Appellate Division Hinders "No Point" Offense Statute In New Case
The Appellate Division, in a case of first impression, ruled that the five-year point forgiveness component of NJSA 39:4-97.2, (unsafe operation of a motor vehicle) between offenses does not apply to third offenses; regardless of how long a time goes by between the 2nd and 3rd offense. Rather, the "no point" forgiveness section of the statute only applies when there is a period of 5 years or more between a 3rd and subsequent offense.
As has always been the law, a first and second offender are not assessed points. A third offender will receive 4 points. Hereafter, if 5 years elapse following the 3rd offense, the defendant may again plead guilty without the assessment of points. Previously, attorneys, municiapl courts and prosecutors have taken the position that if five years had elapsed after the second ticket, you could receive a no point ticket for unsafe driving on your third use of the statute. The case which no longer supports this proposition is called Patel v. New Jersey MVC.
This is a tough decision which continues the recent trend against motorists' abilities to plea bargain their cases to no point offenses. Since most offenses are either 2, 4 or 5 points (unless multiple tickets are issued to a single driver) it's hard to envision a scenario where a motorist would trade/plead a two point ticket (i.e. careless or speeding ticket) or four point (i.e. speeding ticket, or improper passing ticket) to a third offense, FOUR POINT Unsafe driving ticket; which also comes with a $250.00 debt reduction statute. With any luck, a legislator will see this anomaly and correct it.
