New York Eliminates Driver’s License Suspensions for Unpaid Traffic Tickets
The New York Senate joined the Assembly Thursday in passing the Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act.
The majority of all New York driver‘s license suspensions are for traffic tickets that residents cannot afford to pay which traps hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers into a cycle of traffic debt and the inability to drive.
The new reform ends suspension of driver’s license due to traffic debt, includes affordable payment plans, and reinstates the licenses of people whose are currently suspended because of their inability to pay their ticket fees.
New York issued nearly 1.7 million driver’s license suspensions for traffic debt between January 2016 and April 2018.
In the last three years nine U.S. states including California, Idaho, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, have passed similar legislation.