Your Driving Privilege

Driving is not a birthright, but a privilege granted by the Utah Department of Public Safety, Driver License Division (DLD) to those who are safe and responsible drivers. Part of the department's responsibility is to ensure that the highways are safe for everyone, and sometimes this means it must remove drivers from the public roadways who turn out to be a danger to others.

Should the DLD determine that you are not a safe or responsible driver, it may suspend your driving privilege―for months or even years―and it will take time and money to get it back. The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) reports moving violations to the DLD, so if you tend to get a lot of traffic tickets, your track record will catch up with you.

Check Your License Status

Whenever you need or want to check the status of your driver’s license, you can order a driving record report. This record will spell out if your driver’s license is currently valid. Should your license have been revoked or suspended, the report will indicate that according to what’s on record at the DLD. This report will also show points against your license and, in some cases, information on any accidents you have had.

How to Get Your License Suspended

You can lose your driving privileges any number of ways. Many drivers lose their licenses by establishing a long, consistent record of unsafe driving, while some offenses are so dangerous that crossing the line just once can result in an immediate suspension.

• Driving badly: If you manage to accumulate 200 points on your license within a three-year period (70 points if under 21), which you can do through various traffic offenses such as speeding, failing to signal, not coming to a full stop, and so forth, the DLD will summon you for a hearing.

  Drivers 21 and over who accumulate between 200 and 299 points may lose their license for three months. Racking up between 300 and 399 points will definitely result in a three-month suspension. You'll forfeit your license for six months if you garner 400 to 599 points, and if you collect 600 or more points, you can kiss your driving privileges goodbye for one year.

  See our page on Utah's point system for more information; detailed information about Utah's point system can also be found on an informational brochure prepared by the DLD.

• Arrest for DUI: The courts may suspend your driving privilege for three months to several years for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs, depending on the number and severity of offenses. Note that even if the courts do not convict you of this charge, the DLD may still find reason to suspend your license for at least 90 days and may do so independently. Note that the court suspension is in addition to the DLD suspension.

• Chemical test refusal: Failing to submit to a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) test requested by a law enforcement officer can result in an 18-month suspension for the first offense and a longer revocation for subsequent refusals.

• Driving without adequate insurance: See the DMV's information page for penalties.

• Alcohol-restricted driver violation: After certain convictions (DUI, refusing to submit to a chemical test, and others), you may be considered an alcohol-restricted driver. Driving with any measurable amount of alcohol in your system for the duration of your probation can result in your license being confiscated for one or more years.

• Failure to appear in court or pay a fine for a traffic violation.

Commercial Drivers

Because semi trucks and other juggernauts can cause worse accidents than passenger vehicles, the rules are stricter for drivers of commercial vehicles:

• Commercial drivers will lose their commercial driver license (CDL) for one year the first time they are convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, leaving the scene of an accident in which they were involved while driving their commercial motor vehicle (CMV), or using their commercial vehicle to commit a felony.

• Hazmat accidents: If a commercial driver commits any of these offenses while driving a commercial vehicle with a hazardous materials placard, their CDL will be pulled for three years or for life.

• Traffic violations: Your CDL will be suspended for 60 days if you have two serious traffic violations involving a CMV in two years.

• BAC: Driving a CMV with a blood alcohol concentration of only .04% or more will result in your license being suspended for one year.

Suspension Hearings

Whether you're licensed to drive passenger or commercial vehicles, the DLD may call you in for a hearing to evaluate your eligibility to drive, and you or your lawyer may also request a hearing with the division to contest a suspension.

The Driver License Division will notify you by mail if it decides to suspend your driving privilege. Suspensions by the courts are a different matter; you will have to argue your case in the courtroom.

Limited Licenses

In some cases, you may receive a limited license that allows you to drive only to and from work, but you'll have to prove to the court or the Driver License Division that your livelihood depends on being able to do so (for example, if there is no public transportation in your neighborhood and you live very far from where you work).

However, the court and the Driver License Division are more concerned with protecting public safety than with how hard your life will be without a license, so no one should depend on the mercy of the hearing officer or judge.

How to Get Your License Reinstated

Aside from the colossal inconvenience of not being able to drive, another deterrent to losing your license is the expensive process of getting it back when your suspension expires. In addition to paying any court-imposed fines (these can be hundred or thousands of dollars), you'll pay the Driver License Division a fee to reinstate your license when you become eligible to do so, plus an administrative fee. Forms are available at driver license field offices, and fees are as follows:

• Reinstatement: $25

• Reinstatement for an alcohol- or drug-related offense: $50

• Administrative fee for license reinstatement after an alcohol-related offense or an alcohol, drug, or combination of alcohol and any drug-related offense. This administrative fee is in addition to the reinstatement fee: $150

• Administration fee for license reinstatement after confiscation (pick-up order): $25

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