If you’ve had a couple of traffic tickets over the past year, you might want to check the status of your driver’s license. One driver we spoke with said he had no idea his license had been suspended.
Rob Christman says he was shocked to find out he had been driving around for months on a suspended license. He says having a suspended license is not something he can afford to take lightly, “I’m a commercial real estate broker. I drive every day.”
He says he was just as shocked to learn that his license was suspended over two tickets he got almost two years ago, that he paid in-full and on time.
“It totally blindsided me,” Christman said.
Like most drivers we talked to, Christman didn’t know that any person who, within a 12-month period, commits two or more traffic offenses, is required to take a BMV-approved driver safety program.
The BMV says it sent him a letter stating that requirement, and when it wasn’t fulfilled, sent him another letter letting him know his license was suspended. He says he never got the letters. He says if he did, he would have taken the defensive driving course right away. He says it was easy to complete.
“In my case, I went to Blockbuster. I rented a $10 video. It took me 4 hours to go through it. You take quizzes at the end of each hour on the internet, and I paid a $25 or $35 fee to the company that administered the test online,” Christman said.
He says he was lucky he found out about the suspension when he went in to register a new vehicle, and not during a traffic stop. That would have cost him a $150 ticket minimum and higher insurance premiums. If the officer decided to tow his car, like many do, to keep suspended drivers off the road, it could’ve meant losing thousands in income.
“I just was wondering how many people like me had no idea that their license was suspended,” Christman said.
The BMV says 17,000 Hoosiers had their licenses suspended in 2009 alone because they failed to complete a driver safety course. Christman doubts all those people are risking their livelihood because they don’t want to take a four-hour, take-home class.
“If I would have received an adequate notice something via certified mail or registered mail where I had to sign for it, obviously, I would have known I needed to attend a defensive driving school, and I would have done that,” he said.
The BMV says it sees no reason to change its procedure. It says it’s abiding by Indiana Code by mailing the notices first-class, and it says it sees no reason to petition to change that law to use certified mail to make sure that these notices are delivered to drivers’ hands directly.
“This is just not an overriding issue with us,” said BMV Spokesperson, Dennis Rosebrough.
Rosebrough says most of the time, people don’t receive their notifications because they have not updated their mailing addresses with the BMV.
“The extra expense and procedures still won’t work if you don’t have the right address on file,” said Rosebrough.
Christman’s address was up to date. While the BMV is insistent that his case was one of the rare exceptions, they are recommending that anyone who has gotten more than one ticket in any 12-month period contact the BMV and double-check the status of their license.
To check the status of your license:
You can call the BMV’s automated service at 1-888-MY BMV 411, or you can go to the BMV’s site, create an account and check your status.
according to wthr.com
