CLEVELAND — For more than a year now, News 5 Investigators and the Marshall Project Cleveland have been telling you about the cycle of debt from license suspensions.
Hundreds of thousands of Ohio drivers are suspended, mostly for unpaid fines
After our reporting, state lawmakers have taken steps to lift barriers and bring relief.
But the struggle is far from going away for tens of thousands of parents in Ohio who may risk driving to pay child support.
Making good on such debt is important, but it’s hard to make money if you’re parked for something that has nothing to do with driving.
Renee Ditchburn hasn’t fallen into the cycle but knows it’s a risk.
She lives with the choices she made that brought guilt and financial hardship.
“You just sit there, and you’re like, 'I want to do it. I want to pay more. I want to spend time with my kid, but I can’t,'” Ditchburn said.
Ditchburn lost custody of her son when he was 12 years old. He is now 16.
“I caused this situation, it was my fault and it’s my fault he’s not speaking to me,” Ditchburn said.
Ditchburn said only money will make a difference in her son’s life right now, and she knows what could happen if she doesn’t pay her debt.
“I think when the court case ended it was probably about $28,000,” Ditchburn said.
Ditchburn was in prison when child support debt started wracking up.
But how do you make good on that amount of money or any amount if you can’t legally drive?
“If I don’t pay child support then yeah they’re going to suspend my license,” Ditchburn said.
If you’re under suspension and risk driving, you could end up with another suspension.
“They’re in it for the child right, so even get a job that’s a couple more dollars an hour if they can drive there if it’s not on a bus route how are they going to get there,” Ditchburn said.
Missing child support payments is just one of several money-related issues that can bring on a license suspension in Ohio.
They can also happen for ditching court, clerical errors or not paying fines and fees.
Last December, we showed you how Julian Khan was suspended twice for driving without insurance. One of his cases went to collections.
"When she told me I had to assume another $15,000 debt I almost fainted,” Khan said.
Some people have two, three, or nine suspensions on their record.
For Nizer Luckerson, it was also for expired tags and not using a turn signal.
"Sometimes it just builds up so much I still try to get the fines down but trying to do everyday life at the same time,” Luckerson said.
Each court handles things differently.
For example, Cleveland Heights Municipal Court has a special docket for the sheer volume of cases.
"We're punishing drivers by taking away their licenses not based on dangerous driving but based on a debt they can't pay off,” Legal Aid Society of Cleveland Attorney Michael Russell said.
In 2023, there were almost a quarter million active driver's license suspensions in Ohio, according to new data from the Ohio BMV.
One big reason was child support, with more than 20,000 suspensions just for that.
Cuyahoga County tops the list for license suspensions for the last three years. Lorain County more than doubles Cuyahoga in child support suspensions.
“That I can’t really determine, other than employment in the industrialized cities has been difficult with plant closings and so forth,” Lorain Municipal Court Judge Mark Mihok said.
Judge Mihok has been on the bench for nearly 23 years. He says license suspensions are the number one traffic case.
“People will come in and tell me they owe $5,000 and $6,000 in support,” Mihok said.
Over the last 15 years, Judge Mihok said the court has dedicated someone to handle just license suspensions.
“I sympathize to a point. I say once you get behind the eight ball with the BMV it’s hard to climb out from underneath,” Mihok said.
Each of Ohio’s 88 counties has child support enforcement agencies. They can suspend licenses when people fall behind on one month or more payments.
"People should absolutely pay their child support but there are different ways to enforce child support orders,” Russell said.
More than half the states have changed their suspension laws to provide relief.
Two weeks ago, the Ohio Senate passed a measure to ease financial burdens and lift barriers.
Senate Bill 37 moved to the House.
It would, in part, give judges the option to grant limited driving privileges in child support cases.
A Marshall Project - Cleveland and News 5 report helped spark a bipartisan bill to end spiraling financial strain on hundreds of thousands of drivers.
“I wouldn't have a problem giving someone driving privileges on a child support suspension. If we can get them valid at least with privileges and show proof of insurance at least everybody else out there is protected if there’s a collision,” Judge Mihok said.
Ditchburn started at the Cleveland non-profit Towards Employment, as a participant.
She’s now a program manager and legal assistant and helps young adults with criminal pasts find careers.
Part of it is navigating the courts, the BMV, and the conundrum of wanting to set things straight but can’t legally drive.
“I can preach that you need to have insurance, you need to have a license and stuff but at the end of the day I can see them going and getting in the car because that’s what they got to do to survive,” Ditchburn said.
Senate Bill 37 is expected to be assigned to a House committee next week.
