“Driving Suspended- Please For The Love Of God Help!!!”

My license has been suspended since 2007 for unpaid fines and i've been caught driving without it 3 times since. I retained a lawyer for my latest charge and the crown says that if I plead not guilty and lose I will go to prison for 45 days. So i'm going to plead guilty and hopefully receive minimal fines and no jail for my efforts.

Anyways what i'm asking is, this is my third strike which a total of 18 months of suspensions. Is there any way possible to get my license back sooner if I set up some sort of payment plan with the courts? Or do I have to wait for that 18 months to be up before I can do anything? Should I ask for fine extensions?? What options do I have?

BTW yes I know i'm a bad person for making all of these stupid decisions so flame away. I was stupid at the time and didnt plan on living another day anyways but here I am.

Help would be greatly appreciated, thanx!

Whether you can get your licence back sooner depends on what your suspensions are for. The one(s) for unpaid fines you can take care of whenever you want. What are the others?

I have a driving without insurance from 07, and the rest are all minor speeding tickets and expired sticker fines....

You have a very interesting blog BTW, good reading!

Simon Borys wrote:Whether you can get your licence back sooner depends on what your suspensions are for. The one(s) for unpaid fines you can take care of whenever you want. What are the others?

Oh and as I mentioned before the 2 driving suspended fines have not been paid in full yet. ($2000+)

Thank you for your comments.

With regards to your fines, if they are all for unpaid fines then you can take care of them whenever you want. Where does the 18 months come from? Do you just mean you've been suspended for 18 months already?

I would suggest you speak to the prosecutor proactively about your existing fines and try to pay some off and/or set up a payment schedule. The reason they choose jail over more fines is when the defendant demonstrates (through continued driving) that they are not obeying the suspension for unpaid fines. The court's position on this is that if suspension doesn't work, maybe jail will. So you have to take action to convince them that you are working hard to paying off your fines and getting your licence back in good order. Any proactive action you take (like paying some or all of the fines off before your next court date) will go a long way to showing your willingness to make amends.

Good luck!

Simon Borys wrote:Thank you for your comments.

With regards to your fines, if they are all for unpaid fines then you can take care of them whenever you want. Where does the 18 months come from? Do you just mean you've been suspended for 18 months already?

I would suggest you speak to the prosecutor proactively about your existing fines and try to pay some off and/or set up a payment schedule. The reason they choose jail over more fines is when the defendant demonstrates (through continued driving) that they are not obeying the suspension for unpaid fines. The court's position on this is that if suspension doesn't work, maybe jail will. So you have to take action to convince them that you are working hard to paying off your fines and getting your licence back in good order. Any proactive action you take (like paying some or all of the fines off before your next court date) will go a long way to showing your willingness to make amends.

Good luck!

Thank you for the info it has really helped! I was a little confused because my lawyer told me the the suspension only kicks in AFTER I have paid off all the fines which would take a really long time.

Cheers

mugwort wrote:I was a little confused because my lawyer told me the the suspension only kicks in AFTER I have paid off all the fines which would take a really long time.

For a suspension for unpaid fines? That's not the case, it's only in effect as long as your fines are unpaid.

It is not just for unpaid fines I bet. He has been convicted of driving under suspension and there is a suspension associated with that judgment.

OPS

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Hi mugwort:

mugwort wrote:My license has been suspended since 2007 for unpaid fines and i've been caught driving without it 3 times since.

Every time you get a traffic ticket fine you may:

a) Pay it the same day or pay it within 15 days, which is given to you by law.

b) You may ask the court to give you more time to pay. For instance an owner operates vehicle without insurance conviction has a minimum $5k fine plus Victim Surcharge (VS), $1,250 (24%) and $5.00 court costs. The justice of the peace may give you, for instance, 6 months to pay. You can also make an application to reduce the fine under s. 59(2) of the POA.

c) You make regular payments toward your fines but you realize that you will not be able to pay all the fines within the allotted time. A couple of weeks before the last payment, you can make an application to a justice of the peace for an extension of time to pay your fines. You may repeat this application for extension of time as many times as necessary, BUT ONLY IF you have kept a regular payment schedule, lets say $100 per month or any reasonable amount of money

If you ignore a fine and do not pay it within the prescribed or allotted time, your license may, and most likely will be suspended.

You have been caught 3 times driving under suspension and apparently you still have some outstanding fines. I assume that you have got only 2 convictions and the third is still pending.

Your license will remain suspended for as long as your fines are outstanding, which means that you are not paying them on extension of time and they remain unpaid. If you have got an extension of time to pay your fines, your license will no longer be suspended for unpaid fines.

If you are convicted of driving while under suspension, there is a further 6 months statutory suspension, which is out of the courts jurisdiction.

These suspensions are consecutive, nor concurrent, which means that they take effect one after the other.

mugwort wrote:I was a little confused because my lawyer told me the the suspension only kicks in AFTER I have paid off all the fines which would take a really long time.

Probably your lawyer meant that once you pay your fines then the statutory suspensions kick in one after the other. However, remember that if you get an extension to pay, the other suspensions will start and will finish sooner.

What you could do as soon as possible is to approach the court and apply for an extension of time to pay your fines. In your case it may difficult to get it because you have neglected paying your fines. It helps bringing employment or reference letters and some proof that you need to drive to make a living. You need to be convincing that this time you will take these matters seriously and make regular payments.

If the justice of the peace dismisses you application, you can still file an application in superior court for a judicial review on the grounds that the decision is unreasonable and unnecessarily oppressive and serves no judicial purpose.

In the meantime, you may ask your lawyer or representative to talk the prosecutor into delaying the last matter so as to give you an opportunity to show that you are regretful and you will make regular payments, after which you can better arrive to a more favorable resolution and do not end up in jail.

Simon Borys wrote: The court's position on this is that if suspension doesn't work, maybe jail will. So you have to take action to convince them that you are working hard to paying off your fines and getting your license back in good order. Any proactive action you take (like paying some or all of the fines off before your next court date) will go a long way to showing your willingness to make amends.

That's right; that is, in essence, the nature of the beast.

Cheers.

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OPS Copper wrote:It is not just for unpaid fines I bet. He has been convicted of driving under suspension and there is a suspension associated with that judgment.

OPS

Indeed, that's likely and if that's the case there is no way to get rid of it sooner.

Thanks guys, you've been extremely helpful!