The Bureau of Motor Vehicles wants to suspend fewer licenses. Indiana legislators approved an amnesty program last year to cut people’s reinstatement fees in half. Governor Holcomb is backing a bill to revive that program for another year, and make the BMV slower to suspend licenses in the first place. Chris Daniels with the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council says nearly half-a-million Hoosiers have had their licenses suspended — many of them more than once.
More than 70-percent of those aren’t for reckless driving, but for not showing up in court, not having insurance, or not paying reinstatement fees after a suspension. Daniels says that creates a catch-22 where people who don’t have the money to get their license back just keep driving, rack up additional suspensions and fees, and dig a financial hole they can’t get out of.
