🚀 go-pugleaf

On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 13:22:47 GMT, Ron Natalie <ron@spamcop.net> swung
a leg over their bike, fired it to life, looked at me and belched:

>
>
>ConsumerBot wrote:
>
>> That sounds great. Did any record of the violation appear in your DMV
>> record? In other words, can your insurance company see any record of
>> it? I'm perfectly happy wasting a day and $75 in exchange for not
>> paying hundreds of dollars more in insurance rates. Thank you.
>
>Nope.  The case is continued for 6 months, and if you submit the proof
>that you took the course, it is automatically dismissed.  You are
>ineligible to use the dodge again for 3 years I believe.


from my experience as an ex-DMV employee I submit the following:

1.  An illegal "U" turn will most likely not increase your insurance
since most insurance companies look at speeding  violations or
accidents as a basis of potential risk.  It's the *frequency* of
violations that normally get people in trouble.


2. There are two ways you can take a driver improvement course:

a. DMV/Court order - you have no choice, either take it or your
license is suspended or revoked.

or

b. Voluntarily attend - this is done if you don't want *active* points
on your record.  Not to expunge them.  The conviction will still
appear on your record but it will no longer be active.  In other words
there will not be any points assessed against your record. Keep in
mind that this isn't "free". You not only have to pay for attending
the course but if you receive another moving violation within three
years, you *will* have your license suspended.   The court feels that
since you took their course and they removed the points, you should
know better in the future and they'll deal much more harshly with you
if you screw up.

As always, there are always exceptions to the rule, however this is
normally how it works.

Also as a Virginia driver, you accrue "safe driver points".  One point
for each year you do not have an active violation on your record
(typically "active" points become "inactive" after three years with
the violation not showing up on passive record pulls after seven
years).  You can accumulate up to 5 safe driver points.  If you get
a speeding ticket (for example 10-19mph over the speed limit is
3 points), the 3 points is taken from your "safe driver pool" and
applied to your active points.  Thus nullifying the 3 active points
from your record and leaving 2 remaining safe driver points.  You
will not start to accumulate any more safe driver points until three
years *after* the last active conviction on your record.

If you get a copy of your driving record at DMV, you will see two
dates, the conviction date and the date of release.  The date of
release will be the date that the offense will no long be active on
your record.

I personally doubt that you'll get an illegal U turn dropped if you
went to traffic court unless you can prove extenuating circumstances
(emergency, no sign posted, avoidance of an impending accident, etc.).
But an illegal U turn isn't usually considered a serious violation (I
believe it's only 2 points off your record).

Incidently:

You can have your license suspended in various ways, here are the
most common:

1. DUI (of course)

2 Rapid accumulation of points (more than 4 less than one  year), or
a total of 7 active points on your record is automatic suspension.


3. Court ordered suspension due to reckless driving (4 points
automatic btw), or revocation due to current conviction and past
driving record.

..and

4. Non-compliance with a court ordered "drive to work only" suspension
or violation of the 3 year rule following attendance of a safe driver
course.


I'm not a lawyer and laws can change frequently, however this is how
I remember them.  If you're not sure or want to clarify, swing by a
local DMV office and ask their manager for clarification (they have
tons of manuals that outline all of the above).

cheers,


-aki
01 FXDWG 
85 700 Magna
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