Don't forget to Request Your Utah DUI Driver License Hearing

A Bill was introduced recently Entiled S.B. 4 "Driving Under the Influence Amendments -- Walker, C."

53-3-224. Filing a petition for hearing -- Judicial review of license cancellation, revocation, or suspension -- Scope of review.
(1) A person denied a license or whose license has been cancelled, suspended, or revoked by the division following an administrative hearing may seek judicial review of the division's order.

So a citizen is arrested for a DUI. The officer takes their license and gives them a 30 day permit to drive. The citizen has ten days from when they are arrested to request a hearing. The officer is supposed to explain to the person that they must send a letter to the DMV to request a hearing to get their license back.

Many times the citizen does not understand the procedure to request a driver license hearing and fail to make that request within 10 days. As the law is now, if the person feels they are not guilty of a DUI, the person can file an appeal to District Court within 30 days of the DMV suspending the citizen's license.

It appears that SB 4 is trying to take the appeal away if the citizen does not request a the hearing within 10 days.

Here's the sad part. Many people are arrested and are not guilty of the crime for which they are accused. The shock of being arrested and the circumstances surrounding the arrest destroys any concentration on what needs to happen. The only thing the person focuses on is the Criminal aspect of the case and know they need to contact the Court not realizing that has nothing to do with their Driver's License. Ten days expire before they realize that a letter needs to be sent to the DMV. Under this bill, an innocent citizen can have their license stripped away from them without any due process in asking a District Court to make the determination as to whether this is fair.