A 4-minute lesson from the Tennessee course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Driving is a privilege the state can take away. Tennessee can suspend or revoke your license for dangerous driving, for dishonesty, for some non-driving offenses — and for problems you left unresolved in another state.
Know the rule
Before issuing any license, Tennessee checks the National Driver Register (information from all 51 U.S. jurisdictions) through the Problem Driver Pointer System. If another state reports a problem, you can't get a Tennessee license until you clear it with that state.
Fail to surrender your license and you'll be fined $75 on top of other fines and costs. Any Highway Patrol office or Driver Service Center can take it, or you can mail it.
Before suspending, revoking or canceling a license, the Department notifies you in writing and offers a hearing first — except for final judgments and convictions.
Tennessee's agreement with member states: ignore a traffic ticket anywhere and your privilege is suspended until the court reports the ticket resolved and fees paid.
After a suspension ends, you must pay reinstatement fees and file proof of liability insurance — SR-22 insurance for adults — before getting your license back.
You got a speeding ticket on a road trip in another member state and never paid it. Under the Non-Resident Violator Compact, Tennessee will suspend your license until that court says the ticket is handled.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
A driver whose license is suspended or revoked must surrender it to the Department of Safety within:
5 days
20 days
60 days
There is no deadline
Answer: 20 days
A suspended or revoked license must be surrendered within 20 days of the suspension or revocation.
Before a license is suspended, revoked, or cancelled, the Department of Safety will generally give the licensee:
No notice at all
Only a phone call with no hearing option
Written notice and an opportunity for a hearing
A hearing only after the suspension has already started
Answer: Written notice and an opportunity for a hearing
Before suspension, revocation, or cancellation, the department notifies the licensee in writing and offers a hearing, except in cases of final judgments.