Your home state of Washington as well as the neighboring state of Oregon are both members of the Drivers License Compact (DLC). This agreement requires member states to inform the state in which a person is licensed of moving violation convictions which occur out of state.

From our research it appears that the states of Oregon and Washington communicate closely with each other regarding traffic violations and license status. For instance the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles notes that when ordered by a court, they may suspend a person's driving privilege if the person fails to appear in court or fails to pay a traffic fine for a traffic violation or a traffic crime in Oregon or Washington.

The Oregon DMV also notes that if a court suspends or revokes your driving privileges, you may get a suspension or revocation order in court. The court may confiscate your driver license and return it to the DMV, they do not note if for out of state driver's if they will return it to their state to pick up after the suspension or more likely it will be held by the OR DMV.

If your driving privileges are suspended or revoked by OR DMV, a notice of suspension or revocation will be sent to the address on your driving record / driver's license. If you have a license in your possession, it must be returned to an OR DMV office when the suspension or revocation begins. After the suspension or revocation begins, you may not drive any motor vehicle on highways or premises open to the public.

If your driver's license is confiscated in court and held by the Oregon courts or DMV then it would not appear that you could drive in Oregon or elsewhere until you get your license returned to you since all states require you to have your driver's license in possession when operating a vehicle.

Oregon notes that being out of state does not stop Oregon DMV from suspending your driving privileges. You will need to clear up your problem in Oregon because all other states are notified by computer of your suspension. They even note that you may risk being issued a Driving While Suspended ticket.

Oregon records all suspensions on a national computer system. In order to clear the record on the national system, all requirements, including the reinstatement fee of $75, must be met. There is no statute of limitations or waiving of the fee just because the person is not in Oregon.

A little more information on the infraction you were cited for in Oregon. Effective January 1, 2006, a new Oregon law (Senate Bill 568 passed in 2005) stiffened penalties for drivers cited at speeds 100 mph and faster. A conviction carries a mandatory minimum 30 to 90 day suspension in addition to a $1,103.00 fine.

This same law also suspends a driver’s license for up to 30 days for motorists convicted of driving more than 30 mph faster than the speed limit. You may receive the harsher fine and suspension due to being caught going over 100 mph. Excessive speed is a factor in about one-third of Oregon traffic deaths and is why the law was passed, so to try and slow drivers down with the threat of severe penalties.

Section 46.21.010 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) gives information on Washington's participation with the DLC if you would like to read more about it there. From the information we have read it seems that if you are pulled over in Washington, you may be cited for driving with a suspended license if Oregon suspends your license due to being convicted of your ticket however you may want to contact the WA Department of Licensing to find out for certain.