Alameda County Superior Court Reverses License Suspensions for Nearly 54,000 Drivers Who Couldn’t Afford to Pay Traffic Fines

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Nearly 54,000 East Bay drivers can legally get back on the road after Alameda County Superior Court announced Monday that it will reverse holds on driver’s licenses that were suspended due to inability to pay a traffic ticket.

California ended failure-to-pay suspensions on driver’s licenses in June 2017, with the passage of Assembly Bill 103. But Alameda County Superior Court is one of the first courts in the state that has directed the DMV to lift old failure-to-pay suspensions in addition to not issuing new ones.

Advocates from the legal advocacy coalition Back on the Road, California see the decision as a move in the right direction. Brittany Stonesifer, a member of the coalition and a staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, explained that failure-to-pay suspensions disproportionately affect low-income people who have no option but to not pay a traffic ticket.