THE IMPORTANCE OF DEFENDING DWI/DUI CASES

COMMERCIAL DRIVERS BEWARE:

DWI AND OTHER MOTOR VEHICLE CONVICTIONS, AS WELL AS A REFUSAL TO SUBMIT TO A CHEMICAL TEST, MAY RESULT IN THE REVOCATION OF YOUR CDL, EVEN IF YOU WERE NOT OPERATING A COMMERCIAL VEHICLE.
THE CDL LOSS MAY BE FOR 60 DAYS TO LIFETIME, DEPENDING ON YOUR MV RECORD.
THE CDL LOSS MAY BE FOR A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER TIME THAN FOR THE LENGTH OF THE LOSS OF YOUR NH LICENSE OR RIGHT TO OPERATE.

DWI CONVICTIONS AND REFUSALS

If you hold a commercial driver license and are convicted of DWI, even though you were not operating a commercial vehicle at the time, you face a longer revocation of your CDL license than the Court imposed for your conviction. If you have no prior DWI convictions, your CDL will be revoked for one year, or the period of time for which the Court revoked your license, whichever is longer. A ninety-day revocation for DWI in a non-commercial vehicle, would result in the loss of your CDL for one year; you would, however, be entitled to the restoration of your regular, non-commercial license at the end of the ninety days imposed by the New Hampshire court. If you are suspended by the New Hampshire Department of Safety for refusing to submit to a chemical test, even in a non-commercial vehicle, you will lose your CDL for a period of one year. A second-offense DWI conviction or refusal will result in a lifetime loss of your CDL. If you have both a DWI and a refusal arising from two separate incidents, you will lose you Commercial Driverï¿½s License for life; and, for CDL purposes, DWI convictions and refusals do not disappear from your record after 10 years, but remain there forever. Further, I understand from commercial drivers whom I have represented that, even though a driver with a DWI conviction on his or her record may have had his CDL restored, it is likely to be difficult to find or to continue employment as a commercial driver because of onerous reporting requirements imposed on employers by State and Federal law.

SERIOUS MOTOR VEHICLE VIOLATIONS

Conviction of serious offenses other than DWI can also result in lengthy CDL suspensions regardless of whether you were driving a commercial motor vehicle. A single conviction for leaving the scene of an accident will result in a one-year suspension of your CDL, even if you receive no suspension of your New Hampshire operatorï¿½s license as a result of the conviction itself. Should you at that time have on your record a previous DWI, or conduct after an accident conviction, or a refusal to submit, you face loss of your CDL for life.

MINOR MOTOR VEHICLE CONVICTIONS

Other motor vehicle convictions, even for minor offenses, can result in a revocation of your CDL. If you are convicted of speeding, reckless driving, illegally changing lanes, following too close, and have as few as two previous similar offenses within a three-year period, you face the loss of your CDL for 120 days, even if you were operating a non-commercial vehicle at the time. Should you receive a license loss for one of the offenses listed immediately above, and you have one prior conviction for any of those offenses within the last three years, you will lose your CDL for 60 days.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

The law on loss of the CDL is complicated and difficult to interpret, as it is based on a combination of New Hampshire and Federal statutes and regulations. Since the New Hampshire Department of Safety has not been administering these CDL suspensions for long, there is little settled law with regard to matters which are not made clear by the language of those statutes and regulations. As a result, if you hold a CDL, you should check with a lawyer familiar with CDL law prior to entering a plea of guilty to any motor vehicle offense. If you are charged with a DWI, legal representation simply makes sense.