Imagine seeing blue lights behind you and dutifully pulling over, only to be told your driver’s license is invalid. The card you thought was your driver’s license is just a state ID card and you’re looking at hundreds in fines and fees. Then, the police officer explains it’s such a serious offense, they could put you in handcuffs and take you to jail immediately.
This is the “welcome back to Georgia” that TikToker Saylor Britt received after years away. How does this even happen? A series of misunderstandings and mistakes that the young woman was quick to own up to. The result was retaking her license test–and failing.
Why did Georgia suspend Saylor Britt’s license?
Britt took to her TikTok after the incident to tell the entire story. It all began with a ticket in high school. Britt was already on the way to college in New Orleans and with the hustle and bustle of moving she forgot to settle up. “I literally drove my car out 10 hours to New Orleans, drove everybody around.” Little did she know, she was a DD without an actual driver’s license.
After college, Britt said she “Moved to LA where I shipped my car and drove it to work to and from everywhere in California.” After California, Britt’s career took her to the Big Apple. “I moved to New York where I don’t need a car. So I shipped my car home back to Georgia.” Finally, she got pulled over while visiting Georgia and was in for a nasty surprise.
A suspended license without knowing it
How did Britt go this long without knowing she had no license? There were two critical aspects. The first is a testament to Britt’s driving. A simple fender bender or ticket over the six years would have revealed her sno-license status. “Never once did I get a speeding ticket, pulled over, get in a car wreck, anything.” In Britt’s words, “I am a good but distracted driver.”
The second aspect is somehow disregarding a long paper trail. The state of Georgia must have sent multiple notices about her license suspension. Presumably these went to Britt’s parents’ house and she never opened them. But that’s not all.
“After 21 when I got my new license, it came back and it said ‘Identification Card.’ Not ‘Driver’s License,’ but I thought they were just doing things different. It was a new layout, you know, they touched it up or something.”
So could your license be suspended without you knowing it? Possibly. But if you make sure to open all the mail the DMV sends and ask questions if your renewal comes back as an “Identification Card” you’d be hard-pressed to not notice for six years.
MotorBiscuit has reached out to @Sslaylor for comment. Hear the entire story, and what Britt had to do to get her license back in the video embedded below:
