Statutory and Regulatory Enforcement and Adjudication of Infractions Provisions

• Provided for mandatory suspension and revocation of driver licenses based upon traffic points (at 10 and 12 points, respectively).
• Allowed people owing substantial fines to pay in installments.
• Established an initial six-month amnesty period on the effective date of the Act for tickets issued before April 9, 1997. The program provides that any person who, during the amnesty period, admits to an infraction and pays the fine will have all applicable penalties and points waived. The Director may implement later programs provided he or she sends to the Council written notice 45 days prior to implementation of such programs.
• Allowed a person to admit the traffic infraction and provide an explanation, in person or in writing. The hearing examiner may, in turn, waive points or authorize their deletion upon completion of driving school.
• Allowed regular mail service of a notice of license suspension or revocation, to take effect 15 days after mailing.
• Extended to 30 days the time within which traffic notices of infraction must be answered before the license is suspended.
• Extended to 30 days the time within which parking notices of infraction must be answered before the imposition of penalties.
• Deemed all traffic and parking offenses to have been admitted at 60 days in cases where notices of infraction have not been answered.
• Provided for default judgment and license suspension where a person fails to appear for a scheduled moving violation hearing; allows the Hearing Examiner to vacate a default judgment under specific circumstances.
• Provided 15 days before suspension of license for failure to pay assessed fines after hearing examiner's final decision.
• Established 30 days within which a person may move to vacate a default judgment of a parking violation and 90 days for a moving violation.
• Amended the Mandatory Seatbelt Act of 1985 to allow for a maximum of 3 points to be assigned to a driver's record for simultaneous multiple violations of the Act.
• Assigned 1 good driving point (with accumulation of 5 total) to drivers not assessed points during the year.
• Exempted from point assessment all violations (issued to drivers age 18 or over) through use of automated traffic enforcement systems.
• Prohibited issuance of an occupational license to drivers who have accumulated 16 points and condition such license on compliance with all traffic laws.