Speeding Ticket & No DL In Possesion, CA.

[jbek]

What is the name of your state? California.

I have a problem, I was given a DUI in Feb of this year for being under 21 and having more than .01 in my system. I had a lawyer and was able to get everything police wise dropped however the dmv chose to suspend my licence for 1 year without appeal. a few Weeks ago i called the dmv just out of curiosity and asked about my licence only to be shocked to hear it was VALID... my dad gave me permission to drive to San Diego for the weekend because i was informed that a CA ID CARD has the same Number as a CA DL CARD. On the way there i got a ticket for doing 80 in a 65 zone and also a NO DL in possession. i have called the court where the ticket was issued and was told my dl is in fact valid, however, when i went last week to the dmv i was again told my DL is suspended till April,08,08. Please help I'm very confused...

 

[The Occultist]

An ID is not the same as a driver's license. I would also like to point out that you weren't cited for driving on a suspended license, just that you didn't have a license on you.

 

[Maestro64]

You might be dealing with the war of words here, Not sure how CA does suspensions but I am assuming the reason you do not have the DL is because the state has it in their possession.

So you might have a valid license but it might be in suspension. It could be a wording and understanding issue on your part. Simply if the license is not in your possession then in fact it was suspend no matter what is being told you. You are probably looking at a much more serious issue with driving with a suspended license.

Here is what you are looking at

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d06/vc14601.htm

 

[Maestro64]

An ID is not the same as a driver's license. I would also like to point out that you weren't cited for driving on a suspended license, just that you didn't have a license on you.

Well he could be cited once he can not show proof of license which what they are asking him to do to address the ticket. That is why he went to the DMV to get it back since he thought it was "valid"

 

[jbek]

re:

I have now just called and spoke to my hearing officer since i could not get a correct answer from anyone from the DMV and LA County Court. She stated my DL is in fact suspended until apr,08,08 and that i had a notice mailed to me stating that fact. I explained to her that i called to check the status of my suspension on aug,08,07 to confirm the date and was told by a dmv officer that my DL is valid and that i could go to a dmv office to obtain a new DL. she told me that there is a mistake in there system and that there is nothing i can do. my question is this had i been given correct information i would not have touched my car let alone drive 160 miles from home knowing i have a suspended dl. Should i seek legal council in this matter? i feel that i as well as the police have been Miss informed by the dmv and that is not something i am in control of. I also feel that since i was miss informed that i should have some rights as far as a mistake on the dmv is concerned.

Please forgive the poor grammer and Thanks for the help.


Please ALSO Note: the officer infront of 2 people and myself in my car stated in plain english " your dl is valid however i must give you a fix it ticket for not having it on you and a id card can not be used to drive a car." if i fight this ticket and state i was speeding and the officer shows up could i use him as a witness to the dmv error?

 

[Maestro64]

Yes, you should get a lawyer because your running the risk of losing your license for a much longer period of time because of this,

Even if there was some glitch in the system, it will always fall back the the fact that you got a official notice that your license was suspended and it was for a period of one yr. Unless you can prove that you were told the suspension was less then a yr you're not going to have much to stand on.

Now a lawyer can maybe get them to toss everything but the speeding ticket, since they seem to come clean of the glitch issue, the lawyer can leverage this maybe and get you down to a lesser of a ticket.

 

[jbek]

re:

I had a feeling that a lawyer was going to have to come into play. this dui was a mess to start with i got really lucky by getting the case thrown from court so i don't want to mess with that. however i feel that a mistake of that kind which was admitted by my hearing officer and will most likely reflect that only today were changes made to my record. i feel i should have some say with the help of a lawyer to the outcome of this ticket. I'm not doubting that i was speeding i just feel mislead and upset that i cant fix the second issue which results in a larger fine due to a mistake not on my part but the dmv's.

when i call a lawyer in the local area of the ticket what questions should i ask him/her? and what should i say I'm fighting?


Thank You again your help!

 

[moburkes]

It is illegal to drive without a license. An ID card is not a substitute license. You will still probably have trouble because, in the event that you are eligible for a license, you still need to go through the reinstatement process, which you didn't do. Also, a suspended license is still a license.

 

[jbek]

re:

I agree totally with what you are saying i made the mistake of thinking that since my DL AND ID card had the same number and usually on the back of an id card it says may not operate a car with this card mine did and does not state that which was my fault for not looking further into that before driving. i just want to know if fighting this is even worth the trouble the court is about 80miles+ from my home and would be 2 trips to get it sorted. i dont want to seek legal council if you feel my case has no grounds for legal council.

Again sorry for the grammer error's.

and again thank you for your time.

 

[moburkes]

First thing - go to the DNV to see what it will take to reinstate your license. Then come back with that answer.

 

[jbek]

re:

already did last week. was told i cant do anything till apr 08 08 at which time i would need something like an sr-22 (proof of insurance) and some payment. that's what they told me. that's why i was so confused as to what information is displayed where and to whom it is displayed. the phone dmv officer and police department as well as the LA and Riverside County courts all stated it was valid and only today after waiting on hold for almost an hour to speak with my actual hearing officer was i told a mistake in the system was made and the changes would be made today. I'm unfortunately just very confused as how something that small could cause me such a problem. I'm not that stupid i understand that if i make a mistake i pay for it i thought however that if a police officer pulling me over states the same thing a dmv officer told me (my dl is valid) that i am still wrong? that is why i asked about fighting it because if the officer shows up to court i feel that he would be on my side as to the validity of my DL and at least give me some grounds to fight on.

 

[moburkes]

Okay, the police officer didn't make a mistake, but even if he did, it was just a mistake. When he pulled up your information, it said valid, which allowed him to give you a ticket for not having it with you, instead of a driving with suspension ticket. He could have had your vehicle towed.

So, your license is currently suspended, as it should be. Pay the ticket. Just because the police officer received invalide information (to your benefit), doesn't excuse it. You were never supposed to have driven without a physical license, and had you gone to the DMV, you would not have been given a license.

I'd pay, get SR22 insurance NOW (because you need it NOW, even though your license is suspended - and CA is very picky about that), and wait to get it reinstated.

 

[jbek]

re:

so im wasting my time. got it. thanks i guess. i mean what can i do i got lucky but still unlucky. take things with a grain of salt. last question i leased my car and it goes back in 1 week and im no longer going to own a car untill i can get a dl again so how would i get an sr22 without a car to insure?

 

[moburkes]

so im wasting my time. got it. thanks i guess. i mean what can i do i got lucky but still unlucky. take things with a grain of salt. last question i leased my car and it goes back in 1 week and im no longer going to own a car untill i can get a dl again so how would i get an sr22 without a car to insure?

Ask for a non owner SR22.

 

[Maestro64]

I think there is two parts to your ticket the speeding and the fixit ticket for the DL, You can pay the speeding ticket and hope everything just falls into place. But you still have to clear the fixit ticket and the usually way to clear those is to show they the problem has been resolve the court want to see a valid DL. I am not sure how you clear that so easily.

Also, I am not sure how the CA system works but what happen if a ticket show up on your license after it was suspended, will it cause more problems. I think you need to get that answer too.