WPBN: A second amendment to Kansas law regarding suspended, revoked, and limited driver’s licenses is scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the new year. Ashton Gomez is sighing with relief this holiday season, just like thousands of other drivers throughout the state.
“It’s a relief… a weight off your shoulders for sure, like knowing that you’ll be able to drive again eventually,” Gomez stated.
She hopes to obtain a restricted license in 2025 as a result of the state law amendments brought about by SB 500’s enactment this year.
Among other things, the new law will increase the number of people who can obtain such restricted temporary licenses to drive to places like work, school, and the doctor while they settle the penalties and costs that caused their license to be suspended in the first place.
“I’d gotten in a wreck,” she replied, referring to the fact that her license was suspended. “They then suspended my license before I could even obtain it. After that, I incurred numerous fines that I was unable to pay.
Even those whose licenses have been revoked because of offenses for driving while suspended will be eligible to resume driving early as of January 1. For Gomez and others like Peter Ninemire, a local activist who has been campaigning for years to modify Kansas’ laws pertaining to suspended and restricted driver’s licenses, it’s one of many improvements that came with the passing of SB 500.
“Twelve years, 13 years… started back in 2008 so really longer than that,” he stated. “Until, thanks to you, Pilar, you picked it up,”
In addition to extending the eligibility for limited licenses, SB 500 will permit judges to provide restricted driver’s licenses right away rather than automatically suspending them while Kansans settle their fines and costs after missing the first 30-day deadline.
Additionally, it restricts the license reinstatement fee to a mere $100.
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Due to their inability to pay for a traffic ticket and the fact that the late costs would only increase, hundreds of thousands of Kanans have been unable to drive.
“They would have these exorbitant fines that they had no chance of paying off,” Ninemire stated. “So it’s like a lifetime disenfranchisement, which really amounts to, you know, crime of poverty.”
“It’s cruel,” Gomez stateed. “I mean, I don’t… it’s real, but it’s not fair. At all. It’s really not.”
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Proponents of such changes argue that allowing more Kansans to drive lawfully will keep more of them employed and able to pay their obligations, including auto insurance. We all benefit from lower insurance costs when there are more insured drivers.
“What helps one of us often helps us all,” Ninemire stated.
