Driving Record Points

The system most states use to score moving violations against a driver's record, with a licence suspension when the total crosses a threshold - and an interstate compact that makes an out-of-state ticket count at home.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

Most states assign a number of points to each moving violation - speeding, running a signal, following too closely, and so on - and record them against the driver's licence when the ticket is paid or the driver is found responsible. When the points accumulated within a set period cross a threshold, the state suspends or restricts the licence, usually after a warning stage. Points typically expire after a set time, and some states remove points for completing an approved driver-improvement course. A few states have no point system and instead suspend for a set number of convictions.

Paying a ticket is a conviction for this purpose. The consequence that surprises most drivers is not the fine but the points, and the further consequence is the insurance premium, which insurers set from the driving record they obtain from the state. The points-and-insurance cost of a ticket often exceeds the fine many times over, which is the arithmetic behind contesting tickets that are not worth contesting on the fine alone.

A ticket in another state generally follows the driver home. Under an interstate compact adopted by most states, the state where the offence occurred reports the conviction to the driver's home state, which treats it as if it had happened there under its own point rules; a separate compact means a licence suspended in one member state cannot be replaced by simply applying in another. Commercial drivers are subject to a stricter, federally defined set of disqualifying offences on top of any state points.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

The time to ask is before paying a ticket, not after, since payment is the conviction that creates the points. A lawyer or, in many places, a traffic-court clerk can tell you whether a reduced charge or a driver-improvement course is available - and for a driver already near the threshold, or a commercial driver, one more paid ticket can be the licence.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono programme or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state. Each link opens the Traffic Ticket directory page for the city in that state with the most currently published law firms that list this work; where a state has more than one, the others open under it. The list is generated when this page loads, so a state whose listings have lapsed drops out rather than becoming a dead link.

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  +1 other city

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• Arizona (Chandler)
  +6 other cities

  • Gilbert
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  • Stockton
  • and 7 smaller
• Colorado (Colorado Springs)
  +2 other cities

  • Aurora
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• Delaware (Wilmington)
• District of Columbia (Washington)
• Florida (Jacksonville)
  +5 other cities

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• Georgia (Atlanta)
  +1 other city

  • Savannah
• Hawaii (Honolulu)
• Idaho (Boise)
• Illinois (Chicago)
• Indiana (Indianapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Fort Wayne
• Iowa (Des Moines)
• Kansas (Wichita)
• Kentucky (Lexington)
  +1 other city

  • Louisville
• Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
  +2 other cities

  • New Orleans
  • Shreveport
• Maine (Portland)
• Maryland (Baltimore)
• Massachusetts (Boston)
• Michigan (Detroit)
• Minnesota (Minneapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Saint Paul
• Mississippi (Jackson)
• Missouri (St. Louis)
  +1 other city

  • Kansas City
• Montana (Billings)
• Nebraska (Lincoln)
  +1 other city

  • Omaha
• Nevada (Las Vegas)
  +3 other cities

  • North Las Vegas
  • Henderson
  • Reno
• New Hampshire (Manchester)
• New Jersey (Newark)
  +1 other city

  • Jersey City
• New Mexico (Albuquerque)
• New York (New York City)
  +2 other cities

  • Buffalo
  • Rochester
• North Carolina (Fayetteville)
  +5 other cities

  • Greensboro
  • Charlotte
  • Durham
  • Raleigh
  • Winston-Salem
• North Dakota (Fargo)
• Ohio (Cincinnati)
  +3 other cities

  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Toledo
• Oklahoma (Tulsa)
  +1 other city

  • Oklahoma City
• Oregon (Portland)
• Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
  +1 other city

  • Pittsburgh
• Rhode Island (Providence)
• South Carolina (Columbia)
• South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
• Tennessee (Nashville)
  +1 other city

  • Memphis
• Texas (Garland)
  +12 other cities

  • Dallas
  • Plano
  • Irving
  • Laredo
  • Arlington
  • Austin
  • Corpus Christi
  • Fort Worth
  • San Antonio
  • El Paso
  • Houston
  • Lubbock
• Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Vermont (Burlington)
• Virginia (Chesapeake)
  +3 other cities

