Arizona Points: Staying Below MVD's Action Line

Know the numbers: what each ticket costs

ADOT's points assessment table adds points whenever you are convicted of a moving violation or forfeit bail on one. If several violations arise from one stop or incident, only the highest value is assessed.

Most everyday violations sit at the bottom of the scale. Rolling a stop sign or drifting out of a lane is usually 2 points; speeding is 3.

• 8 points: DUI, extreme DUI, reckless driving, aggressive driving
• 6 points: fleeing the scene of a collision
• 6 points: failure to stop or yield that causes a death
• 4 points: failure to stop or yield that causes serious injury
• 3 points: speeding
• 2 points: any other moving violation

When you hit 8: the survival school order

Under A.R.S. 28-3306 and administrative rule R17-4-404, reaching 8 points within 12 months leads to one of two outcomes: survival school or suspension. At 8 to 12 points, if you have not attended survival school in the past 24 months, MVD mails a school order.

From the order date, you get 15 days for a hearing request and 60 days to complete the class. Miss the 60 days and you face a six month suspension. Drivers who attended survival school in the previous 24 months skip the school option: the same 8 to 12 points means three months suspended.

A worked example: speeding in February (3), again in June (3), and an improper turn in November (2) makes 8 inside 12 months. Had the June ticket gone to defensive driving school, you would be at 5.

Higher totals: the suspension ladder

R17-4-404 ties the suspension length to your total. These are not school orders; above 12 points in a year, MVD suspends.

Every suspension order states its hearing request window and its effective date. Ask for a hearing in time if you have grounds, for instance a conviction that belongs to someone else.

• Three months for 8 to 12 points within a year, if you already did survival school in the past two years
• Three months for 13 to 17 points within a year
• Six months for 18 to 23 points within a year
• Twelve months for 24 or more points within three years

If the conviction alone triggers school

Some convictions mean traffic survival school even under 8 points: examples include aggressive driving, DUI, driving the wrong way, and blowing through a stop sign or red light. MVD can also step in under A.R.S. 28-3306 after a reckless driving conviction or a crash that killed or injured someone or caused serious property damage.

For teens, A.R.S. 28-3321 applies: one moving violation means a survival school order, a second a three month suspension, and a third a six month suspension.

Can you bring your points down?

Not with a course. Arizona offers nothing that removes points already recorded. Traffic survival school answers an MVD order and keeps you from being suspended, but it does not wipe anything off.

Where Arizona helps is prevention. Send an eligible civil ticket to defensive driving school and it is dismissed, and MVD is barred from recording it, so the points never arrive. And because the 8 point test uses 12 month windows, older points stop counting toward new action once they age out.

Checking your record, and what insurers see

Order your record through AZ MVD Now, at an MVD office, or at an Authorized Third Party provider, and check the current fee when you do. If you diverted a ticket, make sure it is missing from the record; if it shows up, call the court that handled it.

Your insurer cares about convictions as much as points. A.R.S. 20-262 permits, but does not require, a discount for drivers 55 or older who complete an MVD approved driver improvement course taught in a classroom or in the field, not by self study.