Long Island Traffic Attorney

Registration Suspension

Similar situation may happen when there is an insurance coverage lapse and registration gets suspended.

Common scenario: Driver gets car insurance, pays for 1 month and gets insurance card for a period of 6 months. Driver fails to make next insurance payment on time and the insurance company sends a letter to driver /registered car owner notifying him/her that the insurance company will notify DMV that such insurance was cancelled. The driver either ignores, forgets or does not get/does not read such letter and eventually insurance company notifies DMV that certain car does not have a mandatory NYS insurance. DMV will notify the registered car owner that failure to resolve this issue will cause DMV to suspend its registration. Owner fails to comply and continues to drive (whether an owner or anybody else) the car. DMV suspends registration of such vehicle prohibiting this vehicle form being operated on NYS public roads.

When this vehicle gets pulled over by police, whether for unrelated violation or if police run its license plate/registration, Police will check the validity of its registration. If it is suspended — driver of such car will get charged with a criminal offense – operating a motor vehicle with s suspended registration – VTL 512 – Unclassified Misdemeanor (a crime) and will issue summonses for the driver to appear in a criminal court, or village court if it happens within a village.

It does not matter if this driver is not the registered owner of this vehicle, ticket will still be issued. In addition to charging the driver with VTL 512, the officer may (and in many instances will) issue these additional charges – VTL 340 (unclassified misdemeanor), failure to surrender revoked/suspended plates to DMV, 401.1 – operating without registration, 319.1 – without insurance, 306b – without inspection. Many drivers puzzled why “no registration”, “no inspection”, “no insurance” are being charged since they have it on the date when they were pulled over. However, the fact that DMV suspended vehicle’s registration automatically cancels its inspection. If it is alleged that registration was suspended due to a lapse in insurance, police will also issue VTL 319.1 – operating without insurance since an insurance card will not be accepted as its proof at the scene.

Knowledgeable Long Island Traffic Lawyer, Criminal defense attorney will be able to negotiate a dismissal and reduction of these charges in court despite that there is a proof that registration was properly suspended by the DMV and driver was in fact operating a vehicle with a suspended registration.

There are situations when Nassau County Police will issue a driver Criminal charges to appear in First District Court of Nassau County (i.e. Criminal Court) at 99 Main Street, Hempstead, and at the same time will issue Traffic tickets (arising out of the same incident) to appear in Traffic Court – Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violation Agency located at 16 Cooper Street in Hempstead. These traffic tickets most likely will have different dates to appear.

If you find yourself in this situation, we suggest to contact our office for a consultation as there maybe a way of getting some of these tickets dismissed without rushing to court to resolve them.

Contact our office to get a detailed consultation on how we can dismiss charges against you in court. Contact Long Island Traffic Attorneys at 516-505-2300 or 718-368-2800 or email SharifovR@LawfirmSR.com

For more information, contact Sharifov & Associates, PLLC – Long Island Traffic Attorney at 516-505-2300 or email SharifovR@LawfirmSR.com. We offer free consultation on how we can get rid of criminal charges in court despite that driver was in fact driving with a suspended license on the date in question.