PENALTIES FOR DRIVING WITHOUT VALID AUTO INSURANCE

The State of New Jersey does not tolerate drivers that operate autombiles within its boundries without valid automobile insurance. In fact, a conviction for driving without valid liabiliy insurance in the State of New Jersey carries fines and penalties that are, for the most part, more severe then if u pled guilty to a DWI. In otherwords, prior to going for a joyride verify if the autombile insurance policy maintained on the car in question is current. If not, leave that car behind no matter how short the trip is!!

Driving an autombile with vaild liability insurance is govererned by N.J. S. 39:6b-2, which reads as follows:

"Any owner or registrant of a motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this State who operates or causes to be operated a motor vehicle upon any public road or highway in this State without motor vehicle liability insurance coverage required by this act, and any operator who operates or causes a motor vehicle to be operated and who knows or should know from the attendant circumstances that the motor vehicle is without motor vehicle liability insurance coverage required by this act shall be subject, for the first offense, to a fine of not less than $300 nor more than $1,000 and a period of community service to be determined by the court, and shall forthwith forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle over the highways of this State for a period of one year from the date of conviction. Upon subsequent conviction, he shall be subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and shall be subject to imprisonment for a term of 14 days and shall be ordered by the court to perform community service for a period of 30 days, which shall be of such form and on such terms as the court shall deem appropriate under the circumstances, and shall forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle for a period of two years from the date of his conviction, and, after the expiration of said period, he may make application to the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles for a license to operate a motor vehicle, which application may be granted at the discretion of the director. The director's discretion shall be based upon an assessment of the likelihood that the individual will operate or cause a motor vehicle to be operated in the future without the insurance coverage required by this act. A complaint for violation of this act may be made to a municipal court at any time within six months after the date of the alleged offense.Failure to produce at the time of trial an insurance identification card or an insurance policy which was in force for the time of operation for which the offense is charged creates a rebuttable presumption that the person was uninsured when charged with a violation of this section."

As setforth in said Statute, a person convicted for a first offense of operating a motor vehicle within the State of New Jersey without valid autombile insurance will forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle for a period of 1 year. A second time offender of that statue will forfeit his right to operate a car for 2 years, AND will be incarcerated. As one can plainly see driving a car without autombile insurance is an exteremely dangerous proposition because the consequences of same are grave.
Notwithstanding the above, there are approximetly 3-4 substantive defenses to operating a car without current autombile liability insurance. For example, the insurance company may have failed to properly cancel your auto policy. If that is the case, then your auto policy will be treated as valid. Another defense can be that the car is registered or garaged in another state, therefore, this Statute is inapplicable. That defense does prevail quite often. In summary, being charged with the traffic offense of driving without valid autombile insurance in violation of NJSA 39:6b-2 is a serious offense that carries significant penalities. However, to be convicted of said charge is not an easy task.