Keeping Your Alaska Point Total Under Control

Start here: how points land on your record

A conviction for a moving violation puts points on your record, and paying a ticket with a no contest plea counts as a conviction. The court has no say over the number; DMV applies its schedule automatically.

Halfway to a point suspension, DMV mails you a warning. Drivers with repeated violations can also be called to a face to face interview with a Motor Vehicle Hearing Officer, who will explain what you must do to keep driving.

Know the numbers: common ticket values

Alaska sorts violations into bands. The heaviest, at 10 points, include DUI, racing, eluding police, reckless driving, refusing a breath test, negligent homicide with a vehicle and driving while suspended. Leaving a crash scene is 9.

The 6 point band covers driving uninsured, negligent driving, not yielding to an emergency vehicle, not stopping for a school bus that is loading, speeding by 20 mph or more, and an underage driver operating after drinking. At 4 points are tailgating, careless driving, not stopping or yielding, and passing illegally inside a Traffic Safety Corridor. All other violations are 2.

• 3 to 9 mph over: 2 points
• 10 to 19 mph over: 4 points
• 20 or more over: 6 points
• School zone or playground crosswalk speeding: 6 points
• Ignoring traffic control at a park, playground, crosswalk or school zone: 6 points
• Breaking the operating hours on an oversize or overweight permit: 3 points

If you reach the limit: suspension

Hitting 12 points within 12 months, or 18 within 24, makes suspension or revocation mandatory. No limited work license is available during a point suspension, so you stop driving completely.

Coming back from any suspension costs a reinstatement fee. As of October 2026 DMV lists $100 for one non DUI administrative action; its reinstatement page explains the steps for your situation.

A worked example: a 4 point ticket in January, a 2 point ticket in May, and a 6 point ticket in November of the same year add up to 12 in under 12 months, which means a mandatory suspension. Had a course credit landed after the May ticket, you might have stayed under.

If the driver is a teen

Permit and provisional holders face a tighter limit. At 6 points within 12 months, or 9 within 24, your teen must complete a nationally certified, DMV approved defensive driving or driver improvement course or face suspension.

A passenger or curfew violation on a provisional license is itself an infraction: a $200 fine plus 2 points. Two of those and one minor speeding ticket already reach 6.

Bringing the total down: credits

DMV gives credit in two ways, for time without violations and for a finished defensive driver course, and the course option is limited to once in 12 months. DMV's page gives no point value for either credit.

The City of Fairbanks, in its 2023 list of approved courses, called the DMV option a 2 point reduction. Use that as a rough guide only, and confirm with DMV before you count on it to pull you under a limit.

Choosing a course that actually counts

DMV lists online providers alongside classroom schools in Wasilla, Eagle River, Bethel and Anchorage. Proctored test sites are limited to remote areas and a military base, so make sure you can actually sit the final exam where you live.

The AARP four hour class is flagged by DMV as good for insurance reduction only. And according to Fairbanks' 2023 list, a certificate earned for DMV point credit was not accepted for its city dismissal program. Decide what you want from the course first.

Reading your driving record

DMV sells three record types online, each $10 as of October 2026. Every conviction, license action and at fault crash appears on the full individual record. The insurance version covers three or five years depending on the conviction type. CDL drivers looking for work need the CDL employment record.

Use Form 419 to have your record sent to an employer. Records are confidential, so you can only obtain someone else's with their consent.