The complaint also seeks to eliminate DMV reinstatement fees, and fees charged for hearings to dispute suspensions, which block people from explaining to the DMV why they cannot pay. The lawsuit further seeks to lift the suspensions of driver’s licenses for failure to pay traffic tickets imposed under this system. The current practice bars nearly 200,000 people from driving. It seeks to end the DMV’s indefinite suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of traffic fines and fees without proper notice or a hearing. District Court for the District of South Carolina. The lawsuit argues that people living with an indefinite driver’s license suspension under South Carolina’s wealth-based system are robbed of a crucial means of self-sufficiency and are pushed deeper into poverty. It can literally mean choosing between using limited financial resources to pay off outstanding fines and costs to be able to drive legally, or paying for rent, utilities, food, childcare and other necessities.Ĭarter is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that the SPLC and its partners filed today, challenging the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV’s) policy of automatically suspending the driver’s licenses of people who are unable to pay traffic tickets. For tens of thousands of people like Carter, paying a traffic ticket is a financial hardship. So if I have to go to church or work, sometimes I have to decide whether I’m going to even go or not because of the lack of funds.”Ĭarter is one of the more than 190,000 South Carolinians who currently have suspended driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic tickets. Some days I don’t even have enough money for an Uber or a bus. “I went from being the breadwinner in my household to now having to rely on family and friends for transportation, to pay my bills. “To not be able to drive legally, I feel like a prisoner in my own city,” she said. And she cannot drive to visit her son in the Navy. An Air Force veteran, she cannot take a well-paying job as a case manager because it requires her to have a driver’s license. Now, due to limited bus service in her area, she often can’t get to her part-time job, her doctor’s office, the store or church without the help of friends or a car service. To get a hearing where she could explain why she couldn’t pay the $1,600, she would have to pay an additional $800 in filing fees that she could not afford. To get her license back, the North Charleston resident would have to pay more than $1,600 that she didn’t have.

Sc drivers license status check