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Habitual Traffic Offender (HTO)
Being classified as a habitual traffic offender is seriously impact your life. Your license will be suspended for a minimum of 4 years with a maximum of up to 7 years. If you are in danger of being designated an HTO, contact an attorney immediately. Do not wait until it is too late and you have already been classified as such.
There are two ways an individual can be classified as a habitual traffic offender. Most frequently, an individual will receive three convictions of serious driving crimes within a 5 year period. The list of qualifying crimes is quite long but they include DUI, Reckless Driving, Physical Control, Hit & Run attended, and Driving while license suspended (DWLS) 1° and 2°. The DWLS 2° is especially important to be aware of because that is often what gets people. After being convicted of the first crime, your license is then suspended. The person will then be caught driving illegally and suddenly they have two strikes within a short period of time. You can see how things can quickly get out of control if you are not careful.
The other way you can be classified as HTO is by committing 20 moving violations within a 5 year period. This includes both driving crimes as well as certain traffic tickets, such as speeding, unsafe lane changes, or failure to stop tickets. It is difficult to become HTO with tickets though. You will get warning letters in advance and will often face suspensions earlier than the 20. If you get 4 moving violations within a 12 month period of time, your license will be suspended. If you get a 5th moving violation within 24 months, your license will be suspended. If you get up to 20 within 5 years, then you will be facing HTO status. As you can see it is difficult to reach HTO status without being warned.
You do not want to just hire an attorney when you are facing your 4th ticket within 12 months or your 20th within 5 though. It is much easier to keep a clean record clean than to try to rehabilitate a bad record. That said, hire an attorney before your license is suspended rather than after.
If you think there is a chance your license could be in danger, give our office a call. We will be more than happy to discuss your situation and explain to you what you could be facing.