15 Nov Important New Cell Phone Law
Important New Cell Phone Law
Commentary By Jamie Raizin of Raizinlaw.com
You may have heard that the New York State DMVwill impose 5 points for drivers found guilty of using a cell phone while driving. That law is now in place.
In addition to getting three (3) points on your driving record (5 points as of June 1, 2013). , you will be charged a fine plus New York State surcharges.
However, that is not all! You can lose even more of your hard earned money. You may not be aware of it, but NY has a Driver Responsibility Assessment that is charged in addition to fines and surcharges. This Driver Responsibility Assessment applies to all drivers on New York roads — even those with an out-of-state license.
It works like this: If you obtain six points on your driver record, from one or more tickets having volation dates within any 18 months period, the assessment is $300.00 (you may pay a yearly minimum of $100.00 a year for 3 years – but don’t miss a payment because you will be suspended immediately on nonpayment).
If you incur more than six points on your driver record during an 18 month period (based again on violation date and not conviction date), the assessment is $75.00 additional for every point more than the original six points (you may pay a yearly minimum of $25.00 a year for 3 years for each additional point – but, again, I warn you: do not miss a payment because you will be suspended immediately on nonpayment). When it comes to the assessment, note that although you can take a Point Reduction Course (depending on when you last took it and when the tickets were issued) to reduce your driver violation point total to avoid a suspension on 11 points obtained (from violation date) in an 18 month period and your insurance premiums, but the completion of a Point Reduction Course does not change your driver responsibility assessment!
So, if a cell phone ticket is now 5 points and the assessment is charged on 6, you may still wonder why that is important? This is why: although you may not have any other tickets (from violation date) in an 18 month period, you do not know what the future holds for you. The police are all over looking to help the state, cities, counties and towns with their budget issues . Even if you never received tickets in your life, it doesn’t mean you will never get another. So do not take these cell phone tickets (or any other tickets) for granted. You never know when you will get another ticket to trigger the assessment
I hope this has helped you. In these hard economic times, do not take anything for granted. If you need more help, please feel free to send me an email or to call me.
Jamie Raizin
[email protected]
(516) 221-8400
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