Rochester drivers who rely upon a Commercial Driver’s License for their employment should be aware that there are additional driver’s license penalties for CDL holders who are convicted of a drinking and driving offense.

Many of these penalties do not require that the driver be arrested while operating a commercial motor vehicle.

Instead, the mere fact that the driver was found to be operating any vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and holds a CDL is sufficient to trigger these additional penalties.

New York State requires that any first time offender convicted of a drinking and driving offense – included Driving While Ability Impaired by Alcohol – have his or her Commercial Driver’s License revoked for one year.

Because the time period for this revocation is longer than the 90 day suspension or six month revocation of driving privileges for non-commercial motor vehicles, most first time offenders will have already applied to the Department of Motor Vehicles and obtained a full driver’s license without commercial motor vehicle privileges long before they are eligible for reinstatement of their Commercial Driver’s License.

Fortunately for these defendants, the DMV does not require that they go through the whole process of re-applying for a Commercial Driver’s License and establishing that they have complied with the legal requirements to have their driving privileges reinstated before having their CDL returned.

Instead, the regulations of the DMV state that where both commercial and non-commercial driving privileges were revoked and the non-commercial portion of the driving privileges have already been reinstated, the DMV will automatically restore the driver’s commercial driving privileges upon the completion of the mandatory one year revocation.

Commercial motor vehicle drivers face severe penalties if arrested for DWI.

If you need the help of an experienced lawyer, we can be reached at 585-484-7432.