The Law Offices of Edward Harrington Heyburn, PC

 In State v. Hina K. Patel, the NJ Supreme Court held under N.J.S.A. 39:4-97.2(e), the exemption provision for assessing motor vehicle penalty points for an unsafe driving offense that occurs more than five years after “the prior offense,” “the prior offense” refers only to the most recent preceding offense based on both a plain reading of the statute and a review of the legislative history. Thus, the MVC correctly imposed motor vehicle points on Patel for having a fourth unsafe driving conviction in 2007, only one year after the date of her prior, third, unsafe driving offense. This means that drivers that do not use their 3rd Unsafe Operation for 5 years after their 2nd offense are elligible to a No Point downgrade.