Belmont County Plans ‘Amnesty Day’ March 18 for Driver’s License Suspensions
Kailey Carpino Trending
Belmont County Northern Division Judge Adam Myser is working with agencies to host an "amnesty day" to help drivers with suspended licenses on March 18.
Anyone with a suspended license can stop by the Belmont County Court building at 52160 National Road, St. Clairsville from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 18 for services.
"The game plan is if anybody walks through the door and they're an Ohio resident with any type of holder out of Ohio, hopefully we can get them valid driving privileges when they leave here. Whether that means we clear up a previous holder, we clear up their license suspension or we can issue them civil driving privileges," Myser said.
Myser said he wants to work with drivers and help them reinstate their licenses.
"What it does is if you have a holder on your license, or if you have reinstatement fees from a license suspension and you qualify for amnesty, it will give you a reduction in those or a waiver," Myser explained.
He said drivers can get a 50% to 100% reduction in those reinstatement fees.
"In county court, we see a lot of cases with people that have driving under suspension offenses. Having an amnesty day is our hope and attempt to help those people get a valid license," he said. "We are going to work with a variety of different agencies."
He said the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles will be one of the main agencies at the event, along with the county court judges who will help drivers reinstate their licenses.
Myser said other county agencies and departments will also be offering their services during the event.
"In addition to what we can offer you, we are also going to be working with the Belmont County Department of Child and Family Services, specifically, the Child Support Enforcement Agency. So in addition to license suspensions for traffic issues, if you have a license holder or license suspension for child support, we should also be able to work with the Child Support Enforcement Agency and Job and Family Services to help you lift any suspension," he said.
He also said Jay Rodak from Rodak Insurance will also be offering his guidance on some cases.
Myser said people need to bring their identification, any documents that are related to their driver's license and any child support payment information with them for amnesty day.
Myser said drivers can have their licenses suspended for many reasons.
"If you have an unpaid traffic ticket, you get suspended. If you're driving under suspension and you don't pay reinstatement fees, you're suspended. If you don't renew your license, you're suspended. If you don't pay your child support, you get suspended. If you get some new criminal cases or new traffic offenses, you can have a new suspension," he said. "There are just so many different ways that your license can be suspended that most people don't take the effort to go back and get it valid, and then they get additional criminal charges for driving with a suspension.
"What we're trying to do is to help them clean up old reinstatement fees on tickets, issues with child support and really trying to get any type of service that we can to individuals to give them valid driving privileges," Myser said.
He said individuals who take advantage of amnesty day will not have to pay reinstatement fees, but depending on the case, they may have to pay other reduced fees. He said representatives from each agency involved will accept cash or credit cards.
The event only applies to standard licenses, not commercial driver licenses or driving permits.
For more information about amnesty day in Belmont County, contact the Belmont County Court Northern Division at 740-676-4490.
The Ohio BMV also offers an amnesty program for all Ohio residents. More information can be found at bmv.ohio.gov.