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Appealing a Suspension

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stendahl

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

The reason that I am writing is to see if there is anything that I can do to appeal my suspension. Here is the story... About 4 or 5 years ago when I was living in Plains, PA I was pulled over for speeding. Years later, late 2004, I was pulled over for an overdue inspection sticker. The officer informed me that my license was suspended. This was the first time I had heard anything about it. He said it is quite common for people to miss the letter from Penn-dot and be unaware of these things since there is only one notice. Upon investigating I found out that the ticket from Plains was never paid, for whatever reason. Either the money order was sent back after I moved, or rejected, or something. I dont know. I sent a check to the appropriate address as directed. According to what Penn-dot was able to tell me at the time my license was suspended for 15 days. A week or so later I received a letter notifying me that my license was now suspended for an additional year for "driving on a suspended license".

What happened next I accept full blame for. I was told by friends that you could drive to and from work on a suspended license. I didn't realize this required a special permit. I continued driving only to and from work (a matter of a couple miles) for a few months. Then I overlooked a stop-sign late one night and was pulled over. This resulted in an additional 1 year suspension.

The last mistake is that I was told I did not need to mail my license in if it was expired. In my ignorance I did not realize this required me to sign something to begin the suspension. So it was more than 6 months after first hearing of my suspension that it actually began, and this was only because I went to the DMV to get a state ID and they told me about it.

So essentially at this point my license is suspended until May, 2007. I am guilty of a couple minor mistakes, and a lot of ignorance, but I feel that this is quite excessive. None of this would have happened if I had seen the original notice about the 15 day suspension. The fact that I drove for 4 years without knowing it was illegal really disturbs me. But when you look at it, I got 2 years and 15 days of suspension for an expired inspection and a missed stop sign. I am a sane, drug-free adult with no criminal record. I feel that this suspension is quite extreme, especially given that drunk drivers and narcotics abusers receive lesser suspensions!

Please, if there is anything that I can do to lessen this suspension, let me know? Being unemployed and unable to use my car to find a job or apply for jobs that require a license is extremely frustrating.

~Clarissa
 


sukharev

Member
To start, look up PA laws for restricted license. In many states, you can apply for one (driving to and from work). That's pretty much all you can do.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
You needed to appeal the suspensions before you were convicted of the additional offenses....now that you've been convicted (or pled guilty), it's too late.
 

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