I am occasionally asked what happens when you are involved in an accident where the other driver is at fault, but you are driving with an expired driver’s license.
Does the fact that you were driving without a valid license remove the responsibility of the driver who was at fault in the car accident?
Does the driver at fault for the accident remain responsible for the damages and the injuries?
The answers may surprise some of you. You still can recover for your damages and injuries from the driver at fault or his insurance company even though you were driving without a valid license. Arizona courts have ruled that because a person does not have a driver’s license is no evidence that the person was not a safe driver.
The failure to obtain a driver’s license does not make the driver negligent or at fault. In other words, you must be shown to be incompetent or reckless before you can be held liable for the car accident. The mere fact you were driving without a valid driver’s license is not evidence of incompetence or recklessness.
Of course, the law does provide penalties for driving without a valid license.
This brings me to a second question. What happens when you are stopped for speeding, for instance, while driving without a valid license?
Even though you originally were stopped for speeding, when the police officer determines you were driving without a license, he or she also will ticket you for driving without a license.
It is common knowledge that when most people get a ticket for driving without a license, they then take the driver’s test and obtain a license, unless their driving privileges previously had been suspended or revoked.
Then, they take the newly issued license to traffic court at the time they are scheduled to appear. They show the prosecutor they have obtained a license. He or she usually recommends to the court that the penalty, such as a fine, be suspended. The court almost always will follow the prosecutor’s recommendation and suspend the penalty. The ticket does, however, have at least one desired effect—it gets unlicensed drivers licensed.