If convicted of a DUI offense in New Jersey, your license will be suspended for a set period. This suspension starts at three months for a first offense (seven months if your BAC was above .10), and gets longer for subsequent DUI convictions.
As we outlined in a previous blog post, driving while suspended carries severe penalties, including a $500 fine and a jail sentence of between 10 and 90 days. But if you need your car to drive to work, pick up your children from school or attend class, what are your options? Is it possible to get a conditional license while suspended?
Unfortunately, in New Jersey, a license suspension is absolute. Unlike other states, where conditional licenses can be acquired for the purposes of commuting to work, driving for work, travelling to court-mandated DUI education programs and other approved reasons, no such option exists in New Jersey.
Without this provision, a license suspension can have a huge impact on your day-to-day life. Losing your driving privileges could mean finding another way to travel to work, placing extra responsibility on family members or adjusting your schedule around public transportation schedules. In some situations, these consequences may only be inconvenient; in others, they could seriously jeopardize your employment, your family relationships and your quality of life as a whole.
If you’ve been arrested for DUI and are facing a license suspension, contacting an experienced and effective DUI attorney should be your first priority. A lawyer can assess the circumstances surrounding your arrest, evaluate the accuracy of the evidence against you and explore all the possibilities for retaining your driving privileges.
