Lakysha’s driver’s license has been suspended since 2007, except for two months during 2016, due to unpaid fines and fees for non-driving related cases dating back to 1992. She is a returning citizen and learned that her driver’s license was suspended in 2009 when she entered a work release program in Tallahassee. In 2016, she was granted a payment plan with Escambia County where she owed fines and fees totaling nearly $5,000. The payment plan offered by the Escambia Clerk of Court set her monthly payments at $100. Lakysha was able to keep up with the payments for only two months before she fell behind and her driver’s license was suspended again. At the time, her monthly income was roughly $800 and her rent alone was $600, making the $100 monthly payments simply unaffordable.
When Lakysha went back to the Clerk of Court in Escambia County, they told her she could not get another payment plan since she defaulted on her original plan. She still owes Escambia County around $4,500 and has not had a driver’s license in 5 years. She feels like she is being set up for failure and to be put back into the system.
Lakysha says that her life would be drastically different if she had her license. She says that she would be able to get a job driving buses for the City of Tallahassee and make more money than she would make working the fast food jobs she is limited to working now. She could stop having to rely on friends and family to take her places and they would not have to adjust their schedules to help her out. Having a driver’s license would allow Lakysha to help take care of her grandkids more and visit her mother more often who lives in a different county.