DRIVING UNDER SUSPENSION

Driving Under Suspension or Revocation

Driving under revocation, suspension, cancellation, or denial are very common, yet serious violations in Colorado. They need to be handled carefully and without delay to avoid serious trouble, including the possibility of mandatory jail sentences.

Revocations and suspensions occur when the DMV has invalidated a person’s license for a specific period of time, such as a points suspension (accumulation of too many moving violations) or an express consent revocation (driving with a blood alcohol at or over .08 or a refusal to comply with a law enforcement test).

Different Types of Suspensions

Denials and cancellations are indefinite suspensions that can be lifted upon the satisfaction of a certain condition. These are very common. For example, if you miss a court date or fail to pay a court fine timely, the court will notify DMV, who will then place a hold on your license until the court issue is resolved. A driver’s license can be cancelled or denied also for failure to pay child support, failure to pay a civil judgment, or failure to maintain an SR-22 insurance policy. With all cancellations and denials, however, the driver can get reinstated once he resolves the issue that triggered the cancellation or denial.

Issues With Suspension

A common issue that can arise with all of these DMV actions is that the driver may not be notified of his driving restriction. This is especially true with cancellations and denials. DMV sends notifications of these actions via mail, but if a person moves without updating their address with DMV, they won’t be notified in any other way. Consequently, a driver may not realize they are revoked until they are pulled over and arrested by the police.

Another common issue is that a person may be eligible to get their license reinstated sooner than their record reflects. Even if a driver’s license is restricted, early reinstatement rules may allow a person to get their license back before their revocation or suspension is scheduled to end.

The DMV can be a bureaucratic nightmare to deal with. It can be difficult to contact someone in their offices to get these issues resolved because of the enormous volume they deal with every day.

Driving under revocation, suspension, cancellation, or denial are very serious offenses in Colorado. Many of these violations can trigger mandatory jail time, depending on the type of driving restriction in place. Even if jail time can be avoided, a conviction for these offenses is very likely to result in an extension of the restriction already in place.