[B]URLINGTON — Vermont will hold a one-day pilot event to allow drivers who have had their licenses suspended for failure to pay traffic tickets to have them reinstated by paying reduced fines, officials announced Thursday.
Close to 22,000 people in the state have suspended licenses resulting from overdue traffic fees, state officials say.
Those suspensions have a disproportionate impact on Vermont’s working poor, many of whom must drive to work. An initial unpaid traffic ticket can lead to more tickets and frequently results in a criminal suspension of one’s license. That fuels a cycle of traffic fines, unemployment and incarceration, according to officials and advocates.
“No one is served by a system where Vermonters who can’t afford to pay traffic tickets are faced with the decision of breaking the law, and risking increased fines, in order to work and earn a living,” Gov. Peter Shumlin said Tuesday.
That’s what happened to Alana Martin, 26, of Cambridge. She lost her license for a tobacco violation before she was even old enough to drive. Subsequently, Martin racked up traffic fines for driving with a suspended license that she said total $2,000. A single mother of three receiving state assistance, she’s unemployed and having difficulty finding work because she doesn’t want to drive and risk further violations.
“A program like this would help me greatly to get back on my feet and be successful for myself and my family,” Martin said.
On March 20, residents in Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille and Washington counties who have delinquent traffic tickets — those 75 days or older — will be able to pay $20 for each outstanding fine to have their license reinstated, Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan said.
The pilot event is called Driver Restoration Day and will take place at the Costello Courthouse in Burlington, where residents of the five counties will have to go to take part. Officials from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Judiciary will be on hand to adjudicate the proceedings. Prosecutors in the other nine Vermont counties are not taking part in the pilot program.
“These folks are driving because they have to,” Donovan said. “They’re driving to get to work; they’re driving to put food on the table; they’re driving to take care of their kids, take care of their loved ones, and we want to help them.”
He encouraged people who plan to attend to call his office at 863-2865 so staff can prepare their files. People must pay with a credit card, money order or bank check. Cash will not be accepted. Parking violations are not eligible, officials said.
Vermont law makes five civil tickets for driving with a suspended license a criminal offense. Donovan’s office handled 960 criminal cases of driving with a suspended license last year. Prosecutors typically try to have the defendants’ licenses reinstated and the cases dismissed, but often people can’t pay the associated fines and the cases proceed, Donovan said.
“I can tell you the law is well-intentioned, but it is not an effective strategy of promoting public safety,” he said.
Driver Restoration Day is not a “gift” for people with unpaid traffic fines, but a public safety measure, according to Donovan. Many of the 22,000 people with suspended licenses are driving anyway and without insurance. That puts other motorists at risk, he said.
Though it can’t be enforced, Donovan said he’s hoping that drivers will exercise “personal responsibility” and buy insurance once their license is reinstated. Otherwise, he added, their next traffic stop could land them back at the start of a downward cycle.
Asked about safety on the roadways March 20, when potentially thousands of drivers with suspended licenses are being told to come to Burlington, Donovan suggested they rely on the generosity of friends, neighbors or advocates. Shumlin suggested they take public transportation.
For drivers in counties that are not participating in the pilot, or those who can’t make it to the Costello Courthouse, Vermont offers a court diversion program for people with a criminal suspension of their license. That program has payment plans and income-sensitive thresholds for overdue fines.
Elected officials present for the announcement would not endorse introducing income sensitivity into traffic fines, as is done in some European countries, to avoid court diversion programs or special restoration events, but Christopher Curtis, a Legal Aid attorney, said he thought it should be researched and vetted by lawmakers as an option.
“I’m all for it,” he said, “I think it could really help avoid this snowball effect that people experience from happening in the first place.”