We would advise you not to drive while you do not have a valid license. If you cannot afford to pay the judgment against you in full then many times laws do allow for you to set up a payment plan and then as long as you follow it you can get driving privileges restored. Or if you need to drive in order to make the money to pay on the judgment then you should check with the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to see if you can obtain a hardship license.

From what we have read Connecticut allows those eligible to be granted a work permit while their license is suspended. The Connecticut driver's work permit allows you to drive for 12 hours a day, only back and forth from your home to work, and other destinations if explicitly specified on your permit.

If you do drive while your license is suspended (and without a work permit) it would be against the law and would face penalties in court if caught and cited by law enforcement.

Section 14-215 of the Connecticut General Statues gives the penalties for operating a vehicle while your license is suspended. Here it states:

(a) No person to whom an operator's license has been refused, or, except as provided in section 14-215a [license suspended due to failure to pay or plead on a ticket], whose operator's license or right to operate a motor vehicle in this state has been suspended or revoked, shall operate any motor vehicle during the period of such refusal, suspension or revocation. No person shall operate or cause to be operated any motor vehicle, the registration of which has been refused, suspended or revoked, or any motor vehicle, the right to operate which has been suspended or revoked.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, any person who violates any provision of subsection (a) of this section shall, for a first offense, be fined not less than one hundred fifty dollars or more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or be both fined and imprisoned, and, for any subsequent offense, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars or more than six hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or be both fined and imprisoned.

(c) Any person who operates any motor vehicle during the period such person's operator's license or right to operate a motor vehicle in this state is under suspension or revocation on account of a violation of subsection (a) of section 14-227a [driving under the influence] or section 53a-56b [manslaughter] or 53a-60d [assault] or pursuant to section 14-227b [DUI], shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars or more than one thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than one year, and, in the absence of any mitigating circumstances as determined by the court, thirty consecutive days of the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced in any manner. The court shall specifically state in writing for the record the mitigating circumstances, or the absence thereof.

So it appears for your type of driving with a suspended license issue your penalties for a first offense will be a fine of between $150 and $200 or jail time of up to 90 days or both the fine and jail time. Any subsequent offense for driving on a suspended license would come with the harsher penalties of fined between $200 and $600 or jail time up to 1 year or both a fine and jail time.

Normally if one has not had a valid license for 17 years and their license is still under suspension they cannot be insured since the insurance company cannot rate them properly due to lack of a driving record. You stated that you do have insurance however you will want to make sure that it does cover you if you are in an accident since you are without a valid driver's license.

You can contact the CT DMV for information on if a work permit or any other type of restricted license is available to you so you can legally drive at least to work and home. You can also see about how much longer your license can be suspended for due to the judgment you have against you if you continue to not pay.