Is it true that if your DL gets suspended by a judge in CA, the judge will tell you that it's okay to drive?

Question

There's this really annoying lady claiming that her hub told her that the judge told him that he would suspend his DL, but that it was okay for him to drive until the DMV sent him a notice. This is for the state of CA, and I think what she is saying sounds very untrue.

Answer 1

In some situations a conviction can result in the judge suspending a drivers license.  In such a situation, the license usually is surrendered to the court.

In other situations, a report of a conviction to DMV will result in DMV suspending the license.  In such a case, the driver can lawfully drive until the DMV takes action.

I suspect that what happened here is that the judge told the hub that because of the conviction the DMV would suspend his license, but that the judge did not himself suspend the license.

Answer 2

It is true, furthermore, the judge can also suspend a license and allow limited driving (going to and from work or school, etc).  Now if he is stopped by local police and they run him in CLETS, see that he is suspended, they may issue him a DMV 310 which serves as a notice that he cannot drive from that point on.

Answer 3

The suspension of a Driver's License commences on the date that the judge orders it to.  If it were immediately effective, the driver's license would be ordered to be surrendered to the court immediately.  If the judge ordered that the license be suspended as of 0000 18 September 2008, then the person's license who will be suspended could legally drive until 2359 17 September 2008.  At the commencement of suspension, you are legally required to surrender the license to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.  Be sure to get an ID card at the time you surrender your license, so you can get your license re-issued when the suspension period is over, (and have a proper form of identification).

Answer 4

I guess he could. The reason for this being is that it takes a couple days for DMV to be notified by the court to suspend the license. During this period if an officer were to run the drivers license then it would not show as suspended. Once DMV suspends the license they will send him notification. If the person continues to drive after knowing his license is suspended and he gets pulled over he could possibly be arrested and the car will be impounded for 30 days. CVC 14601.1 & 14602.6(a)