Earlier this month, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that it was right and proper for PennDOT to impose a lifetime CDL ban for all CDL holders regardless if the DUIs happened off company time and in their own car with no injuries or accidents in the facts of the case. When it comes to CDL drivers DUI is no simple matter. This was confirmed in a case involving a Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania man as reported in the press.:
State court upholds lifetime license ban for trucker over DUI convictions
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania truck driver with two drunken driving convictions must forfeit his commercial driver’s license for life, even though his DUIs occurred while he was in his private vehicle, Commonwealth Court has ruled.
The reality is, now this man has lost his career as a truck driver for life. There is no way to tell what the impact of this will be on his future:
- He will not be able to collect unemployment because he can no longer perform his job as he is not properly licensed.
- It is very likely that he will not be able to find a job that will pay him as much as he was making.
- Even if he can find a job, he will not be able to get to work easily because of the suspension on his regular drivers license. The suspension for a 2nd DUI in Pennsylvania is 12-18 months upon conviction.
- He will have to pay heavy fines and very high insurance rates.
- If he has debts like a house, car, credit cards and student loans, he may not be able to keep up with the payments and may end up bankrupt.
- All of this causes stress in any home and can affect relationships.
Basically his life and lives of many other CDL truck drivers facing lifetime bans, are simply shattered.
This is why it is very important for CDL driver who are facing DUI charges to get the best attorney they can find. Your career, your lifestyle and your family depends on it. We get that. We respect that. We honor that. We can help.
For a free consultation cal 1-866-MCSHANE.
Justin McShane
PA DUI attorney Justin J. McShane is the President/CEO of The McShane Firm, LLC - Pennsylvania's top criminal law and DUI law firm. He is the highest rated DUI attorney in PA as rated by Avvo.com. Justin McShane is a double Board certified attorney. He is the first and so far the only Pennsylvania attorney to achieve American Bar Association recognized board certification in DUI defense from the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. He is also a Board Certified Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Approved Agency.