Driving in New York: A cautionary tale

If you have ever gotten a ticket or two in New York state, your license may have been suspended without you ever knowing.

Take my word for it. I spent much of last night alongside a county sheriff's deputy.

Here's how it happened, best I can tell:

-- I got ticketed for speeding a year ago. I pleaded guilty and paid the fine.

-- DMV then decided that I needed to pay a driver assessment fee -- $100 every year for three years -- but did not notify me.

-- Since I didn't pay -- because I didn't know -- my license was suspended as of Jan. 1, 2008.

So I did some reading today, when my blood pressure finally returned to normal. This new fee started in 2004. If you rack up six points in New York in 18 months, you're liable for the fee, regardless of what state your license originates, and regardless of whether or not they tell you.

And if my case is any indication, don't hold your breath that they'll notify you. But they'll still suspend your license in New York. Your car will be towed and you'll be ticketed for driving on a suspended license.

Happy summer, everyone.

 

Damn, that sucks. And how many points is the suspended license? Sort of leads to the 6 points happening again and again...

And driver assessment fee? WTF. Now, we've got PSL's for fast driving apparently.

 

Also, don't try to merge onto the Roosevelt Expressway with your windows down in a rainstorm. I did that a few years ago because my windows were foggy. Window went down, I looked out and load of New York City puddlewater blasted me in the face as an SUV hit a pothole. Not good times. Though my buddy didn't stop laughing until we reached Cleveland.

 

Texas has a similar law.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/driver_licensing_control/drp/drp.htm

 

Remember, it's not about revenue generation -- it's about safety.

 

I've been hit with this fine. I got a speeding ticket on June 25, 2005, and I finished paying off my "debt" to society last year. It's one of the only things I prefer about living in another state.

I once had my license suspended for three year without knowing it. I got into a car accident during my senior year of high school on April 11, 2001 and was issued a ticket, though I didn't think about it at the time because I was in the hospital bed (just a precautionary measure because I hit my head; but I was strapped onto a board, which was neato). I never received a follow-up letter because my mentally handicapped sister, who was living with us at the time, had a sweet habit of picking off the mail. (I lost report cards, SAT scores, tests -- not in the mail, out of my room -- and bills.) So, obviously, I never paid this $40 fine for a failure to yield the right of way or some traffic violation.

When I turned 21 on Feb. 12, 2004, I went to the DMV to renew my license and get the senior one, and they wouldn't let me. "Your license has been suspended since July of 2001," the clerk said. "

"That's impossible," I said. "I've been pulled over and had my license run a couple times, and no one has said anything."

My brother-in-law, a corrections officer at the time, looked up my information that night, and we took care of everything during my spring break the next month. It ended up being a $40 fine and a $35 court fee. But it was strange because I should have known I was driving with a suspended license when I was stopped in October, 2001 or on Dec. 29, 2003.