San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog

Like any governmental agency, the DMV is an imperfect machine and, while those responsible for deciding who drives and who doesn’t may have good intentions, that “imperfect machine ” may still sometimes take away driving privileges from people who shouldn’t be sidelined. When that happens to you due to your alleged history of lapses of consciousness, you need to be sure you have skilled San Francisco DMV defense counsel on your side.

The array of medical maladies that can cause lapses of consciousness are varied, ranging from epilepsy to sleep disorders (like sleep apnea or narcolepsy) to diabetes to other seizure disorders. You should be aware that the lapse of consciousness that triggers DMV action need not be a massive seizure or total blackout; it can be something as simple as falling asleep at the wheel. The DMV has various means of learning about a driver’s lapse-of-consciousness-inducing medical disorder, although it often happens as a result of being informed by a physician. In other instances, the DMV may obtain information from a family member or an anonymous tipster.

It is very important to keep in mind that, if the DMV determines that your condition represents a danger to you or others on the road as a result of your propensity for losing consciousness, it will seek to suspend or revoke your driving privileges in a very quick manner. As a result, you may find that your driving privileges were suspended or revoked immediately.

A lawyers association has standing to sue the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for alleged waste of government funds in conducting unfair administrative hearings. The California Dui Lawyers Association (CDLA) brought a taxpayer action claiming the DMV wasted funds by violating the due process of drivers in DMV’s administrative per se hearings. DMV administrative per se hearings determine whether automatic suspension of drivers’ licenses are warranted after drivers are arrested for driving under the influence.

The DMV Administrative Per Se or APS System

The DMV’s “administrative per se” or “APS” system is used to suspend a driver’s license following an arrest for driving under the influence. Under the administrative per se law, DMV must immediately suspend the driver’s license of a person who is driving with .08 percent or more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her blood. An administrative per se hearing does not impose criminal penalties “but simply suspends a person’s driver’s license as an administrative matter upon a showing the person was arrested for driving with a certain blood-alcohol concentration ….” Continue reading

California law gives the DMV the authority to suspend a driver’s driving privileges for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons involves physical or medical problems. These conditions can range from epilepsy to Alzheimer’s to diabetes to cataracts. If the DMV is considering taking your license due to medical problems, you have options. Talk to a skilled San Francisco DMV defense attorney to find out more about how you can possibly avoid this type of license suspension.

The DMV is tasked with ensuring that all those with active California driver’s licenses can drive safely. When the DMV contemplates suspending a driver’s license, there are certain conditions that can commonly cause a possible suspension. One problem is loss of consciousness. That can trigger a suspension whether or not you were driving when you blacked out. Other conditions can include epilepsy or anything else that causes seizures, sleep disorders (including sleep apnea), Parkinson’s, dementia, diabetes, heart problems or vision problems/deterioration.

Certainly, the ability to drive legally is something that is very important to many Californians, including seniors. Driving privileges represent independence, freedom and self-reliance. Loss of those privileges can cause many damaging things from a loss of self-esteem to a loss of employment. With all that in mind in making these decisions, the DMV is supposed to balance a driver’s need for personal mobility against the public’s need for safety on the roads.

Whether you’re a law school graduate taking the bar exam, an investment professional taking the Series 7, a high school student taking the SAT or ACT for your college applications or an individual taking the written exam required for your driver’s license, you know the stress and pressure of needing to perform on a written test. Unfortunately, that pressure can sometimes cause some people to seek a “leg up” through improper means, such as cheating. And that fact also unfortunately means that the DMV, in its effort to root out cheating, may sometimes identify certain examinees as cheaters when they really weren’t. The consequences of an assertion by the DMV that you cheated on a written driver’s exam can be very serious in California, so if the DMV had made such a claim you should take it seriously and engage in all the necessary steps to protect yourself, including contacting a skilled San Francisco DMV defense attorney.

A person can engage in what California calls “fraudulent activity” in a written DMV test in several ways. One way is to sit for the test and to cheat (by actions such as using a “cheat sheet”) during the completion of the exam. Another way is to have someone pretend to be you and take the exam in your place. These actions aren’t just against DMV rules, they are a violation of California law. If a person is found guilty of having violated this statute, the state can prosecute the violation as a misdemeanor crime, which means that the violator could possibly face a fine or even jail time.

Certainly, most people aren’t going to jail for allegedly cheating on their written driving tests. However, the consequences are still very serious. Perhaps the DMV required you to come in to take (and pass) a written test in order to complete the re-examination process and avoid a lack-of-skill suspension. An allegation of cheating will result in an automatic declaration that you failed the test, which means that you will lose your license and that the suspension will be in place for 12 months.

We’ve probably all seen it while behind the wheel. Some may have even done it. “It” is road rage or aggressive driving. Whether it’s the tailgating, the screaming, the horn-blaring, the high-beam headlight flicking, the obscene gestures, the brake-checking, the swerving, the abrupt lane changes or other actions, road rage and aggressive driving create dangers for everyone on the road. For those that engage in aggressive actions, there may be an additional risk, however: the suspension of driving privileges. While a license suspension for road rage or anger issues may be appropriate under the law in some situations, it might not be in others. If you’ve had your driving privileges suspended due to alleged anger issues, you may have options for reversing that outcome. As always, talk to a knowledgeable San Francisco DMV defense attorney to find out how you should proceed to get your license back.

Recently, the Los Angeles Times reported on a Sacramento area road-rage incident that left both drivers dead. The drivers collided while on Interstate 5. They exited their cars. They fought, which left one man dead. The other tried to flee, but walked into traffic and was run over by another vehicle.

While most road rage incidents don’t escalate to that level, there are still lots of ways to encounter trouble due to road rage. If a driver commits an assault on another driver, passenger, bicyclist or pedestrian, then that driver may have violated Section 13210 of the Vehicle Code. If a driver is found to be in violation of that statute, it generally means a six-month suspension for a first offense, and a 12-month suspension for a second offense.