A driver who has been refused a CDL, or a driver whose privilege has been suspended or revoked, or a driver who has been prohibited, from operating a commercial motor vehicle shall not operate a CMV during the revocation, refusal, suspension, prohibition or disqualification. Any person convicted of a violation of this statute so is subject to a fine of $5,002 for each offense, and up to 90 days in jail, or both.

Moreover, if this is the driver’s first offense, then his or her CDL will be suspended for one to three years. If the offense takes place while transporting a hazardous material, or takes place in a vehicle displaying a hazardous material placard, the court is required to suspend the driver’s CDL for three years. If it is driver’s second offense, or if he or she has been previously convicted of drunk driving a CMV, leaving the scene of an accident while operating a CMV, using a CMV to commit a crime, or refusal to submit to a breath test if the vehicle involved was a CMV, then the driver is subject to a lifetime suspension of his CDL.

A driver who is involved in an accident resulting in a personal injury to another person while operating a CMV with a commercial driver’s license that has been refused, revoked, or suspended must serve a mandatory term of 90 days in jail, and must pay a $5,002 fine. The driver’s fault or lack thereof in the accident will have no bearing on the jail term. A commercial driver will suffer the harsher sentence regardless of the fact that he was not at fault.

It is important for any commercial driver to understand that the enhanced penalties will only apply if the motor vehicle accident causes the personal injury of another person. If only the driver is injured in the accident, the mandatory 90 jail sentence, and the $5,002 fine does not apply.