that we need to focus on,” he said. “When they are unlicensed, they are also uninsured. We have thousands of people driving around our region without insurance, and that is a real problem that impacts all of us. When they are in crashes, society pays.”

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com