Having a Habitual Traffic Offender label being placed on you will result in serious consequences. Your license will be suspended for a minimum of four years, with the maximum being seven years! It is extremely important to contact an attorney as soon as possible once becoming aware of possibly being classified as HTO. Do not wait until it is too late and you are already classified as such. You must fight for your right to drive before it gets too late that point.
There are two ways in which a person could be classified as HTO. The most common is due to receiving “three strikes,” meaning three criminal convictions of certain types of driving crimes within a 5-year period. There is a long list of qualifying driving crimes, but the most common include a DUI, Reckless Driving, Physical Control Violation, Hit & Run Attended, and Driving While License Suspended 2°.
The other way in which you can be classified as HTO is by committing 20 moving violations within a five-year period. This includes not just driving crimes but also moving violation traffic tickets, such as a speeding ticket or a stop sign ticket. Normally, people who are facing HTO status due to too many tickets are aware of the danger well in advance of getting close to HTO status because they are facing shorter suspensions earlier in the process due to too many tickets within a one to two year period of time. It is absolutely necessary to contact us as soon as possible before even the first suspension. You cannot simply keep on paying the tickets. It is worth more to you in the long run to pay more money now for an attorney to save your license. Each ticket and court is different, so it is important to fight all tickets because some will be easier than others. You want to give your attorney the most chances possible to keep your license intact.
If you are concerned about your driver’s license possibly being suspended, give our office a call to discuss your questions with an experienced Seattle, WA traffic violations attorney. Remember, it is much easier to fight the suspension than to try to remove an already ordered suspension.