Under the Massachusetts Habitual Traffic Offender Law, the Mass. RMV will automatically suspend your Mass. license, for 4 years, if you have accumulated 3 or more so-called "major" violations  or  12 or more "minor" violations within a 5 year period.

According to the Mass. Habitual Traffic Offender Law, major violations are: DWI, DUI, OUI, or "drunk driving," driving under the influence of drugs, operating to endanger, making a false statement on a license, learner's permit, or registration application, leaving the scene of a property damage or personal injury accident, driving on a suspended license, driving without a valid license, or the commission of any felony in which a motor vehicle is used. 

Minor Habitual Traffic Offender Violations are "convictions of offenses which are required to be reported to the Mass. RMV and for which the Mass. Registry is authorized or required to suspend or revoke the person’s license or right to operate motor vehicles for 30 thirty days or more, including convictions of the major offenses listed above.

If a person with absolutely no prior Massachusetts Driving Record is convicted of multiple violations, with all violations occurring within a 6 hour period, the multiple offenses will be counted as a single violation for the purposes of the Massachusetts Habitual Traffic Offender Law.

Out of state offenses which were committed by a Massachusetts resident or while on a Massachusetts license count as if they occurred in Massachusetts for the purposes of the Mass. HTO Law.

Under the Mass. Habitual Traffic Offender Law, you are entitled to be considered for a hardship license only after you have served 1 year of the 4 year license revocation. This one year waiting period is written into the law and the Registry will not waive it under any circumstances. Also, you must have taken the National Safety Council Driver Re-training class within 3 years of your request for a hardship license.

If your license has been revoked under the  Massachusetts Habitual Traffic Offender Law, please contact Attorney Brian E. Simoneau for a review of your case. It may be possible to either get you a hardship license or get the revocation reversed entirely on legal grounds. Don't suffer through a 4 year license revocation, when it may be possible to get back on the road legally.

If your license was revoked as a Massachusetts Habitual Traffic Offender, please do not drive. If you are caught driving on a suspended license, you may be arrested and the Registry will not issue you a hardship license. Also, in addition to possible jail time, a conviction for driving on a suspended license will result in a new automatic license suspension.

On August 24, 2009, in the case of Joseph W. Gordon v. Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that Melanie’s Law is constitutional. Specifically, Gordon challenged the part of Melanie’s Law  that requires individuals with two or more DUI convictions, who seek a new  Mass. license or a reinstatement of a suspended or revoked license, to install an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) on all vehicles they own, lease, or operate. Once installed on a motor vehicle, the user must blow into the IID in order to start the vehicle's. The IID will not allow a vehicle to start if it detects a blood alcohol concentration level over a preset limit of .02.

Gordon was eligible to seek license reinstatement on December 17, 2005. He applied for the reinstatement on January 3, 2006, a few days after Melanie’s Law went into effect. The RMV refused to reinstate Gordon’s license without him having an IID installed on his vehicle. The Registry revoked Gordon’s Mass. Hardship License when he did not have the IID installed, as Melanie’s Law requires.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court determined that IID requirement of Melanie’s Law “does not violate Gordon's constitutional protection against ex post facto laws.” The Court further determined that the ignition interlock requirement was no “double jeopardy.” The Court also ruled that citizens do not have fundamental right to a driver’s license and all that is required to satisfy substantive due process rights is a rational basis for the license regulation. Here, there was a rational basis for the ignition interlock restriction.

This case reiterates that ignition interlock devices are required for all second or subsequent DUI offenders whose licenses were suspended on or after January 1, 2006. It does not matter if the person, like Gordon, was eligible to reinstate after January 1, 2006. If the license reinstatement occurred after that date, use of the ignition interlock device is mandatory. Basically, if you are legally required to have interlock, there is no way around it. Neither the Mass. Registry nor the Board of Appeal will give you relief from ignition interlock requirements.

The Mass. RMV Branch in Beverly will close on Friday, September 11, 2009. This closing was part of a cost saving measure which involves relocating branches from locations where the Mass. Registry was leasing space to state-owned buildings. Branch relocations will save 1.7 million dollars in the coming year. RMV Branches have already closed in some locations including Framingham and Southbridge. The Registry opened a branch at the Charlton rest area on the Mass. Pike and a RMV Express Office at the Natick Service area on the Mass. Pike. These two new locations will replace the Framingham and Southbridge locations.

