Roadblocks: Evaluating the impact of fines-related driver’s license suspension on work-related outcomes for socioeconomically disadvantaged workers.

= 879), evidencing a positive association between license suspension and unemployment, and indicating that this relationship is mediated by compromised access to transportation. License suspension was also positively associated with turning toward the informal shadow economy for employment, with some individuals reporting turning to sex work and crime to make ends meet. Data bore out a number of employment- and well-being-related consequences of nonpayment policies, and suggested that effects may function differentially by race, with Black individuals experiencing disproportionately negative effects. In Study 2, archival data indicated that enforcement of license suspensions is likely to result in a net loss to state revenue, incentivizing policy revision. Collectively, our data suggest that fine and fee imposition, and associated driver's license suspension, are likely to have a number of negative effects for individuals, employers, and society alike. We offer policy and practice implications related to reevaluating license suspension for nonpayment of court-ordered legal financial obligations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).