CONSEQUENSES OF RECEIVING AN OUT-OF-STATE TRAFFIC TICKET

Although traffic infractions are no longer considered to be criminal offenses in Washington State, I am making this posting in a criminal defense blog because many criminal defense lawyers, myself included, also handle traffic tickets. In addition, the consequences of receiving a traffic ticket that remains unpaid can result in criminal charges, as I will explain below. Just to clarify if anyone is confused, states share information regarding traffic tickets. That includes California and Oregon. If you get a traffic ticket in California or Oregon, Washington will know about it.

People sometimes ask me what will happen if they ignore a ticket they received while visiting another state. The answer is you will almost certainly have your driver's license suspended. Under the interstate Driver's License Compact (DLC), states share information with other member states so that drivers essentially have just one driving record which includes all traffic violations committed in every state.

Under the DLC, if you are cited with a traffic violation in another state while you're visiting and the state in which you live permanently has a similar statute prohibiting the same action for which you were cited in the other state, your home state will file an action against you as if the violation had occurred in your home state and your state will apply it's own law. If you disregard the citation and fail to pay the fine or request a hearing, your license will be suspended until the ticket is payed off.

But what if while you're visiting another state, you get a ticket for something that is illegal in that state, but is not considered to be a traffic violation in your home state? That's where the Non-Resident Violator's Compact comes in. 45 states in the U.S. are members of the Non-Resident Violator's Compact. If your state is a member of the Compact and you receive a traffic ticket (for something that would not be illegal had you done it in your home state) in another member state, that state will inform your home state of the traffic ticket. If you do not take care of the ticket, the state in which you received your ticket will inform the state in which you reside and your driver's license will be suspended until the ticket is payed.

If your address of record filed with the Depatment of Licensing (DOL) is not current, then you will not receive notice of the suspension. This is how many people get charged with Driving While License Suspended (DWLS) in the 3rd degree- they were unaware that an out-of-state ticket would have any affect on the status of their driver's license and did not receive notice because their address of record was not current.

If you were issued a traffic ticket in another state, in order to keep your driver's license, you will need to either (1) pay the ticket, (2)request a contested hearing or a mitigation hearing and return to the state where you received the ticket and fight the ticket yourself, or (3) hire a traffic lawyer who is licensed in that state to fight the ticket for you. Your safest bet is option (3).

All states are members of the Non-Resident Violator's Compact except for Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Montana, Oregon,and Alaska.

A newer law called the Driver's License Agreement (DLA) has been written to take the place of both the Driver's License Compact and the non-Resident Violator's Compact. As of the date of this posting, only Connecticut, Arkansas, and Massachusetts are members of this agreement. I will write more about the DLA in a future posting.