PA looking to save money be extending drivers license renewal from 4 to 8 years.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett tasked the different state agencies with saving our state money by cutting costs wherever we can. There have been ideas rolling about in Harrisburg for months on how to best go about these cost cutting moves, and the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission submitted a big one this month.

PA license renewal may go from 4 to 8 years

PennDOT suggested that doubling the time a valid drivers license can be held between renewals from 4 years to 8 years, and removing the requirement for registration stickers, this will save the state over $6 million a year.
PennDOT spokesperson Dennis Buterbaugh said "If you cut down on the processing, if you cut down on the printing, then all those things add up."

This plan seems great at first, but one of the factors that may be overlooked is what else happens at the 4 year mark, and prior to a drivers license being renewed. If there is any type of hold from an out of state violation, then the driver will have time to clear that sanction. Per the NDR Fact Sheet

In order to allow a driver who is renewing a commercial or non-commercial driver’s license time to resolve a sanction(s) in another state(s), PennDOT will check NDR six months prior to the expiration of an individual’s driver’s license.

If an individual’s driving privilege is sanctioned in another state(s), PennDOT will send a notification letter to the individual providing the name and contact number for the state(s) where the sanction(s) exists.

PennDOT will also check NDR three months prior to expiration of an individual’s driver’s license, and if a sanction still exists, a second notification letter will be sent to the individual. 

The six and three month notification letters allow an individual time to take the necessary steps to clear his/her driving record prior to applying to renew his/her Pennsylvania driver’s license.

What the average Pennsylvania driver will loose is the protection from an out of state moving violation causing damage to their driving record. Under the current system, every four years they would be notified of any problems, given a change to fix those problems, and have their license renewed. If drivers license renewals were extended to 8 years, then these traffic tickets can fester for a much longer time, and they become exponentially harder to rectify and clear.

In my business I talk to hundred of drivers who have been given tickets in another state, and those tickets need to be resolved to clear the sanction in Pennsylvania, if those tickets are not handled quickly you begin to see records disappear, officials change, and more headache for the motorist. Then when searching out how and who can give the proper paperwork to the Pennsylvania DOT, the more time that passes the more work and effort needed to correct the issue.

Allowing 8 years in between that check will also allow those who want to work around the system the opportunity to take advantage of our Department of Transportation. Once a drivers license has been obtained, with no external checks for sanctions or suspensions, that license lasting for eight years will attract potential violators from other states. These drivers will know that if they have a pending license suspension in Maryland, they can run to Pennsylvania prior to the suspension going into effect to get a valid license that will last for long enough to get past their Maryland infractions. We may start to see a rush of out of state violators flock to Pennsylvania to get that long lasting drivers license with no regular checks for these type of suspension sanctions.

Another issue with extension of the drivers license renewal is the lack of updated information. Police rely on addresses from the DOT for their daily work. Even with that information being updated every 4 years it is not the most reliable, and residents often move and relocate without notifying the Department of Transportation. You can see where there might be a problem extending this to 8 years without adding some type of provision for address and residency. In the Reading Eagle article by author Liam Migdail-Smith
Birdsboro police Chief Theodore R. Roth, president of the Berks County Chiefs of Police Association. Officers use photos and license information to identify and locate individuals.

"The more recent the picture the better," he said.

While people are required to notify PennDOT if they move, Roth said, many don't. With the current license rules, police at least know a person's information was updated in the last four years.

"If you're not going to make them renew for eight years, God knows how old that address is," Roth said.


So I am not the only one who has a concern about out of date addresses and record information. The article goes on to state;

Department officials project that combined those three plans would save PennDOT about $6.5 million a year.

Drivers would pay double the price they normally would to renew their licenses or registrations. But instead of licenses expiring in four years and registrations in one year, licenses would be good for eight years and registrations for two years.

While that means doubling the time between photo updates, department officials aren't too concerned that people's appearances will change more dramatically in eight years than four.

"We don't think it will be a factor," Buterbaugh said.

Overall I would be interested to see what factors were taken into account with this plan. I think it can be a wonderful option for residents if there are other checks put into place to cover the above issues, but this may negate the meat of the proposed savings of this plan by PennDOT.