What If I Am in an Accident and Have a Suspended License?

When you apply for a driver’s license in Mississippi, you enter into a type of contract between you and the state. The rules of that contract can be found in the driver’s manual published by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Driver Service Bureau (DPS). These are the rules you need to follow in order to keep you and other motorists safe. Failure to obey these rules can result in citations, fines, jail time, and license suspension.

What if you are in an accident and have a suspended license? Depending on the circumstances, you might be able to see a remedy. It will help if you get the support of an experienced car accident attorney who understands the traffic laws and has the necessary skills to negotiate with insurance carriers. It will also help to understand how your license can be suspended.

Reasons for License Suspension in Mississippi

Along with obeying the traffic laws, accepting a driver’s license also means you accept the concept of applied consent as it relates to the suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Your implied consent obligates you to submit to an alcohol concentration test administered by a police authority. Those tests can be a breathalyzer, blood or urine test. If you refuse to take the test when asked, your license can be suspended for 90 days, as the DPS explains.

There are several other ways your license could be suspended. This is how the DPS explains how your license can be suspended:

• “You are convicted of an offense for which mandatory revocation of license is required.
• You have been involved, as a driver, in any accident resulting in the death or personal
• injury of another person or in serious property damage.
• You are a habitually reckless or negligent driver.
• You have been frequently convicted of serious traffic violations.
• You are mentally or physically incompetent to drive.
• You have allowed a fraudulent use of your license.
• You are convicted of DUI or DWI in another state.
• You have committed an offense in another state that would, in Mississippi, have resulted in the suspension or revocation of your license.
• You obtained a Mississippi driver’s license while your license in another state was under suspension.
• You have failed to pay child support.”

These suspensions can occur before a preliminary hearing on the matter. At the hearing, your license can be reinstated, or the suspension will be upheld for the amount of time dictated by the judge.

Seeking Compensation for Damages

When you get into an accident that wasn’t your fault, you are entitled to seek compensation for your damages. Those damages include medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Mississippi applies the pure comparative negligence principle to personal injury liability.

Under these rules, you are entitled to recover damages even if you’re partially liable for the accident. In that scenario, your compensation will be reduced by a percentage that is assigned to you for your fault. For instance, if you are found to be 30% at fault for the accident, you’ll only get 70% of the final settlement amount.

How does that affect a driver with a suspended license? You can still pursue your accident claim if you were driving under a suspended license, provided the accident was not completely your fault. You will be issued a citation for driving with a suspended license, but that is separate from the issue of who caused the accident.

The Potential Impact of Driving Under a License Suspension

Because of the comparative negligence laws, the driver you’re blaming for the accident will try to shift blame onto you. They could use your suspended license as an issue. Those records are available to the public through the Mississippi Driver Records Division. If your license was suspended because of reckless driving, that could be used against you, whereas failure to pay child support would be irrelevant.

If you’ve been involved in a car accident while driving with a suspended license, it is crucial to speak with an attorney who understands the impact that issue could have on your accident claim.

The attorneys at Pittman, Roberts & Welsh, PLLC would be in a good position to provide the kind of supportive legal counsel you need to decide the best course of action to move forward with your claim. Getting the right advice on how to deal with a suspended license can help get your life back on track.