How Many License Points Will I Receive?

Any person who commits an offense for which points may be assessed for violations while operating a commercial motor vehicle may be assessed double the amount of any fine or penalty authorized by statute.

If the driver is convicted of more than one violation arising from the same accident he will receive points for each violation.

You cannot afford to loose your license or have your insurance premiums skyrocket due to not being properly represented. Our Traffic Lawyers can even assist you in obtaining a limited driving privilege if necessary. Our Driving Defense is not limited to Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, but Gaston County, Cabarrus County, Lincoln County, Rowan County, and Iredell County as well.

The point values

North Carolina assigns driver license points by offense under G.S. 20-16. The values are fixed by statute, so the number attached to a conviction does not vary by county or by judge — what varies is whether you are convicted of that offense in the first place.

The common values are set out below. Note that an infraction still carries points: paying a ticket by mail is a conviction, and the points follow.

Passing a stopped school bus — 5 points
Aggressive driving — 5 points
Reckless driving — 4 points
Hit and run, property damage only — 4 points
Following too closely — 4 points
Driving on the wrong side of the road — 4 points
Illegal passing — 4 points
Running through a stop sign — 3 points
Speeding in excess of 55 mph — 3 points
Failing to yield right-of-way — 3 points
Running a red light — 3 points
All other moving violations — 2 points

Two separate point systems

The single most common misunderstanding about North Carolina tickets is that there is one set of points. There are two, they are run by different bodies, and they do different things to you.

Driver license points are assigned by the Division of Motor Vehicles under G.S. 20-16 and can cost you your license. Insurance points are assigned under the Safe Driver Incentive Plan, administered through the North Carolina Rate Bureau, and cost you money. A conviction can carry a low license-point value and a heavy insurance consequence, or the reverse.

The three-year window

Points are counted over a rolling three-year period. Twelve or more accumulated within three years exposes you to suspension. If your license has already been suspended and reinstated, the threshold drops to eight points in the three years following reinstatement.

Because the window rolls, a person can sit just under the threshold for a long time and then cross it with a single two-point violation. If you have had convictions in the last three years, the marginal cost of the next one is much higher than the ticket suggests.

Driver improvement clinic

The Division may allow a driver who has accumulated as many as seven points — or four points in the three years after reinstatement — to attend a driver improvement clinic. On successful completion, three points are deducted from the conviction record.

This is a genuine and underused route. It is discretionary rather than automatic, and it is worth asking about before you reach the threshold rather than after a suspension notice arrives.

Why the charge matters more than the points

Because the point value is fixed to the offense, the only real leverage is the offense itself. A speeding charge reduced to improper equipment carries no license points and no insurance points. A charge reduced from speeding over 55 to speeding under 55 changes a three-point conviction into a two-point one, and changes the insurance treatment as well.

That is why traffic matters are worth handling rather than paying. The fine is rarely the real cost; the conviction is.

Out-of-state drivers and out-of-state tickets

North Carolina reports convictions to other states, and receives them. A North Carolina license holder convicted elsewhere will generally have the conviction recorded here, and a non-resident convicted here will usually see it reported home.

The point values applied are those of the licensing state, not the state where the ticket was written, and the two systems rarely line up. If you hold a license from another state, the North Carolina point value on this page is not what you will ultimately carry.

Points from an accident

A conviction arising from a collision carries the same point value as the same offense without one. What changes is the insurance side, where an at-fault accident carries its own charge independent of any conviction, and where the amount of damage affects the treatment.

It is common for a driver to be charged with a minor moving violation after a collision and to focus on the ticket. The accident itself is often the larger financial event, and the two are assessed separately.

Checking your own record

You can obtain your driving record from the Division for a small fee, and it is worth doing before deciding how to handle a new charge. People are frequently wrong about how many points they carry and when older convictions fall outside the three-year window.

The record also reveals suspensions a person did not know about. If there is an outstanding failure to appear from an old case, that is the thing to deal with first, ahead of the new ticket.

Points do not appear immediately

There is a lag between a conviction and the points reaching your record, and another before an insurer sees it at renewal. That delay leads people to believe a ticket had no consequence when in fact it has simply not landed yet.

It also means that two convictions entered close together can both attach before either is reflected, which is how drivers cross the twelve-point threshold without noticing they were near it.

Prayer for judgment continued

A prayer for judgment continued is a determination of guilt on which no sentence is entered. It is granted in the court's discretion, not on request, and where granted it can keep points from attaching.

Its limits run on two clocks. For license points, G.S. 20-4.01 treats a third or subsequent prayer for judgment continued for a North Carolina offense within any five-year period as a conviction, so the first two carry no points. For insurance, G.S. 58-36-75 allows no premium surcharge and no assessment of points unless the vehicle owner, the principal operator, or any licensed operator in the owner's household has a prayer for judgment continued for a moving violation in the three years immediately preceding. One allowance is per driver over five years; the other is across the household over three.

Suspensions that do not wait for twelve points

Some speeding convictions cost a license whatever the point total. Under G.S. 20-16.1 the Division shall suspend a license for 30 days, without preliminary hearing, on a conviction for exceeding the limit by more than 15 mph while also traveling in excess of 55 mph, or for traveling in excess of 80 mph. A second such conviction within a year of the first carries 60 days, as does that offense combined with reckless driving on the same occasion.

On a first conviction only, the trial judge may, when feasible, allow a limited driving privilege. This is how a driver carrying three points still loses a license.

Commercial license holders

G.S. 20-16 sets a second and higher schedule for violations committed while operating a commercial motor vehicle; passing a stopped school bus is 8 points there against 5 on the ordinary schedule. Points are not the main exposure.

Under G.S. 20-17.4 a person is disqualified from driving a commercial motor vehicle for 60 days on conviction of two serious traffic violations, or 120 days on three or more, arising from separate incidents within three years, committed in a commercial motor vehicle or while holding a commercial drivers license. Serious traffic violations include any single charge of 15 mph or more above the limit, and they count when committed in an ordinary car.

Common questions

What happens after the Division sends a suspension notice?

Under G.S. 20-16 the Division shall notify the licensee in writing and, on request, shall afford an opportunity for a hearing, to be held not more than 60 days after the request is received. The same section caps the period: a first suspension for accumulated points is for not more than 60 days, a second is not to exceed six months, and any subsequent suspension is not to exceed one year.

Will a prayer for judgment continued stop a mandatory speeding suspension?

The suspension under G.S. 20-16.1 follows the Division receiving a record of conviction. A first or second prayer for judgment continued for a North Carolina offense within five years is not a conviction under G.S. 20-4.01 for Chapter 20 purposes, so no such record reaches the Division. A third within five years is, and so is any prayer for judgment where the driver holds a commercial drivers license.

Written for North Carolina law and reviewed by David P. Sheehan, attorney, Charlotte. General information, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.