If you have a license suspension or hardship license issue, you cannot go to these new locations and you must go to a Branch which does Registry hearings. These license suspension and hardship license hearings are currently being done in Beverly, Boston, Brockton, Lawrence, Lowell, S. Yarmouth, Springfield, Wilmington, and Worcester. Not all of these RMV branches offer hearings every day.

The Massachusetts Board of Appeal of the Division of Insurance hears hardship license, ignition interlock, and Mass. License Suspensions Appeals. The Board has the power to reverse, modify, and annul decisions of the Mass. RMV. Unlike the Registry, the Board does not hear appeals on a walk-in basis. Instead, appeals must be filed in advance and hearings are scheduled based on the length of the suspension and when the appeal was filed. The Board hears approximately 6,000 license suspension and hardship license cases per year, many of which are complex and time-consuming.  The following is the Board’s hearing schedule:

• 30 day license suspension appeals are heard approximately 2 weeks from filing
• 60 days license suspension appeals are heard approximately 3 weeks from filing
• 4-8 year license suspension appeals are heard approximately 12-14 weeks from filing
• 10 year license revocation appeals are heard approximately 3-6 months from filing
• Most other license suspension appeals are heard 6-10 weeks from filing.

There is nothing than can be done to expedite Board of Appeal hearings, so as to be fair to the thousands of people who file appeals each year.

If you have a Commercial Driver's License (CDL), there are strict rules and license suspension penalties which you should be aware of. Your CDL will be suspended for one (1) year for First Offense DUI, whether or not you were driving a commercial motor vehicle when you were arrested. Driving a commercial vehicle with a BAC of .04 or more, leaving the scene of an accident, using a vehicle in the commission of certain felonies, and refusing a breathalyzer test will all result in a 1 year license suspension.

With the exception of driving with a BAC of .04 or above, it does not matter whether your were driving a commercial motor vehicle at the time of the offense.

Your CDL will be revoked for life if you are found to have committed 2 or more violations of any of the offenses listed above, arising from 2 or more separate incidents.

Convictions for certain drug offenses will also trigger a lifetime CDL revocation.

Convictions for multiple minor traffic violations and violations of out of service orders will also result in CDL license suspensions. 

The Massachusetts Registry is required by law to revoke your Massachusetts License anytime your right to drive is suspended or revoked in another state. You absolutely cannot get a Mass. hardship license, work license, or a Cinderella license on an out of state revocation. In order to get your Massachusetts driver's license back, you must obtain the following items from the other state and provide them at your Massachusetts License Reinstatement hearing:

1. A certified copy of your driving record from the other state.
2. A clearance letter on letterhead, from the other state's Registry, Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV. The letter should state that your right to operate has been reisntated and that you are clear to drive.
3. If your license was revoked due to a criminal offense, such as DWI, DUI, OUI, DWAI, Drunk Driving, Reckless Driving, Operating to endanger, vehicular homicide, or a breathalyzer refusal, you will need a certified copy of the court docket from the out of state court where your case was heard. The docket should state the charges and the outcome.

All documents must be originals, dated not more than 30 days from your Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Hearing date. These documents will clear your National Driver Registry (NDR) indefinite suspension in Massachusetts. Your Mass. license will remain suspended unless and until your provide the above-listed documents to the RMV.

However, providing the above-listed documents to the Mass. RMV may trigger another license suspension. If you were licensed in Massachusetts or a Massachusetts resident at the time you were convicted of an out of state offense, the Mass. RMV is required by law to treat the offense as if it has occurred in Massachusetts. For example, if you committed a first offense out of state DUI, the Massachusetts Registry would revoke your license indefinitely until you met all of your obligations in the other state and provided the 3 documents listed above. Then Massachusetts would revoke your license for 1 year for having committed a First Offense DUI. In some cases, it is possible to get this one year revocation reduced to 45 days under the First Offender Program. Contact Attorney Brian E. Simoenau at 508-881-1119 or e-mail attorney@rmvappealcom for more information. 

