New York State Driver Responsibility Assessment

[CJK51]

This past summer, my wife was traveling from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island and was stopped for speeding in New York. She told me she was keeping up with the pace of traffic and having ridden with her often, I know she tends to not speed, but considering she has a Pennsylvania vanity plate on a reddish-colored car and it was late in the month, anything over the posted limit was just painting a bullseye on her.

We paid the fine on the ticket we were sent and it was for about $185. A couple weeks later, we received notice that because this violation earned her six points on her New York Driver's License (mind you, we live in Pennsylvania, which is where her drivers license is clearly from), she had to pay the New York Driver Responsibility Assessment, Sections 1199 and 503 (4) of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. This little gem added another $300 to the fine we already paid.

Given current financial situations, I did not have an additional $300 to simply give to a state where I do not reside and my wife received notice that her New York State drivers license is suspended indefinitely. The notice also said she was to turn in her NY license (which she does not have) if she did not pay this fine.

My question is this: does my wife run the risk of having her Pennsylvania drivers license and/or car insurance negatively impacted if she does not pay this additional (and quite ridiculous, in my opinion) fine? Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[You Are Guilty]

Nice try. Ignore it at your own risk:

A change to the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law requires drivers who are convicted of specific traffic violations to pay an assessment to the DMV. The Driver Responsibility Program applies to all drivers who operate, or operated, a motor vehicle in the State of New York, regardless of the state the motorist is licensed in. The purpose of the Driver Responsibility Program is to prevent the repeated behavior of problem drivers and to improve traffic safety.

http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/drp.htm


Now, what I find interesting is that to rack up enough points to hit the DRP, she not only had to have been going at least 21mph over the limit, she had to have been convicted of it as well. Since most courts will plea you down to 20mph-over if you were just a little over the limit (to avoid the DRP), the assumption here, since that obviously didn't happen, is that she was going significantly faster. Which then begs the question, why didn't she fight the ticket, which was presumably for something like 30+mph over, when she had the chance?

Anyway, you don't pay, NY suspends your license, and since both NY and PA are members of the NRVC (http://www.aamva.org/aamva/DocumentDisplay.aspx?id={65940ACD-983E-421D-A656-5A3A81064D8D} ), then send a notice to PA who suspends your license for them. This forum is replete with people now trying to clear up their interstate license problems for failure to pay various fines. I suggest you read a few before deciding on how to proceed.

Good luck.