Licenseless drivers aren’t rare in Ohio

SPRINGFIELD — Nearly 1 million Ohio drivers were behind the wheel without a valid license last year.

Many of them got caught driving on a suspended license multiple times, such as the Clark County man accused of striking and killing 12-year-old Kayla Mongold.

She was killed two weeks ago by a speeding SUV as it jumped a curb and struck her where she walked with a friend.

The alleged driver, Joseph Thomson, had six open license suspensions, and was cited for another when a sheriff’s sergeant stopped him June 14 for failing to use a turn signal in the same SUV that would kill Kayla 10 days later.

Lawmakers lessened the penalties last fall for many suspension charges, despite the concern of some law enforcement officers.

“We write several DUS charges every day,” Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brad Barnhart said. “It seems to be an epidemic, almost.”

Curtis Clemons, the fiance of Kayla’s mother, said the child didn’t deserve to die and the accused driver shouldn’t have been out on the streets.

“All we want is justice out of this whole thing,” Clemons said.

Dangerous drivers

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a national study in November 2011 that found 6.7 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes between 2007 and 2009 had suspended or revoked licenses. Another 5 percent involved in fatal crashes were unlicensed.

Among those, more than half had alcohol in their systems at the time of the fatal crash.

Additionally, only about 6 percent of suspended drivers were likely to stay at the scene of a crash, according to the study. More than 88 percent of drivers with valid licenses stayed.

The Springfield Police Division Traffic Control Unit has investigated eight serious injury or fatal crashes so far in 2012, and five of those drivers were under suspension. Three of those crashes resulted in fatalities.

In 2011, the traffic control division investigated 15 serious injury or fatal crashes, and seven of those drivers were driving under suspension or without a valid license. One fatal crash occurred last year in the city.

Local suspensions

Clark County had more than 42,000 active suspensions last year, according to the most recent Ohio Department of Public Safety statistics available.

The state doesn’t track how many individual drivers have suspensions at the county level, but many drivers have multiple suspensions, ODPS spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer said.

In Ohio, more than 979,800 drivers received suspensions, accounting for more than 2.8 million active suspensions. That averages about 2.8 suspensions per cited driver.

The state has more than 7.6 million licensed drivers.

While some suspended drivers are genuinely driving to get to work or the store for things they or their children need, many disregard their suspended status again and again, Barnhart said.

“A large portion, they just continue a cycle of getting cited, not going to court and getting cited because they’re continuing to drive,” he said. “Until they’re incarcerated for it, there comes little penalty.”

From Jan. 1 through July 3, the sheriff’s office wrote more than 340 citations for DUS, second only to speed citations, on track to at least match the more than 630 written last year.

“People who are not law-conscious, they’re going to do what they’re going to do,” said Springfield Police Sgt. Brett Bauer. “If they’re not in a prison somewhere ... they will probably find access to a car somewhere, licensed or not.”

In 2011, Springfield police wrote more than 1,500 charges for driving under suspension.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Springfield post wrote nearly 610 DUS citations last year in Clark County.

The reasons for suspension change frequently as state lawmakers revise the Ohio code.

Last year, 43 types of suspensions existed, including operating a vehicle while intoxicated or OVI, child support nonpayment and others.

Noncompliance suspensions lead the way in Clark County. A noncompliance suspension is when a driver or owner fails to show financial responsibility or proof of insurance at the time of a traffic offense or accident, according to Bohrer.

There were more than 14,600 noncompliance suspensions in Clark County, followed by license forfeiture at more than 6,400 and court suspension/operating a vehicle while intoxicated at nearly 6,000, according to ODPS data.

“We’re looking for the first-degree misdemeanor (suspensions) and trying to charge those,” Barnhart said.

So far this year, more than 270 people were booked into the Clark County Jail to serve time for or await court appearances on driving under suspension charges, according to jail statistics.

Taking them off the street

Barnhart said law enforcement has several tools at its disposal to find and charge suspended drivers, including license plate readers installed on some patrol vehicles.

When a license plate is read, the officer is flagged if the owner is suspended.

“We’re getting a lot of DUS hits,” Barnhart said. “If we had one of those on every car, and I know they’re expensive, (we would) stop numerous offenders.”

But in automated and manual plate checking, it becomes difficult to identify suspended drivers when they’re driving vehicles of people who have valid licenses, Barnhart said.

Deputies and officers often patrol the same areas and get to know who has a suspended license.

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of stopping them for another infraction,” he said. “I think as far as keeping them off the street, we need stricter penalties. I think that would help deter it.”

But unless a DUS is coupled with another misdemeanor charge, there’s no immediate consequence for people who are caught driving under suspension.

Springfield Traffic Unit patrolman Chris Armstrong said it’s “pretty rare” for those arrested for driving under suspension or having no operator’s license to go straight to jail. Most people cited for driving under suspension wait a week before they even go to court.

“It could be months before they ever actually, or even if, they would go to jail,” Armstrong said.

Lessening the penalties

Lawmakers last month reduced the penalties for driving under suspension if the operation of a motor vehicle is not one of the main elements of an offense, according to Senate Bill 337’s analysis.

The goal, said state Rep. Bob Hackett, R-London, was to give more flexibility for judges to choose whether to suspend a driver’s license or to keep them driving and in the work force, particularly for those who are suspended for offenses not involving a motor vehicle.

“The best thing is to get people productive in society,” Hackett said. “But situations like (Kayla Mongold’s) where there’s multiple offenses ... I agree we can’t have people who have multiple offenses on the streets.”

When tragic accidents happen, it brings attention to whether a law needs to be more stringent, state Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, said.

“I would not be surprised and certainly not be opposed to discussion of a larger deterrent to those who are driving suspended,” Widener said.

Hackett and Widener voted in favor of the bill.

Lawmakers also cut the penalties for driving without a license and most instances of driving under suspension; that took effect last September. The criminal penalties remained unchanged, but the changes cut the number of points against suspended drivers from six to two.

Last year’s changes didn’t apply to suspensions stemming from drunken driving.

The laws, officers said, have changed numerous times in the past 10 to 15 years.

“It’s always been a problem, but I think it will get worse this time,” Armstrong said. “Instead of making it harsher to restrict them from doing it, they’re making it more lenient.”

Armstrong said the economy also plays a factor in drivers operating under suspension.

“If you’ve got a choice to buy food or car insurance, obviously you’re going to eat,” Armstrong said.

From that point forward, the financial responsibility builds. For example, drivers cited for not having insurance then go to court, face a financial responsibility suspension and have to spend more money to get their license back. They likely also see a hike in their insurance rates.

“It seems like if you mess up one time, that’s your shot,” Armstrong said. “One time only, and from that time, it’s pretty rough on people.”

Hackett agreed.

“Once you get into a hole, it’s a heck of a hole,” he said.