A local state representative is pushing for change following an 11 Investigates report on delayed license suspensions.
State Representative Natalie Mihalek is proposing a bill that would require DUI-related license suspensions to take effect within six months of sentencing.
Earlier this month, Chief Investigator Rick Earle broke the story that as many as two thousand drivers are getting “suspension notices” for some cases that are more than a decade old.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> 11 INVESTIGATES: Drivers getting surprise license suspensions
It happened when clerks in Allegheny County’s Department of Court Records didn’t send them to PennDOT.
Mihalek said 2,000 of the license suspensions are DUI-related.
“License suspensions are intended to protect public safety by restricting driving privileges during the period immediately following a conviction, when a defendant’s risk level is at its highest and the deterrent effect is most meaningful. For first offender DUI programs, which allow for an expungement of DUI convictions, the only way to ensure that individual doesn’t participate in the first offender program twice is to check their PennDOT history for any driving suspensions. Because these suspensions were not issued in any fashion even close to timely, many of these individuals could have received the benefit of a first offender program more than once,” Mihalek said.
She emphasized a negative impact the late suspensions could have on people’s jobs, wages and stability.
Many drivers are winning on appeal, but only after hiring an attorney and paying the filing fee.
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