(a) The department shall forthwith revoke the license of any operator or chauffeur upon receiving a record of the operator’s or chauffeur’s conviction of any of the following offenses, when the conviction has become final:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-50-501

  • Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
  • Bus: means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than fifteen (15) passengers including the driver and operated for the transportation of persons. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Chauffeur: means every person who is employed for the principal purpose of operating a motor vehicle and every person who drives a motor vehicle while in use as a public or common carrier of persons or property. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of safety. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Conviction: means an unvacated adjudication of guilt, or a determination that a person has violated or failed to comply with the law in a court of original jurisdiction or by an authorized administrative tribunal, an unvacated forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure the person's appearance in court, a plea of guilty or nolo contendere accepted by the court, the payment of a fine or court cost, or violation of a condition of release without bail, regardless of whether or not the penalty is rebated, suspended or probated. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Department: means the department of safety acting directly or through its duly authorized officers and agents. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Driver license: means a license issued by the department to an individual that authorizes the individual to operate a motor vehicle on the highways. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Felony: means any offense under state or federal law that is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one (1) year. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Motor vehicle: means a vehicle, low speed vehicle or medium speed vehicle as defined in this section, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power used on highways or any other vehicle required to be registered under the laws of this state, but does not include any vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer operated exclusively on a rail. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Operator: means every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Person: means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • School bus: means every motor vehicle operated for the transportation of children to or from school or school-related activities and is operated for compensation. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • State: means :
    (A) For the purposes of commercial driver licenses, a state of the United States and the District of Columbia. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
(1) Manslaughter resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle. The period of revocation in this instance shall extend for the term of the sentence received by the convicted person. If the person is released on parole prior to the end of the sentence, an operator’s license may be reissued on petition of the person’s probation and parole officer and upon satisfactory completion of a complete licensing examination, subject to the approval of the commissioner. In the case of a conviction for vehicular homicide, the department shall revoke the license for the period of time the court prohibited the person from driving a vehicle pursuant to § 39-13-213(c);
(2) Driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant, or while under the influence of narcotic drugs, or while under the influence of drugs producing stimulating effects on the central nervous system. For the purpose of this section, “drugs producing stimulating effects on the central nervous system” includes the salts of barbituric acid, also known as malonyl urea, or any compound, derivatives, or mixtures thereof that may be used for producing hypnotic or somnifacient effects, and includes amphetamine, desoxyephedrine or compounds or mixtures thereof, including all derivatives of phenolethylamine or any of the salts thereof, except preparations intended for use in the nose and unfit for internal use;
(3) Any felony in the commission of which a motor vehicle is used;
(4) Failure to stop and render aid as required under the laws of this state in the event of a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death or personal injury of another;
(5) Knowingly displaying or causing or permitting to be displayed or having in possession any cancelled, revoked, suspended, fictitious or fraudulently altered operator’s or chauffeur’s license, or displaying or representing as one’s own any operator’s or chauffeur’s license not issued to the person or using a false or fictitious name in any application for an operator’s or chauffeur’s license, or knowingly making a false statement, or knowingly concealing a material fact, or otherwise committing a fraud in any such application, or willfully making a false statement to the division under any law relating to the ownership, application or renewal of a motor vehicle operator’s or chauffeur’s license;
(6) Conviction, or forfeiture of bail not vacated, upon two (2) charges of reckless driving committed within a period of twelve (12) months;
(7) Possession by a driver of five (5) or more grams of methamphetamine, as scheduled in § 39-17-408(d)(2) while operating a motor vehicle in this state. A motor vehicle is in operation if its engine is operating, whether or not the motor vehicle is moving; or
(8) Conviction of violating an out-of-service order and failure to pay a civil penalty assessed by the department under § 55-50-405.
(b) In the event any final judgment for damages to property or personal injury resulting from the negligent operation of any motor vehicle is recovered, and in the event the final judgment is not fully paid, satisfied and discharged within sixty (60) days from the date the judgment becomes final, the department shall forthwith suspend the license of any chauffeur or operator of the motor vehicle against whom the judgment was rendered; and the license shall not be restored to the operator of the vehicle until the final judgment has been fully paid, discharged and satisfied.
(c) The commissioner shall revoke the license of any operator or chauffeur upon receiving the record of the operator’s or chauffeur’s conviction of the theft of a motor vehicle or any part thereof; and the commissioner shall not consider the convicted person’s application for reinstatement for the revoked license until the expiration of the full term of the sentence imposed, whether served during actual imprisonment, probation, parole or suspension. It shall be grounds for the revocation of any such person’s parole or probation if the person operates a motor vehicle while the person’s license is in revocation pursuant to this subsection (c). It shall be within the discretion of the trial judge who imposed sentence upon the person convicted of the theft of the motor vehicle or any part thereof to reinstate the person’s driver license after a reasonable time.
(d) The commissioner shall permanently revoke a school bus endorsement held by any operator or chauffeur upon receiving the record of such operator’s or chauffeur’s conviction for using a portable electronic device while operating a school bus, as prohibited by § 55-8-192.
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