As of July 1, 2009, if you are appealing a speeding or other traffic ticket, you must pay a non-refundable $25 filing fee. Although there is no mention of this fee on the citation, the fee is collected by the court at the time of the hearing. This means that even if you win the citation, you will have to pay. Because of this new fee, along the inconvenience of having to appear in court, many motorists will likely decide just to pay the citation. However, paying the citation is an admission of responsibility for the offense and not appealing can be a dangerous and costly mistake. If you have a combination of 5 citations (tickets) and accidents in a 3 year period, your license will be suspended until you take a National Safety Council driver retraining class. If you have a combination of 7 citations (tickets) and accidents in a 3 year period, your license will be automatically suspended for 60 days.  Additional citations can lead to a 4 year habitual traffic offender license revocation. 

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles has recently revised its Ignition Interlock Violation Hearing procedures. The new ignition interlock violation hearing process is explaiend below.

First, the ignition interlock service provider will notify the Registry of a possible violation as a result of data downloaded as part of the monthly monitoring and calibration visit. The Registry will then mail you an ignition interlock violation notice. The notice will describe the violation and reported BAC readings. The notice will also tell you the time and date of the alleged interlock violation.

The purpose of the interlock violation hearing is to determine whether the alleged violation actually occurred. The ignition interlock hearing is held pursuant to Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Regulations 540 CMR 9.00 CMR 9.00 and 540 CMR 25.11. At the hearing, you have the right to present your evidence and witnesses in rebuttal to the alleged interlock violation. You also have the right to be represented by counsel; however, you must accompany your counsel to the hearing. You may, at least two business days prior to the hearing, contact the Registry to ascertain the identities of any witnesses the Registry intends to have testify.

You are entitled to examine the documentary evidence, which will be used at your hearing in support of the alleged ignition interlock violation, at the Boston Registry of Motor Vehicles prior to or at the interlock hearing. At least two business days prior to the hearing date, the Registry requests that you fax, to the RMV Ignition Interlock Program Manager, any documentary evidence and memoranda which you will present at the hearing and the identities of any witnesses who will testify.

Ignition Interlock Violation hearings are recorded and the documentary evidence is preserved for review by the Board of Appeal or Superior Court. You will be defaulted if you fail to appear at the ignition interlock device violation hearing and a determination will be made at the hearing whether the violation occurred. If a determination is made that the violation occurred, the Registry will suspend your license pursuant to 540 CMR 25.11.

If you experience an interlock violation, you should document everything in detail and send a letter to the RMV explaining exactly what happened and why you beleive that you did not violate the ignition interlock law. This proactive response may avoid an interlock violation hearing. If you have questions regarding the Registry's Ignition Interlock Program, pelase contact Attorney Brian Simoneau at 508-881-1119.

On July 30, 2009, Thomas C. Plant of Rockland Massachusetts, who was awaiting trial on his 9th DWI offense, was involved in a minor car accident. A police officer who knew Plant responded to the accident and found him using a driver’s license with his photograph and address, but his brother’s name. Plant now faces charges of obtaining a false license, a felony which carries up to a 5 year state prison sentence under Massachusetts Law. Plante would likely have been caught eventually even if he had not been in the accident. The Massachusetts State Police use sophisticated facial recognition software which compares digital images of drivers to automatically identify individuals who have licenses under multiple names. Holders of these illegal licenses routinely get suspension notices from the Registry. Plant was charged with DWI as a result of the accident and his driver’s license was already suspended. If he is convicted, he will face an automatic suspension for violating the Massachusetts false license law. 

William Foley, Jr.’s license was revoked for 10 years for Vehicular Homicide after he caused an accident in 2001 which killed Christine Griffith, a 27-year-old mother from Randolph, Massachusetts. On Thursday, August 6, 2009, Foley appeared before the Board of Appeal to request a Massachusetts hardship license, which would have allowed him to drive for a 12 hour period each day. After a very emotional and highly publicized Board of Appeal hearing, where the victim’s family spoke out against putting Foley back on the road, the Board denied Foley’s request for hardship relief. The Board denied Foley, in part, because he did not have a legitimate hardship. He could use public transportation to get to work. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office “strongly opposed to any reduction of the mandatory loss of license.” Foley was a multiple offender with 5 DWI incidents on his Massachusetts Driving Record. Since Foley’s conviction, the Massachusetts Legislature has amended the Vehicular Homicide law by increasing the license revocation period for Vehicular Homicide from 10 years to 15 years. 

Note: Mr. Foley was not represented by a Massachusetts Suspended License Lawyer.