39:6B-2 Maintenance of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage - Metuchen Edison Woodbridge

39:6B-2 Maintenance of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage

2. An 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 P.L.1972, c.197 (C.39:6B-1 et seq.), and an 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 P.L.1972, c.197 (C.39:6B-1 et seq.) 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.  The court also shall suspend the person's right to operate a motor vehicle over the highways of this State for a period of one year from the date of conviction ; provided, however, the period of license suspension may be reduced or eliminated if the person provides the court with satisfactory proof of motor vehicle liability insurance at the time of the hearing.  Upon subsequent conviction, the person 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 a form and on terms as the court shall deem appropriate under the circumstances, and shall forfeit the person's right to operate a motor vehicle for a period of two years from the date of the conviction, and, after the expiration of the forfeiture, the person may make application to the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission for a license to operate a motor vehicle, which application may be granted at the discretion of the chief administrator.  The chief administrator'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.

L.1972, c.197, s.2; amended 1983, c.141, s.1; 1987, c.46; 1988, c.156, s.15; 1990, c.8, s.49; 1997, c.151, s.12; 2013, c.237.

39:3-40.1 Revocation of registration certificate, plates.

39:3-40.1  Revocation of registration certificate, plates.

2. a. Any motor vehicle registration certificate and registration plates shall be revoked if a person is convicted of violating the provisions of:

(1)subsection a. of R.S.39:3-40 for operating a motor vehicle during a period when that violator's driver's license has been suspended for a violation of R.S.39:4-50; or

(2)subsection b. or c. of R.S.39:3-40 for operating a motor vehicle during a period when that violator's driver's license has been suspended within a five-year period.

(3)(Deleted by amendment, P.L.2009, c.201).

This revocation of registration certificate and registration plates shall apply to all passenger automobiles and motorcycles owned or leased by the violator and registered under the provisions of R.S.39:3-4 and all noncommercial trucks owned or leased by the violator and registered under the provisions of section 2 of P.L.1968, c.439 (C.39:3-8.1), including those passenger automobiles, motorcycles and noncommercial trucks registered or leased jointly in the name of the violator and the other owner of record.

b.At the time of conviction, the court shall notify each violator that the person's passenger automobile, motorcycle, and noncommercial truck registrations are revoked.  Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.39:5-35, the violator shall surrender the registration certificate and registration plates of all passenger automobiles, motorcycles, and noncommercial truck registrations subject to revocation under the provisions of this section within 48 hours of the court's notice.  The surrender shall be at a place and in a manner prescribed by the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission pursuant to rule and regulation.  The court also shall notify the violator that a failure to surrender that vehicle registration certificate and registration plates shall result in the impoundment of the vehicle in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of P.L.1995, c.286 (C.39:3-40.3) and the seizure of said registration certificate and registration plates.  The revocation authorized under the provisions of this subsection shall remain in effect for the period during which the violator's license to operate a motor vehicle is suspended and shall be enforced so as to prohibit the violator from registering or leasing any other vehicle, however acquired, during that period.

c.If the violator subject to the penalties set forth in subsections a. and b. of this section for conviction of violating the provisions of R.S.39:3-40 was operating a motor vehicle owned or leased by another person and that other owner or lessee permitted that operation with knowledge that the violator's driver's license was suspended, the court shall suspend the person's license to operate a motor vehicle and revoke the registration certificate and registration plates for that vehicle for a period of not more than six months. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.39:3-35, the owner or lessee shall surrender the registration certificate and registration plates of that vehicle within 48 hours of the court's notice of revocation.  The surrender shall be at a place and in a manner prescribed by the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission pursuant to rule and regulation.  The court also shall notify the owner or lessee that a failure to surrender the revoked registration certificate and registration plates shall result in the impoundment of the vehicle in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of P.L.1995, c.286 (C.39:3-40.3) and the seizure of said registration certificate and registration plates.  Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the court from finding that owner or lessee guilty of violating R.S.39:3-39 or any other such statute concerning the operation of a motor vehicle by an unlicensed driver.

L.1995, c.286, s.2; amended 2000, c.83, s.2; 2009, c.201, s.4.