Virginia DUI Suspension Prohibits Any Engines
If your license is suspended due to Virginia DUI / DWI, you will be prohibited from operating any motor vehicle, engine, or train for one year. What exactly does that mean?
Video Transcription
Hello, my name is Andrew Flusche. I’m a Virginia traffic attorney. Some people are surprised to learn that if you’re convicted of DUI or DWI in Virginia and your license is suspended for one year that you’re actually not allowed to operate any engine after that.
Most people understand that you’re license is suspended and you can’t drive a car, but they don’t understand that you can’t operate any kind of engine. The laws is you can’t operate any motor vehicle engine or train in the commonwealth. So it’s not limited to roads; it prohibits operating any engine anywhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia. That would include a riding lawnmower, a boat, a four-wheeler, and anything else of that nature.
One good example, and reason this comes up a lot, is because people think “maybe I can get a moped or a scooter” if they’re convicted so they can drive to work or wherever. The answer to that is no. You can drive one pursuant to certain requirements, but you can’t just get one willy-nilly. It has to be all pursuant to a restricted license. And actually now with the way the law is being amended, effective July 1, 2012, with any restricted license you have to have ignition interlock on the vehicle you’re driving. So I don’t think you’d even be eligible to drive a moped under the new law with a restricted license because you can’t have an ignition interlock on it.
It’s very restrictive; much more restrictive than people realize. For example, if you have a lawn business, you wouldn’t be able to continue your lawn business, from my understanding of the law, because you wouldn’t be able to have ignition interlock on your lawnmower and you’re not allowed to operate that lawnmower in the Commonwealth of Virginia, at least if it’s a riding lawnmower. So you just need to understand that it’s a very expansive prohibition and to be careful to make sure you comply with it. And of course if you get a restricted license, you need to be sure to comply with all those specific requirements or you could be in a whole other mess, if you mess up on that.
