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Hi
mugwort:
THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, JUST MY OPINION
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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