Appealing a Suspension

[stendahl]

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]

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]

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.