# how do people with suspended drivers license get food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545 "2013-06-21T07:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/42 "2013-06-21T17:09:30Z")
> [@tech\_ngnr](#): > > In Texas, one with a suspended drivers license has the option of requesting an ‘Occupational’ license. If granted, this covers operating a vehicle related to: work, school related activities, and performing household duties. > [@njtt](#): > > … > So about 90% of what most people use cars for, then. It sounds like a suspended license really does not mean much in Texas. (IANAL) An ‘occupational’ license in Texas has numerous restrictions as to _ **when and where** _ a person may operate a motor vehicle, so I wouldn’t say that it “really does not mean much”. Granted, it’s been many, many years since I was issued such a license, so the rules may have changed since then. > [@matt357](#): > > Can’t you get arrested for driving with a suspended license , not just cited? That _ **used** _ to be the case here in Texas, but if I’m not mistaken, the laws have been amended/changed. I think that there are now two different types of ‘suspension’, as regards drivers licenses. One type of suspension makes the driver subject to arrest for violation, and the other does not. Again, IANAL and YMMV. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/43 "2013-06-21T17:12:11Z")
A standup comic once joked about moving somewhere where people were really active, riding bicycles all over (Boulder? Seattle?); she assumed they had all gotten DUI’s. Around here I often see one guy riding his bicycle down the street with bags of groceries hanging from the handlebars. Lots of possible explanations, but judging from the bicycle and the improvised carry method, I’m guessing he got a DUI. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/44 "2013-06-21T17:25:01Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > If you are European, and have never seen a typical American suburb, maybe you don’t realize just how difficult it is to survive there without a car. Many people live in neighborhoods of large houses built on half-acre plots of land, so that it may be a 2 or 3 mile walk to the nearest shop. That’s 3 to 5 kilometers, by the way. [/helpful American-to-European translation service] ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/45 "2013-06-21T17:32:52Z")
> [@matt357](#): > > Can’t you get arrested for driving with a suspended license , not just cited? Sure can - I’m not privy to all the details but I’ve had that happen to coworkers. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But wouldn’t the police have your car’s license plate number on a list of ones to look for? Cars are not assigned one-to-one with drivers - it’s entirely possible for a car to be driven by more than one person. Also, multiple vehicle ownership is quite common so you could switch to another vehicle, borrow someone else’s, etc. Oh - and the poster who mentioned a possible 2-3 mile walk? Back 40 years ago most Americans wouldn’t have considered that too onerous, and these days most Europeans probably wouldn’t be too put out by it, either. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/46 "2013-06-21T17:40:14Z")
I have a car and a valid license, but I often bike-commute to work (about 2.5 miles each way). I have a rack on the back of my bicycle and two folding baskets that attach to the rack. These I use if I want to run errands after work. The baskets hold an average size reusable grocery bag each. I just have to make sure I don’t buy more than I can carry! (I figure that if I buy food that weighs less, I’ll weigh less eventually 🙂 .) Some people use panniers for the same purpose. If I really could not drive my car, I would likely invest in a trailer for larger items (say, toilet paper, etc.) Or, I would have a standing weekly appointment with a friend or relative to take me to the store (I know a woman who has needed to do this for her son with a DWI). Taking the bus would be another option in my neighborhood. Things are a little too spread out for walking around here, but with a bicycle and/or public transportation, you would not starve to death. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/47 "2013-06-21T17:45:25Z")
It is pretty common at low level service jobs to ask job applicants how they plan to get to work. If the answer is “get a ride from a friend” then they aren’t very likely to be hired. So without a reliable method of getting work getting a crappy job can be pretty tough. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/48 "2013-06-21T19:54:08Z")
I use my feet to get to the grocery and back. Even when I had a cast on my arm. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/49 "2013-06-21T20:11:36Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > … Oh - and the poster who mentioned a possible 2-3 mile walk? Back 40 years ago most Americans wouldn’t have considered that too onerous, and these days most Europeans probably wouldn’t be too put out by it, either. Come on down to Texas around mid-July and try it. Bonus points if you’re still presentable enough at the end of the walk to be fit to work in an office environment. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I use my feet to get to the grocery and back. Even when I had a cast on my arm. Congratulations. You do not use your arm to walk. We’re all so proud! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/50 "2013-06-21T20:23:16Z")
Around here we call scooters “DUIcycles”. ---
**Author:** ![AdmiralQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@AdmiralQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralQ)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/51 "2013-06-21T20:32:19Z")
When my license was suspended, I just continued to drive. Simple as that. I refused to pay a bogus speeding ticket - that’a a whole other story - and eventually the state sent me a letter saying my license was suspended. I continued to drive, more carefully though, for about a year before common sense overcame my principles and i finally paid the ticket and got my license reinstated. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/52 "2013-06-21T20:37:02Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Congratulations. You do not use your arm to walk. We’re all so proud! 😃 I do use my arm to carry grocery bags and the walking-back-to-my-place cup of coffee.😃 ---
