Tennessee: Revoked

Almost 10 months after a judge suspended Jason Ansley’s driver’s license for a year, the 27-year-old Chattanooga man crashed his car into a Brainerd apartment.

In addition to being booked on charges of felony reckless endangerment and other violations, Mr. Ansley was charged with driving on a suspended license — for the second time in a year, Hamilton County court records show.

“Something should be done more seriously with people that drive without licenses,” said the apartment owner, Delma Wade, who estimated the February crash caused about $10,000 damage to her Germantown Road residence and ruined her sewing machines, TV, an antique chest, table and bookcase. “I don’t think the laws are strict enough.”

While Mrs. Wade pieces her life back together, Mr. Ansley awaits a July 23 appearance in Hamilton County Criminal Court.

Thousands of motorists who lose their license to drive, such as Mr. Ansley, refuse to give up their keys. About 5 percent — or 220,000 — of the 4.4 million drivers in Tennessee have suspended or revoked licenses, according to the Department of Safety.

People who choose to drive with suspended or revoked licenses have no regard for laws — that’s usually why their licenses were suspended in the first place, said Robert Scopatz, Ph.D., director of research and consulting services for Data Nexus Inc., which conducted a national study on the issue for the AAA Foundation.

“All the data we have show that these folks are more dangerous, higher risk drivers than the general population,” Dr. Scopatz said. “The explanation that makes the most sense ... is that these folks are not really caring that much about the laws in the first place and so they’re breaking traffic laws, driving without a valid license.”

A Chattanooga Times Free Press analysis of Tennessee Department of Safety crash data shows almost 5 percent — or about 29,542 — of the 595,404 traffic accidents that occurred in Tennessee in 2006 and 2007 involved drivers without valid licenses. The analysis does not include unlicensed motorists.

Of the 3,553 fatal crashes during the two-year span, 271 — or 7.6 percent — involved drivers without valid licenses, the analysis shows.

Tennessee ranks above the 7 percent national average of all drivers involved in fatal crashes who had a suspended, canceled or revoked license at the time of the crash, according to 2001-to-2005 data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Almost 27,000 drivers convicted of driving under the influence in 2006 and 2007 had a suspended, revoked or canceled license at the time of their citation, the Times Free Press analysis shows. Those drivers represent 16.2 percent of all drivers convicted of a DUI, according to the analysis.

The number of people driving with suspended licenses is increasing, Dr. Scopatz said. Part of the reason stems from courts issuing more suspensions and revocations. Another reason is that people rely heavily on their vehicles to get to work or school and are willing to risk driving with an invalid license. And, many drivers have have histories of drug or alcohol abuse, which puts them at a higher risk for accidents than the average resident, he said.

Last year, the Department of Safety suspended, revoked or canceled 233,000 licenses and reinstated 104,000. That number changes daily, said spokesman Mike Browning.

Some people do not reinstate their license because of the cost, he said.

One state lawmaker introduce legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly this year to put the brakes on drivers who take to the roads with invalid licenses.

“There are too many accidents, too many innocent people getting hurt and their property being destroyed and them getting killed,” said state Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin.

He proposed legislation that would have increased penalties for driving on a canceled, suspended or revoked license from no days in jail to a minimum of 10 days.

Those charged with driving on a license that was suspended, revoked or canceled because of a vehicular assault, vehicular homicide or driving under the influence conviction would be subject to a minimum of 20 days under the bill. A second offense would result in a 30-day jail sentence under the bill.

The bill ultimately failed because its provisions were deemed too expensive, Rep. Casada said. Added costs to local government were estimated at $13.5 million, primarily because of costs of increased prison time for offenders, according to a draft of the legislation.

Rep. Casada said he plans to bring the proposal back to the legislature next year.

Repeat Offenders

Across the country, almost 7,000 drivers involved in fatal crashes have had their license suspended or revoked at least once in the preceding three years, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. More than 1,700 had their licenses suspended or revoked three or more times, and 100had their licenses suspended or revoked 10 or more times in the three years before the crash, according to the foundation.

According to the Times Free Press analysis, 58 of the 271 drivers involved in accidents resulting in their own or another’s death had five or more suspensions or revocations, with the two highest having 34 and 29 suspensions, respectively. Both were in Davidson County.

Lt. Charles Lowery, traffic division supervisor with the Hamilton County Sheriff ’s Department, said cracking down on motorists on the road illegally is a problem.

“There’s no way to monitor a person,” he said, “How to rectify that, we have no idea. If their mind is made up to drive, then they’re going to drive.”

Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge David Bales said he sees about six people each day on charges of driving without a valid license, . He sentences them to between three and 10 days of public works, in addition to fines and court costs.

“We’re cracking down here now,” Judge Bales said. “People have to learn that the law is the law and be in compliance.”

But Dr. Scopatz said getting these drivers off the roads will take more than law enforcement.

“I don’t think we can really rely on the enforcement solutions alone,” he said, referring to traffic checkpoints and court-imposed punishments. “We need to change the attitudes if we’re really going to drive the numbers in the right direction. For some of these folks, unless they’re behind bars, they are not going to stop driving.”

In 2007, there were more than 22,800 convictions in Tennessee for driving on a suspended, revoked or canceled license, safety department records show. Of those, 17,000 were considered first-time offenders.

About 75 percent of all first-time offenders — or 12,750 drivers — had their licenses suspended, canceled or revoked because of vehicular assault, vehicular homicide or driving under the influence, according to department data.

Lt. Lowery said most offenders are caught because they violate some other traffic laws, anything from a headlight violation to failing to signal a lane change. Officers can stop motorists for driving on a suspended or revoked license only if they know for certain that person has an invalid license, he said.

From May 12 to June 1 of this year, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department cited or arrested 45 people for driving on revoked or suspended licenses.

Since October, the sheriff’s department has arrested or cited 268 people for invalid licenses through the Alcohol Impaired Driver enforcement, which sends out officers on paid overtime to look for drunken drivers.

And during a recent two-week law enforcement mobilization conducted by the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the 28-county Cumberland region, which includes Hamilton County, officers arrested or cited 1,019 motorists for driving on suspended or revoked licenses, said Clint Shrum, the law enforcement liaison in the governor’s highway safety office. That averages about 48.5 people arrested or cited each day.

“Had it not been for these checkpoints, we never would have known there was a violation,” Mr. Shrum said.

One of the most frequent excuses police officers hear is that drivers don’t know their licenses are suspended or revoked. For a majority of people, that’s simply not true, said Mr. Browning of the safety department.

The department sends notices in the mail to drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked, or drivers are notified by the court, he said. The court has 30 days to submit the conviction to the safety department and the time varies on notices being mailed depending on the type conviction (from 10 days to 60 days), he said.

Some drivers who need to travel to work or school can receive restricted licenses to drive only to those locations, according to the state Department of Safety.

But Michelle Luthringer, 39, said she had no idea her license was suspended. A camera captured her vehicle running a red light in July 2006, but she said she never received the ticket in the mail.

When she didn’t pay the fine, her license was suspended. She drove until she was stopped for speeding in January, when an officer told her her license was invalid.

“They tried to notify me, but I had nonforwardable mail,” Ms. Luthringer said. “I needed to know about if before something happened.”

Mr. Browning said the revocation/suspension notices are mailed to the address on file for the driver and failure to receive the notice does not prevent the revocation/suspension from going into effect.

Ms. Luthringer twice had pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended license in 1997 and 1998 and also pleaded guilty in 1995 to driving an unregistered vehicle.

Accidents while driving with an invalid license in Hamilton County