Driving privileges suspended? It is more than a little inconvenient when driving privileges are suspended. Driving on a suspended license places you at risk for jail time and fines. If you’ve been charged with driving on a suspended or revoked license, Powell, Zero, Mundy can help.

In Pennsylvania, drivers that have their license suspended as a result of a DUI or a DUI-refusal, may not drive until they physically get their driver’s license returned to them. It is no defense that your finite period of suspension has ended and you “would have, could have” had your license. You may not drive a vehicle on the roadways of the Commonwealth until you physically have an operator’s license. Applying for an operator’s license does not have the same legal effect as actually possessing a valid driver’s license.

If you are convicted of or plead guilty to a Driving Under Suspension/DUI related offense, not only is there a great possibility that you will lose your license for an additional period of time, but there is a substantial possibility of jail time.

Any person who drives a motor vehicle on a highway or trafficway of the Commonwealth after commencement of a suspension, revocation or cancellation of operating privilege and before the operating privilege has been restored is guilty of a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $200.

A person who drives a motor vehicle on a Pennsylvania road or highway at a time when the person’s operating privilege is suspended or revoked for a violation relating to driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, if convicted, is guilty of a summary offense and a sentence of a $500 fine and not less than 60 days nor more than 90 days jail time. If he or she  has an amount of alcohol by weight in his blood that is equal to or greater than .02% at the time of testing or who at the time of testing has in his blood any amount of certain controlled substances, is subject on first conviction to a sentence of a $1,000 fine and jail time of not less than 90 days.

A second violation of 75 Pa. C.S.A. § 1543 is a third degree misdemeanor, and upon conviction carries a sentence of a $2,500 fine and not less than six months jail time. A third or subsequent violation is a first degree misdemeanor, and upon conviction carries a sentence of a $5,000 fine and jail time of not less than two years.

Upon receiving a conviction for driving with a suspended license, a driver will have his or her operating privileges suspended or revoked as follows:

(1) If the department’s records show that the person was under suspension, recall or cancellation on the date of violation, and had not been restored, the department shall suspend the person’s operating privilege for an additional one-year period. (2) If the department’s records show that the person was under revocation on the date of violation, and had not been restored, the department shall revoke the person’s operating privilege for an additional two-year period. 75 Pa. C.S.A. § 1543(c).