Sep. 16—A driver's license suspension in Pennsylvania usually results from truly bad driving rather than from bad luck.

The state has a reasonably high bar that the state Department of Transportation must meet to suspend someone's driver's license. To face that penalty, a driver would have to accumulate more than six "points," most often accumulated from multiple moving violations, or be cited for "excessive speeding," which the state defines as 31 mph or more above the posted speed limit. Driving 86 mph in a 55 mph zone or 101 mph in a 70 mph zone warrants a response in the name of public safety.

Drivers often argue that many posted speed limits are too low, but anyone exceeding the posted limit by 31 mph most likely also is well beyond any safe posted limit.

The high standard for suspension is appropriate because personal mobility is a fundamental aspect of a free society, and driving often is necessary to participate in the society, including for employment.

So credit PennDOT, then, for its second-chance program, under which drivers facing suspension can avoid it while getting the opportunity to become safer drivers.

Depending on the specifics of their cases, drivers will have a hearing with a driver safety examiner to examine their records. That will determine whether the driver is eligible to attend a six-hour, two-day Driver Improvement School. It not only reviews safe-driving standards but provides demonstrably bad drivers with safe-driving and behavior modification techniques.

Drivers who complete the program will have two points removed from their records to avoid suspension. Those with an excessive speeding conviction who complete the course also would avoid suspension. Failure to attend or complete the course itself would result in a 60-day suspension.

In Northeast Pennsylvania, the program is available at the PennDOT License Center in Wilkes-Barre, but PennDOT plans to make it available online.

Enabling people to keep their licenses by making them better drivers is an element of good governance, a superior approach to penalties alone.