It’s happened to a friend of mine in our home state of Maryland. He got caught driving without a license. I believe what he got was a $500.00 fine and 8 points on his non-existant license.
I was once arrested and jailed in a hick town for not having mine on me. Officer Fife said he couldn’t check to verify I had one because their system was down, I could be a criminal, etc. But they then released me after paying the fine, still without verifying who I was, so I guess it was the money he was after, and not if I was a wanted criminal as he said.
I never realised that Americans in most states had to carry their driver licence with them.
Here, if we are stopped for any reason other than major things like DUI, we are given a “producer” and have to show our documents at a chosen police station within 5 days (I think).
I’ve never been stopped for anything…>>insert smug smile here<<<
Green Bean:
I’m not presuming to speak for Loach, but I live in NJ and I know probably a dozen people at my office who have had licenses suspended and never received any notice of it. New Jersey is NOTORIOUS for this; it’s not uncommon at all.
VCNJ~
I lived in the UK for a couple of years in the early 1990s, and the whole “producer” thing was new and surprising to me. I’m originally from Australia, and we were also always expected to have our license with us when behind the wheel of a car.
Frankly, I challenge that this was the fault of the state (even in the case of New Jersey). I might be wrong, but I expect that the statutes require notice for due process reasons. So, if they aren’t getting notice, it’s likely because they’ve moved and didn’t bother to tell the motor vehicle department, which is usually a requirement within a very short time of moving in most states.
I’m sure the statutes do require such notice, as you say.
But is it really difficult for you to believe that a government bureaucracy in a populous state like New Jersey might drop the ball on actually sending the notices sometimes? And i ask that question as someone who is not, in general, an overzealous critic of government bureaucracies.
Yes driving while suspended is a much worse offense than being unlicensed. Manditory jail time for multiple offenses. If you are suspended it is because you did something wrong. No license simply means you haven’t taken the test yet (or more often in my experience you are an illegal alien hoping that the bullshit “international driver’s license” will be enough).
The presumption is that you will want to get a license at sometime. The points and whatever else you do as an unlicensed driver carries over to when you get your license. A license number is generated in the system for you at that point even if you don’t go to get your license. You can get suspended even without a license. Then if you are caught driving again the penalties will be higher. If it is a kid driving without a license it can keep them from getting one when they otherwise would have been able to.
That’s not what I said. Or maybe I did but didn’t mean it. It certainly has happened that DMV has screwed up on the notification. Sometimes you catch someone a day or two after they are suspended so it is likely they have not received their notice yet. Or they were slow to change their address. Those are all reasons why a prosecutor may go easy on someone and drop it to the lesser charge. The main reason is because it is so easy to get suspended for administrative reasons such as failure to pay a surcharge, failure to pay a restoration fee or failure to pay something. There has been an uproar in the state (where you can’t get by without a car) because people were getting originally suspended for administrative reasons and then stuck with no way out because of other driving while suspended convictions. I have dealt with people who basically can never get a license again even though their original offense was something minor or administrative. For that reason prosecutors are willing to drop the charge if you can get the license restored so no further suspensions occur. If you are suspended due to DUI or some other serious charge that option is off the table.
Actually, it is. I’d be much more likely to believe they screw up on an unusual, manual process that they do rarely.
I’ve worked in developing computer systems for such notices. In a populous state like NJ, where this happens to as many people as you claim, this entire process is automated. Once the original charge is entered against your license, the computer system automatically extracts those records, prints the notice to you, and mails it out (to the address on file for you). Computer systems to do this have been in use for over 20 years now, and are pretty well debugged.
If the notice doesn’t get to you, by far the most likely reason is that you have the wrong address on file.
Loach–No, you didn’t say that. It was just a general gripe.
t-bonham–Believe it, sweetheart. It’s happened to me. It’s happened to my best friend. And VCNJ obviously knows a boatload of people it’s happened to. I have no doubt that computer systems such as you describe exist. Maybe NJ even has one. But if they do, it ain’t working. Or somebody is throwing the notices in the garbage can instead of mailing them out. (And my address was fine)
Yes, actually it is. I think that you would find that the notices are spit out of some computer somewhere automatically upon entering a suspension in the database. Further, I’d suspect that even if it wasn’t true, that the suspension notices would go out because there would be checks and balances to ensure it.
Not everyone believes that government bureaucracy is full of incompetent boobs who can’t do the job right and don’t care. 
The details and the particulars. If it is happening, then the state would have to be overturning a whole lot of suspensions on the basis of failure to notify, since they are a simple due process requirement. So, please don’t take offense, but I suspect that the notice was, indeed, mailed.
and
Firstly, i’m perfectly willing to believe that in most such cases it’s the fault of the citizen not keeping his or her address information up to date. But despite your assurances of “pretty well debugged” computer systems and “checks and balances,” you’ll have to forgive me if i remain somewhat skeptical about the likelihood of error-free systems such as this.
The world is full of cases where “pretty well debugged” computer systems have indeed developed or been found to have bugs. And even if the computer system works, it’s only as reliable as the information that’s entered into it. The world is also full of cases where checks and balances sometimes fail, even if the reason is bad luck or understandable human error rather than sheer incompetence or mismanagement.
For me it was so very simple (no record of registration although I’d paid for it on time). In California, or at least in my part of California, it’s like a ‘fix-it’ ticket. You have x number of days to present your valid license/proof of insurance/registration/ whatever, along with the citation to a police officer. I did so in the parking lot of El Novillero, a Mexican restarant in South Sac, where police officers frequently have lunch.
No big deal!
Never underestimate the ability of the DMV (now called the MVC in NJ) to screw things up. Everything *should * be automatic. And yes most of the time there is no notification its because the driver didn’t report a change of address. Sometimes it isn’t. Also there have been many times I have seen that someone is driving around thinking that their license was restored when it comes up as suspended in our system. Someone screwed up and didn’t enter the correct information. Now the driver has to come into court and prove his innocence even though they did everything correct.
Its also worth noting that no matter how good the MVA is at mailing out notifications, the postal service is not 100% accurate at delivering them. I certainly get mis-deliverd mail occasionaly, and I’ve gotten other peoples credit card bills, bank checks, and in one case, a notification from the IRS. All important documents that would never have made it to the recipient had I not taken action to make it so.