It appears that Oregon State is requiring you to carry the SR-22 to reinstate your license after a DUII (Driving While Under the Influence of Intoxicants) suspension. According to the Oregon DMV, Oregon law requires you to keep a SR-22 in effect for 3 years from the ending date of a suspension which requires an SR-22 or for 3 years and 33 days from the date of a driving uninsured conviction.

If you let the SR-22 lapse for any reason, the insurance company must notify DMV and your driving privileges will then be suspended. So if you had the SR-22 financial responsibility filing in place at one point but let it lapse then your driving privileges in Oregon were likely already suspended. If not once the court realizes you were driving without the required SR-22 filing they will be.

The Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) states that if your driving privileges have been suspended because you did not get an SR-22 certificate and you later get insurance, be sure you do not drive until an SR-22 certificate is on file with DMV and your driving privileges have been reinstated. Please note that an SR-22 meets the requirements of being on file when DMV receives it. The effective date of the policy itself is not counted as the date the SR-22 was filed.

So if you had not ever filed the SR-22 then your license should have been suspended at the time of the stop for the seat belt, if that is the case then you may also be facing penalties for driving with a suspended license.

You can be required to file an SR-22 with the State of Oregon, even if you live out of state and/or have an out of state license. Oregon records all suspensions on a national computer system. Oregon law prohibits DMV from clearing the national computer before all requirements are met, including an SR-22. Most states check the national system prior to or after issuing you a license or renewing your license. Most states will cancel or suspend your driving privileges if you are suspended in another state.

If you are required to file an SR-22 as an out of state resident, you need to make sure the SR-22 is with a company that also does business in Oregon, that they have your Oregon customer number to put on the SR-22, and that the SR-22 is the original, not a copy. For information on which companies in your state do business in Oregon, contact the Oregon Consumer and Business Services Insurance Division at (503) 947-7980.

If you are found to be driving while suspended (DWS) then the penalties may include fines and jail time, vehicle impoundment and your license being suspended for a longer period of time.

The Oregon State Bar notes that Driving while suspended is usually an infraction or misdemeanor, which means you can be sentenced to a maximum of one year in jail and fined $5,000. Under certain circumstances, however, the offense may be classified as a felony. One situation where a DWS is a felony is when a person's license was suspended due to conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicants. In such a case, the offense is punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years and a fine of not more than $100,000.

Besides the possibility of a jail sentence and having to pay a fine, the registrations of all the vehicles the convicted person owns are suspended for up to three months. The registration of the vehicle that the convicted person was driving at the time of arrest also will be suspended for up to 120 days. This will happen even if the convicted person is not the owner of the vehicle, and if it is shown that the owner of the vehicle knew or had good reason to know that the convicted person did not have a valid driver's license and still let the suspended driver use his or her vehicle.

The court also can order another penalty for DWS. It can have the vehicle "impounded" for up to three months. This means towed away, locked up, and stored. The convicted person is responsible for the costs of towing and storing the vehicle, and the vehicle will not be returned until these costs are paid. If the vehicle is not claimed and these costs are not paid within 30 days after the impoundment period is up, the vehicle may be sold at public auction.

As for the seat belt ticket, Oregon law requires that all motor vehicle operators and passengers be properly secured with a safety belt or safety harness, unless all safety-belt equipped seating positions are occupied by other persons. This applies to passenger cars, pickup trucks, motor homes, and fee-based people transport carrying fifteen or fewer persons. Limited exemptions are allowed under ORS 811.215. Vehicle owners are required to maintain belt systems in working order. From what we have read the fine for a seat belt violation Oregon is around $100.

We have heard of a seat belt diversion class that is available to some motorist in Oregon that received a safety belt violation citation. However to be eligible for this program, you must have normally have no prior seat belt convictions in the past and no traffic convictions of any kind in any OR jurisdiction for the last five years. So with a DUI on your record it would not appear that this would be an option for you.

No matter what the violations are that you are cited and convicted of, if you are still required by the state of Oregon to obtain a SR-22 then you should do so with a car insurance company that provides this filing service as soon as possible.