The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), is required to notify customers in writing of actions taken against their Arizona driver license -OR- privilege to drive in Arizona (for those licensed in another State). Unfortunately understanding those notices is not always easy, even for professionals, and here we will help you figure out how to interpret them.
Due to technical issues within the Arizona MVD, or even due to issues with the Postal Service, notices sometimes do not arrive by mail and I recommend anyone with an Arizona driver license create an account on the AZ MVD Now website so they can easily keep track of their license status, and any issues therewith. Corrective action notices are generated and available on the AZ MVD Now account days before they could possibly be received by mail, and you can access those notices by logging into your account and navigating to My Account, My Documents. There you can download (or upload) documents to/from MVD. Navigating to Other Services, Compliance Issues Management will show you any current or future compliance requirements which you will need to address.
Once you have created your account, navigated to My Documents and downloaded a Corrective Action Notice from Arizona MVD, the next hurdle will be to interpret the document. This is not always easy, particularly in a case where there are multiple corrective action notices issued at once and many of them can seem at first glance to be duplicates. The first step to understanding the notices is to place them in order by Withdrawal Number.
In the case of a person convicted of an Extreme DUI charge, if there has not already been an administrative license suspension put into effect, the person can expect to receive at least 5-6 corrective action notices, including: 1387.D Suspension, 28 ARS 1387.D Suspension Fee, Ignition Interlock Device (IID), IID Suspension Fee, Traffic Survival School (TSS) (plus a duplicate TSS notice from the administrator of the TSS program in Arizona, the Arizona Chapter of the National Safety Council), and TSS Suspension Fee. Though all 6 of those notices should be issued in the example described, sometimes certain notices are not issued or are missing, and on rarer occasions after conviction there is no action taken at all, and the person has to decide either to bring it up to MVD and correct it to get it over with, or to risk receiving the notices in the future, perhaps even years later. Other possible notices include an IID Deferment Eligibility Notice (6 months with the IID instead of 12 months), a Revocation Notice, a Points Suspension Notice, associated action Fee Notices, etc.
The Suspension (or Revocation) Notices are the most straightforward, and will specifically state, “ATTENTION: A Suspension of your driving privilege will take effect on X”. Important points to note are the Notice Date, Withdrawal Number, Statutory Authority, Date Action Begins, and Date Action Ends. You may have the right to request a hearing to contest the action if you disagree with it, and if so that right will be stated on the notice, including the timeframe you have to request a hearing (typically 15-30 days, PLEASE NOTE that timeframe is counted from the Notice Date, NOT from the Date Action Begins).
Less clear are Notices such as the IID, TSS, and any of the Suspension Fee notices. The first clue to those notices is in the “Next Steps” area, for instance, the IID notice will say “Ignition interlock device (IID) required to be installed” while the TSS notice will say “”Take and complete Traffic Survival School (TSS) course”. ). If a person receives an IID or TSS corrective action notice, they should also receive an associated Suspension Fee Notice which only takes effect if the person does not install the IID, or attend the TSS, within the required time. Unfortunately the Suspension Fee notices do not specify which action they are linked with, so placing them in order by Withdrawal Number helps to figure this out (so the “action” Withdrawal# would be 11111111, and the associated Suspension Fee notice would be Withdrawal# 11111112).
The IID and TSS notices are also very confusing in that the language of the notice leads to the impression that action is being taken because you already failed to do something required. For instance, the IID notice states “A Suspension of your driving privilege will take effect on X”. What it should say is, IF you do not install the IID by X, THEN a Suspension will take effect on that date. Similarly in the TSS notice, you are told “Effective on X, your driving privileges will be withdrawn” (and BTW that means suspended), and the Description says “Failure to attend Traffic Survival School”. Only by looking at the Start Date and only if that Start Date is correct (unfortunately it is not always correct) can you see the suspension will only go into effect IF you do not complete TSS prior to the Start Date (which should be within 60 days of the conviction OR 60 days of the notice).
Though improper, you could even receive a Corrective Action which is EFFECTIVE BEFORE YOU RECEIVED IT. This means you may be issued a Corrective Action which is backdated to be effective before the date it was issued. Not appropriate, but it happens frequently.
Hopefully this helps in understanding Arizona MVD Corrective Action Notices. For more information, create and access your AZ MVD Now account online, call MVD at (602) 255-0072 or visit an Arizona MVD branch for assistance. You can also get a copy of your Arizona MVD Driver License Record (MVR) on AZ MVD Now by navigating to Driver License & ID, then Driver License Record Request. Once purchased it is available for you to access/download in My Account, My Documents.
Gordon Thompson
For more information about Arizona DUI and criminal law issues please contact Gordon Thompson who has used his experience to write a blog on topics of interest. You can also chat with Gordon about your specific questions.
Website: https://www.GordonThompsonAttorney.net
Blog: https://www.GordonThompsonAttorney.net/blog/