**Author:** ![chewsick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@chewsick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewsick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/53 "2013-06-21T21:04:27Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I use my feet to get to the grocery and back. Even when I had a cast on my arm. Yeah but you’re not thinking about people who somehow managed to not only (i) live in the middle of nowhere and (ii) can’t walk because they are unable, for some reason. Solution: if you are medically impaired and can’t walk a few miles, you need to move. Also, if you are the type who gets a DL suspended, apparently habitually, and can’t figure out WTF is going on in life, apparently, then maybe you (a) get a new job (b) move to where new job is and (g) sell the family farm and feed yorn. ---
**Author:** ![chewsick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@chewsick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewsick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/54 "2013-06-21T21:10:20Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > So without a reliable method of getting work getting a crappy job can be pretty tough. Sucks to be them, I guess. Maybe they should have thought about that before they moved out to the middle of nowhere. America is the land of entitlements. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/55 "2013-06-21T21:16:08Z")
The suspended license really isn’t the issue. The issue is, how do people get along without a car? In most cities, just fine with a bit of planning. It’s tougher in the suburbs, and next to impossible in rural areas. In Madison, WI, when I lived there, a non-trivial amount of the cab business was taking folks with suspended licenses (DUI) home from the bars. ---
**Author:** ![chewsick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@chewsick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewsick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/56 "2013-06-21T21:46:02Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > The suspended license really isn’t the issue. The issue is, how do people get along without a car? > > In most cities, just fine with a bit of planning. It’s tougher in the suburbs, and next to impossible in rural areas. Well, then maybe people should have thought about that before planting themselves in some spot and staying there forever. Again, sucks to be them. Country people tend to be a bit more self-reliant, seems to me, but it’s not my choice. It was theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/57 "2013-06-21T23:48:39Z")
> [@chewsick](#): > > Sucks to be them, I guess. Maybe they should have thought about that before they moved out to the middle of nowhere. > [@chewsick](#): > > Well, then maybe people should have thought about that before planting themselves in some spot and staying there forever. > > Again, sucks to be them. [mod note] **Chewsick** , you are in the General Questions forum. Dial it back. [/mod note] ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/58 "2013-06-22T01:13:53Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I’ve never had a licence, nor a car, and yet I have, somehow, magically, not starved to death. > > I walk to the shops, or I get public transport. Exactly the same way everyone did a few decades ago, before “everyone” had a car. Do you also grow most of your food? I do grow a little bit but I don’t have a farm and many things are only available at grocery stores. Large parts of the world, including much of the US for example, do not have public transport and are not accessible by foot or bike. Taking a cab to work probably costs more than a day’s pay for a lot. I have 5 grocery stores within a few miles of my home, but not one is safely accessible by foot or bike. There is a trail under a bridge and through some woods that I probably could take 5 miles to a Target, if I climbed onto and crossed the Interstate. Before everyone had a car, development and living conditions were different. My house was built in the time since everyone had a car. So were the schools, stores, roads and just about everything. The way we live and obtain essentials is based on a car society. Believe me. I wish things were different. As far as comments about people needing to move. Moving is usually a very expensive and difficult thing. I imagine most people without access to transportation will also find it difficult to transport their bodies and their belonging somewhere else along with all the expenses and likely higher living expenses to move some place that does not require travel for necessities. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/59 "2013-06-22T01:28:36Z")
> [@tech\_ngnr](#): > > In Texas, one with a suspended drivers license has the option of requesting an ‘Occupational’ license. If granted, this covers operating a vehicle related to: work, school related activities, and performing household duties. Likewise in Ohio, although they’re called “limited driving privileges.” You can get 'em if you show proof of employment and proof of insurance, and if your previous record isn’t too horrific. Depending on your record and how lenient the court is, you may get privileges to go to and from work, to go to and from school, to provide transportation for your children for their own school and extracurricular activities, for medical appointments, to care for an elderly or ill relative, and for worship services. Shopping, in and of itself, is not a recognized purpose. > [@matt357](#): > > Can’t you get arrested for driving with a suspended license , not just cited? In Ohio, yes. Driving under suspension is a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1000 fine. Usually the officer will just write a ticket, but you could be arrested. If your record is crappy, you probably will be. > [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > …One thing local police departments like to do is [follow people out of traffic court](http://sanrafael.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/drivers-with-suspended-licenses-try-to-drive-away-fro04e7d3f3e7) when they get their licenses suspended or revoked. They will try to drive home with surprising regularity. They will indeed. A local TV station did a sting like that a few years ago. Don’t know of the cops here ever doing it, but I wish they would. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/60 "2013-06-22T04:29:38Z")
Are there really a lot of people who live out in the country all by themselves on a freeway with no bikeable frontage roads and are dumb enough to get their driving privileges suspended? Sometimes when your living situation changes enough, you need to move. The guy whose mom had to take him on grocery runs that I mentioned ended up moving back in with her. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545/61 "2013-06-22T04:33:14Z")
> [@Twerme](#): > > That’s the hardest question I don’t even realize but it does actually happens. Well I have an exaggerated answer about that…Maybe they got wings. > I love to be part of this discussion and same as I love Indian movies… Does anyone have any idea what this means? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-suspended-drivers-license-get-food/661545.md?page=4)