Driving repeatedly with supended license in N.J. could mean jail time

 Two New Jersey legislators want a law mandating jail time for motorists who repeatedly drive with a suspended license. (AP file photo)

Two New Jersey legislators want a law mandating jail time for motorists who repeatedly drive with a suspended license. (AP file photo)

Current New Jersey law calls for a jail sentence only if a driver with a suspended license is involved in an accident that causes injury. Two lawmakers want to change that.

A measure legislators Mary Pat Angelini and Ron Dancer plan to introduce in the Assembly next month calls for time behind bars for all repeat offenders.

It sets a 30-day jail term for a second offense and up to a year for multiple violations within a five-year time frame.

There’s a difference between drivers who flaunt traffic laws and those who have a license suspended for not paying parking tickets, said Dancer, R-Ocean.

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“The judge will be able to have some discretion obviously but if you have no respect for the law, you are irresponsible, those habitual lawbreakers are going to do time in jail,” he said.

The goal is to have a stronger deterrent for habitual offenders.

“Rather than a slap on the wrist for continually driving on the suspended or revoked list, you will, if you continue to do this, you will spend 30 days in jail,” he said.

The lawmakers say the measure was spurred by an accident this month in Lacey Township when a driver whose license has been suspended 25 times struck and killed a pedestrian.

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