I'm new here and i'm thinking about going for my CDL...maybe (a career, lifestyle change at 41 is A LOT scary)...anyway, my question is back in 1989 I got a traffic ticket in CA. where I was living at the time. Ended up I had to move back to NY shortly thereafter so...never paid the ticket and never appeared in court and...completely forgot all about it for 20 years, until now.
I currently have a valid NYS license and have since I came back in 1989, so...would all this effect me even being able to get a CDL in NY...? And if so, how would I even go about taking care of that ticket? I have already looked on every website I could find ticket and warrant information and I can't find anything helpful, or...they say to hire a lawyer.
Any help...advice would be greatly appreciated. Oh and by the way...I LOVE this site!

If it's still on their records it will. You'll have to clear that up before they will even give you the CDL. I had a parking ticket that I had no idea that I even had and when I moved to another state there it was. The only way you can find out is go and get your MVR or apply for the CDL. They will tell you what to do. But if it's there most likely you'll have to contact the court and start there.

Try this site.Go to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.In the search bar,type in NDR.(National Driver Register)Once this is done and the search results page shows up hit on any link and you will see how to get information on past convictions and driver history and what NDR is about.NDR is a database maintained by the federal goverment.DMV's use this site to search for your driver history in other states where you may have had a license before issuing you a new license.I know their records go back to 1997 but they were doing an upgrade in April of this year so the system may now be able to go back further.One last thing.Some States have a statue of limitations on driving violations but most States have no limitations on failure to pay and failure to appear.Like gas hauler said contact the court in the county you recieved the ticket and see what's on their books.Also you can contact the agency(most likely the sheriffs department) responsable for issuing warrants for that court and county to see if there is an outstanding warrant.Most of this can be done online.

Thanx GasHauler & witchwaywest.

I do have an outstanding ticket in Mass. But nothing has shown up on it. I received a copy of the report the company sees, and it did not show. It does show where I got pulled over in March of 2000, but not the ticket I got in Oct 2000.

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Thanx Coastie. I have had a bunch of my friends just tell me not to worry about it and when (if) I go to sign up for CDL school see what happens and then take care of it if I need to.

I believe that might be one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Some schools might not run a complete check and then what happens when you have to get your CDL? What's it going to hurt to call the California court house? Why would you want this hanging over your head anyway? Someday you might have to drive through CA and if you did get stopped your career would be over.

It also has to do with each state reporting also. Some states will report infractions to each other, and some do not.

Now I did lose my CDLs cause of a guy in NJ, same name born same year but a month apart. He gotten 3 DUI's so Georgia suspended mine. But through an Act of State Congress I got them back within 2 hours.

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Yeah...I know you're right and I don't want this hanging over my head. I will call the courthouse and find out what I need to do.

Thanx for the advice...MUCH appreciated!

That's the right thing to do.