There is no national point system. Each state writes its own rules for what a traffic ticket adds to a driving record, where the line for a suspension sits, how long a ticket counts, what a course can do and when proof of insurance (an SR-22) has to be filed. This hub collects our state guides, with the section and read date beside every rule.
This page is general information about the law, not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Traffic, license and SR-22 rules vary by state and change. The court’s or the DMV’s own letter controls.
Start with the 51-state table to see where your state stands, then open your state’s own page for the full schedule, the exact wording and the read date.
Start with the 51-state table
Our points and suspension rules for all 50 states and DC puts every state on one line: what a conviction adds or what is counted, the line and its window, what a course can do, the SR-22 term and the date we read it. Some rows say “not confirmed”: that means we have not read the state’s official text, so the row gives no numbers and links the state’s own page instead.
If points are new to you, how license points work explains the idea across states. To see a state’s line beside a set of tickets, the points and suspension checker shows the statute’s own schedule and window.
Five questions every state page answers
Each state guide opens with the same five lines, in the same order, so you can compare one state with another:
- Points: what a conviction adds, or, in a state without points, what is counted instead.
- The line: the total and the window the statute or rule names, and what it says happens there, in its own words. Where a statute says “may” or “not more than”, so do we.
- How long: three different clocks, kept apart. The count window is how long a ticket counts toward the line. How long a conviction shows on the record is a separate period, often longer. Decay is a rule that drops or halves points after clean time. How long points stay on your record explains the difference.
- A course: whether a state-approved course can dismiss a ticket, keep its points off, take points off the total, or do nothing, and the limits on how often.
- SR-22 or proof: when the state asks for proof of insurance on file and what starts the clock.
States that count points inside a window
The most common design: points per conviction and a line inside a fixed window.
New York, Florida and California
Since 16 February 2026, New York’s points count over 24 months, not 18. Under the DMV’s rule, 11 or more points in 24 months, or 9 or more from speeding, may lead to a hearing at which a suspension or revocation may be taken, and the rule sets no length (15 NYCRR 131.4(c)). New York has no SR-22 (VTL 346). Read 12 November 2026.
Florida’s points work on three lines: 12 points in 12 months, 18 in 18 and 24 in 36, with suspensions of “not more than” 30 days, 3 months and 1 year (Fla. Stat. 322.27(3)). A Basic Driver Improvement election keeps a ticket’s points off, once in 12 months and eight in a lifetime, with exclusions (318.14(9)). Read 12 November 2026.
California’s points are small, 1 for most convictions and 2 for a short list, but the lines are low: 4 in 12 months, 6 in 24 or 8 in 36 makes a driver “prima facie presumed to be a negligent operator” (Veh. Code 12810.5(a)). Traffic violator school keeps the first such conviction in any 18 months confidential with no point (1808.7). Read 12 November 2026.
Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina
Virginia’s demerit points are 3, 4 or 6 per conviction and count for two years from the offense date (Va. Code 46.2-493). At 18 points in 12 months or 24 in 24, the DMV either suspends for 90 days and until a clinic is finished, or requires nine months in the speed-assistance program plus a clinic, at the driver’s choice (46.2-506(B)). Read 12 November 2026.
Maryland’s points count over any 2 years: a warning letter at 3, a driver improvement program at 5, a suspension at 8 and a revocation at 12 (Transp. 16-404(a)). Read 12 November 2026.
In Ohio, 12 or more points within two years of the first conviction in that period brings a class D suspension, 6 months (ORC 4510.037(B), 4510.02(B)(4)). A remedial course can earn a 2-point credit, once in three years and five in a lifetime (4510.037(C)), and since 9 April 2025 the proof of insurance is kept for one year from the date the registrar imposed the suspension (4509.45(D)). Read 12 November 2026.
North Carolina runs two point systems. DMV license points may bring a suspension at 12 within three years, or 8 in the three years after a reinstatement, capped at “not more than 60 days” the first time (G.S. 20-16(a)(5), (c)). Insurance points under the Safe Driver Incentive Plan are separate, and each treats a PJC differently. Read 12 November 2026.
New Jersey, Colorado and Nevada
New Jersey has two counts. The MVC’s suspension line is 12 or more points, with windows given in its rule notice (52 N.J.R. 1904). A separate count, 6 or more points in 36 months, brings a yearly state surcharge that point reductions don’t lower (N.J.S.A. 17:29A-35). MVC pages and the Register read 12 November 2026.
Colorado’s point values run large: 4 points for 10 to 19 mph over, 6 for 20 to 39 and 12 for 40 or more (C.R.S. 42-2-127(5)). For drivers 21 and over, the line is 12 points in any 12 months or 18 in any 24, and only after a hearing (42-2-127(1)-(2)). Read 12 November 2026.
Nevada’s demerit points count for 12 months from the conviction date, not the ticket date (NAC 483.500(2)). At 12 or more points in 12 months, the statute sets a 6-month suspension the first time (NRS 483.475). Read 11 and 12 November 2026.
States where points fall off or lose value
Two states have no fixed count window. Pennsylvania suspends at 11 points or more, for 5 days per point the first time (75 Pa.C.S. 1539), and takes 3 points off for each 12 consecutive months without a suspension or a new violation that brings points (1537). Read 12 November 2026.
South Carolina counts back from each new violation: the last 12 months at full value, 12 to 24 months at half value, and nothing older (S.C. Code 56-1-750). At 12 points SCDMV may suspend for not more than six months (56-1-740), and an approved defensive driving course takes 4 points off, once in any three years (56-1-770). Read 12 November 2026.
States that count convictions, not points
Texas has had no license points since its old point program was repealed effective 1 September 2019. DPS must suspend a “habitual violator” with 4 or more moving-violation convictions in 12 consecutive months or 7 or more in 24 months, for 90 days if no hearing is requested (Transp. Code 521.292, 521.293). A driving safety course can get a ticket dismissed, with limits on timing and speed, and never for a CDL holder (Code of Criminal Procedure 45A.351-45A.353). Read 12 November 2026.
Washington has no points either. A moving-violation infraction on 3 or more occasions within one year, or 4 or more within two, means a 60-day suspension and a year of probation, and one traffic stop is one occasion (RCW 46.20.2892). DOL’s own rule keeps a second count (WAC 308-104-025). Read 12 November 2026.
Points that only matter after a conviction count
Illinois gives each conviction a weight, but the weights do nothing on their own. The Secretary of State may act once a driver has 3 or more moving-violation convictions for offenses within any 12 months (625 ILCS 5/6-206(a)(2)); only then are the weights added and matched to a table, from a 2-month suspension at 15 to 44 points to revocation at 110 or more for a driver with no suspension in the past 7 years (92 Ill. Adm. Code 1040.30). Read 11 November 2026.
What the state pages don’t cover
For a ticket from another state, see out-of-state tickets. Commercial license holders: see traffic tickets and a CDL. Side by side: SR-22 rules by state and traffic school by state.
Before you rely on a state page
Reaching a line doesn’t always start a suspension: many states send a warning letter or hold a hearing first. Rules also change: New York’s look-back and Ohio’s SR-22 term both changed recently. Every page shows the section and the date we read it. The court’s or the DMV’s own letter controls. Guides for the other states will follow as we read each in official text; until then, the 51-state table has their row.
Fact-check note. Statutes and rules checked on 11 and 12 November 2026, as cited above and on each linked page; each rule carries its own read date. We recheck these rules every three months and after each state’s legislative session.
