A.R.S. § 28-3473 — Driving on a Suspended License

What the State must prove

The offense requires driving on a public highway while the privilege is suspended — and the State must show the driver knew or should have known. MVD satisfies notice by mailing to the address on record, which creates a presumption of knowledge, not proof: people move, mail fails, and suspensions triggered by unpaid fines or missed court dates routinely surprise the person they attach to. Attacking notice is the first move in most of these cases.

Penalties

A class 1 misdemeanor carries up to six months in jail and up to $2,500 in fines plus surcharges, though first offenses typically resolve well short of that. The quieter consequences bite harder: the suspension period extends, the vehicle can be impounded for 30 days in specified cases, and a conviction stacks the record that later turns a routine stop into an aggravated DUI charge if alcohol is ever involved — driving on a suspended license is what elevates a misdemeanor DUI to a class 4 felony.

Fixing the underlying problem

Most suspensions are administrative — unpaid tickets, missed hearings, insurance lapses — and most can be cleared: paying or restructuring the fines, reinstating with MVD, and documenting compliance. Courts treat a defendant who arrives with a valid license very differently from one still suspended, so restoring the license before the pretrial conference is often the single most productive step in the case.

Resolution goals run from dismissal on notice grounds to reduction to a civil no-valid-license violation. The approach is on the criminal traffic defense page, with a plain-language walkthrough in the suspended license guide.