My brother’s Illinois license has been suspended. He now resides in Washington state. If he’s pulled over in Washington, will the computer check reveal that information? Or can they only see if he has a record in Washington?
They will absolutely find out that he is suspended.
You didn’t mention if he has a Washington state license or not?? I’m guessing no. So, if he’s pulled over, they’ll find out right away when they run a check. In addition, many (contiguous) states have “compacts” between them so an unpaid ticket in one results in automatic license suspension. Doesn’t seem kosher to me, but them’s the breaks. We’ve come a long way from “All I’ve got to do is make it to the county line” that’s for certain.
Do a Google search of States Drivers License Compact. Both states are members.
Drivers license compacts have nothing to do with it. Law enforcement agencies have access to drivers license information, compact or no compact. When he’s pulled over and hands the officer his license (regardless of what state he’s in, and what state his license is from) the officer will run the information either through his dispatcher or through his mobil data unit in his squad.
I work part-time as a patrolman in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is not in ANY compact with any other state (I’m not sure, but I think we’re the only state that can say that). I have access to info from all 50 states.
I’m surprised that in this day of computers and such this question even comes up.
Yes, we will know (I’m a cop in Washington state). If he is arrested for driving while suspended, his car will probably be impounded (and held for up to 90 days). Washington is pretty strick on DWLS violations.
I guess I am a driver’s license outlaw.
I have had three driver’s license’s in my life, from Tennessee, Mississippi and Nevada. My home state is Tennessee, so I got that license first. I moved to Nevada, (Las Vegas) and got a license there. I moved away from there some time later, letting my insurance lapse, and not paying a fine for reckless driving. I still have a bench warrant in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1993.
I moved back to Tennessee and got pinched for changing lanes without signaling. Nevada cancelled my car plates for paying for insurance. This confused the Tennessee cops greatly, because in TN. they do not do that. Your plates are your plates no matter what. I was “arrested”, but it was just more or less an expensive ticket. The cop told me if I had gone ahead and bought TN. tags and got a TN license, this bullshit would not of occured. Oh well. Several monthes later, I got a job driving a “bob” truck. I got pulled over in a hick town in the Missouri bootheel, and I was nervous thinking that the Nevada warrant would get me. It did not.
While I had the TN license, I got two traffic tickets from Memphis that I never paid from 1999. I moved to Mississippi (Jackson) in 2000, got a Mississippi driver’s license. For traffic violations, Tennessee does not issue a warrant, (I called) so I had no worries in Mississippi. I have been stopped in Mississippi and the tickets from Tennessee and Nevada did not show up on their computers either. Mississippi used to have a wonderful insurance law. The law stated that one did not have to have insurance unless the motorist was involved in an accident.
So now, Corndog has an active Mississippi license and an inactive, suspended Tennessee license and a warrant in Nevada. I am happy to report that today that I do not live in the USA and rarely drive.
As an aside.
In the UK we have one driving licence which is valid until we are age 70 (at least mine does) we are allowed to drive all over the UK on this licence and never have to renew it or apply for another unless of course we lose it accidentally or it is taken from us by the courts.
My question is this, Does a US citizen have to apply for a fresh licence if he/she moves from one state to another and how often do you have to renew your licences.
Again, if you had lived in all 50 states (unlikely but possible) would you have to apply in each state for a licence.
Yes, you are supposed to apply for a new license if you move to a different state. Actually, for another thread I was at the DMV site for Virginia and they said you were supposed to apply for it within six weeks if you were planning to be a resident of VA.
There are exceptions of sorts. For example, students from one state who are studying in another are not required to to so because they are considered to be permenent residents of their home state and temporary residents of their school’s state.
But once you set yourself up to become a permanent resident of a particular state, you are expected to get a license for that state. The process varies, so does the criteria for “permanent resident.” You’d have to look up the DMV for details.
In Canada, it’s pretty much the same. A friend of mine who moved from Ontario to BC, pretty much just traded it in, no hassles.
Yes, you are supposed to surrender your last state’s license and apply for a new one when you move out of state; I believe they usually give you 30 days to do so.
Part of this has to do with the fact that the drivers’ license is the most commonly used official ID, and one’s current address is an important part of official ID. (If you move within the state, you are also supposed to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles or whichever equivalent government entity administers licenses in that state, and they either send you an updated card or allow you to write in the new address on the back. In practice, however, many people never bother updating an in-state address.)
Part of it is because it’s the states, not the feds, that issue drivers’ licenses, and each state has its own rules about how it’s done.
Most licenses are then valid for, I believe, five or ten years before they have to be renewed, provided you were at least 21 years old when you got the last license. If you’re younger, you have to renew more often until you’re 21. (I believe this is in large part because of the use of drivers’ licenses for proof of legal drinking age. Most states take a picture in 3/4 profile of the under-21 driver, but a straight-on picture of the 21-and-over, so that it’s immediately obvious if you have an underage license.)
However, when you get the new one, so long as the old one is still valid, whether it is from another state or not, I believe most states do not require you to take any kind of test, except for vision. You just fill out the forms, get a new photo taken, and take the eye test.
So, yes, if you had lived and driven in all 50 states, you would have been supposed to have had licenses in all 50.
But in many places, the only time you’d get in trouble for driving with an unexpired but out-of-state license would be if you were already in trouble for something else.