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If your license has been revoked under the Massachusetts Habitual Traffic Offender Law, please contact Attorney Brian E. Simoneau for a review of your case.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If your license was revoked as a Massachusetts Habitual Traffic Offender, please do not drive.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.