One speeding ticket. 12 years without a license. NC must change its flawed system | Opinion

In 2009, I drove 58 mph in a 45-mph zone and got a speeding ticket. Even though I wanted to make amends, I just couldn’t afford to pay the $288 in fines and fees imposed. by the court. Because I couldn’t afford to pay, my driver’s license was suspended.

I spent the next 12 years struggling to get by without a driver’s license. I wasn’t punished for my actual traffic offense. I was punished for not being financially stable.

There are over 800,000 people in North Carolina who are in the same position I was. They’ve had their license suspended because of court debt or unresolved traffic matters. According to the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law, half of those folks have not had a license for 10 years.

The North Carolina legislature can change that.

When my license was suspended, I was a single father raising two boys, ages 4 and 6, in Fayetteville. Like many people, I struggled to pay my bills. I was making $17 an hour doing data installation. Rent, groceries and other bills took most of my paycheck. With the little I had left, I made the difficult choice to spend the money on my children rather than paying money to the court.

I lost my job because it required that I drive. Without a license, it was hard to find other work. Most jobs I was qualified for required me to drive. Using the bus system was time-consuming. I asked for help from family, and my mom helped as much as she could, but it still wasn’t enough.

I had to take my kids to daycare and after-school programs, whether I had a driver’s license or not. That meant sometimes I drove without a license, and I got caught for that, too. I was not alone in that decision. The Wilson Center reports that three of four people with a suspended license continue to drive. Like me, they do not want to break the law, but have no other way to get to work or to the doctor or pick up their kids.

Like me, they are often met with more tickets for driving on a suspended license, adding to the impossible amount they owe.

I started working more often, and I saved up money. When I called the court clerk to confirm how much I owed and asked how I could pay, it seemed no one could help me. The process was so confusing that I got discouraged. I felt trapped.

I finally got my license restored when Pisgah Legal Services represented me pro bono. They got some of my citations dismissed and used a debt relief fund to pay off the remaining balance I owed the court.

Getting my license back is a critical step in my journey. I can support my family and help others. One of my jobs is to drive people to services they need as they reenter our community after incarceration or during recovery from substance use disorder. I pick them up from home and take them to AA, job interviews, grocery shopping, the food pantry, doctor, vocational services, or the YMCA.

So many people are trying to do the right thing to take care of their families. When their driver’s license is suspended because they can’t afford to pay a ticket, it traps them in a cycle of debt, pushing them into poverty.

But now, the North Carolina legislature has the chance to help people in situations like mine. Several bills have been introduced that would ban driver’s license suspensions for not being able to pay fines and fees or appear in court. I urge the general assembly to seriously consider these bills in this legislative session and pass a law that would end driver’s license suspensions for court debt to help people like me find jobs and get back on their feet.

This story was originally published May 28, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "One speeding ticket. 12 years without a license. NC must change its flawed system | Opinion."