  • Norfolk
  • Virginia Beach
  • Richmond
• Washington (Spokane)
  +2 other cities

  • Seattle
  • Tacoma
• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• CDL DisqualificationThe federally defined list of offences that take away a commercial driver's licence - including offences committed in a personal car, and a lower alcohol limit than applies to other drivers.
• Contesting a Traffic TicketWhat a moving violation citation actually is, the difference between an infraction and a traffic misdemeanour, and the procedures - hearing, written defence, traffic school - for answering one.
• DUI / DWI (Impaired Driving)Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs - a charge that almost always runs as two separate cases at once, one criminal and one over the licence.
• Event Data Recorder (Vehicle Black Box) EvidenceThe crash data a modern vehicle records about itself in the moments before an impact - what the federal standard requires it to capture, who owns it, and who may retrieve it.
• Field Sobriety TestsThe roadside balance, coordination and eye-movement exercises an officer uses to build probable cause for an impaired-driving arrest - usually voluntary, and never the same thing as the chemical test that follows.
• Hours-of-Service Rules (Commercial Trucking)Federal limits on how long a commercial driver may drive and work, and the electronic records that show whether those limits were kept.
• Ignition Interlock DeviceA breath-testing device wired into a vehicle that stops it starting if the driver has been drinking - required by many states after an impaired-driving conviction as a condition of driving at all.
• Implied Consent and Administrative License SuspensionThe rule in every state that by driving you have agreed to a chemical test for alcohol or drugs after a lawful arrest - and the licence suspension that follows a refusal or a failed test, separately from any criminal case.
• Leaving the Scene of an Accident (Hit and Run)The legal duties every state imposes on a driver involved in a crash - to stop, to exchange information and to help anyone hurt - and the separate criminal offence of driving away instead.
• Lemon Law and Warranty RightsRules that entitle a buyer to a refund or replacement when a new vehicle has a defect the manufacturer cannot fix in a reasonable number of attempts.
• Negligent Entrustment (Lending a Vehicle)The claim against a person who lent a car to someone they knew, or should have known, was unfit to drive it - the owner's own negligence, separate from the driver's.
• No-Fault Car InsuranceA system in which your own insurer pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of who caused it - used in a minority of states, and it limits when you can sue.
• Odometer Fraud and the Odometer DisclosureRolling back or replacing an odometer to hide a vehicle's true mileage is a federal offence, and every transfer of a vehicle must come with a written mileage statement the buyer can sue over if it is false.
• Permissive Use (Insurance Follows the Car)Which policy pays when someone drives a borrowed car with the owner's permission - the omnibus clause, the exclusions that defeat it, and the owner-liability statutes some states add.
• Policy LimitsThe maximum an insurance policy will pay - and usually the real ceiling on what a claim is worth, whatever the injury.
• Rideshare Accident Insurance (App Periods)Which insurance applies when a rideshare vehicle is in a crash depends on what the driver's app was doing at that moment - the three periods state transportation network company laws define, and the gap that personal policies leave.
• Salvage and Rebuilt TitlesThe title brands a state applies to a vehicle an insurer has declared a total loss, what a rebuilt brand means, and the federal database built to stop a branded title being washed clean in another state.
• SR-22 and Financial Responsibility FilingsThe certificate an insurer files with the state to prove a high-risk driver is carrying the required liability coverage - what triggers it, why it is not itself insurance, and what happens if the policy behind it lapses.
• Total Loss and Diminished ValueWhat happens when an insurer decides a damaged vehicle is not worth repairing - and the separate claim for a repaired car that is now worth less.
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist CoverageCoverage on your own policy that pays when the driver who hurt you had no insurance, or nowhere near enough - and it is the coverage people most often discover they declined.
• Used Car Buyers Guide (FTC Used Car Rule)The window sticker a dealer must display on every used vehicle offered for sale, stating whether it comes with a dealer warranty or as is - and why the sticker overrides the contract.
• Vehicle Safety RecallA manufacturer's federally supervised obligation to notify owners of a safety defect and fix it free of charge - and the rules on what a dealer may sell with a recall still open.

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