Reinhart v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing

In Reinhart v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 946 A.2d 167 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2008), the court was faced with a licensee who had been convicted of three motor vehicle violations stemming from an automobile accident, specifically, DUI, reckless driving, and leaving the scene of an accident. Licensee received three separate notices from DOT suspending his operating privilege for a total of 2 1/2 years. Licensee's appeal was denied as to the DUI suspension, but sustained as to the suspensions for reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. While the trial court held that the issue was not one of merger, because none of the three offenses Licensee was convicted of was a lesser included offense of the other, it in effect "merged" the suspensions, agreeing that the conviction for each offense arose from a single criminal episode. This resulted in a one year suspension of Licensee's operating privilege.