Idaho Point Reduction: Keeping Your License Safe

First, how points are assigned

IDAPA 39.02.71 holds ITD's point schedule. Each moving violation conviction gets 1 to 4 points by its risk of injury or damage. A conviction under state law or city ordinance that is not listed gets 3, unless the law calls for mandatory license withdrawal or exempts it.

Out-of-state tickets count too: an Idaho driver's moving violations in other states go on the Idaho record. And if one traffic stop ends in two or three convictions, only the most expensive one in points gets counted.

Common tickets and their points

The schedule runs to dozens of entries. These are the ones drivers meet most, per the current rule.

• Speeding 16+ over: 4. Speeding 1 to 15 over: 3
• Work zone speeding: 4. School zone speeding: 3
• Four points each: illegally passing a school bus that has stopped, racing, any railroad crossing offense, and driving off after hitting a parked car or a fixture
• Stop sign or red light, failing to yield, tailgating, unsafe passing, illegal turns, inattentive driving: 3
• Ignoring the move-over rule for a stopped emergency vehicle: 3
• One point each: backing improperly, breaking lane rules on a multi-lane highway, divided highway violations, and going the wrong way down a one-way street
• Handheld phone use: 0 the first time, 3 after that

If you are nearing a suspension

IDAPA 39.02.71 uses three rolling windows: 12 points or more within 12 months means 30 days suspended, 18 or more within 24 months means 90 days, and 24 or more within 36 months means 6 months. The windows run on conviction dates, so an old conviction stops counting once it falls outside all three.

Nothing in the rule promises you a warning first, so keep your own count. Note that some offenses, impaired driving among them, bring automatic suspensions with no points math involved. Should a points suspension happen, getting reinstated afterward costs $25 under Idaho Code 49-328, and other kinds of suspension carry different fees.

Worked example: a driver with 3 points from last March and 4 from this June has 7 in the 12 month window. A 4 point ticket next month would put him at 11. Taking the class now drops him to 4 and buys real breathing room.

How the 3 point class works

Finishing an approved defensive driving class, also called an accident prevention course, takes 3 points off your Idaho total. The conviction stays; only the count drops. The class must run at least 6 hours, in a classroom, by field driving, online or a mix.

AARP, AAA and National Safety Council classes qualify automatically. Every other company must get its outline approved by ITD, which posts the approved list on its Driver Records and Suspensions page. Expect to pay somewhere around $18 to $60, set by the provider, with a possible extra charge for the certificate.

• Once every three years, counted from finishing a class or a city program
• Do not take it early: with nothing on your record the credit evaporates, yet your three year wait still begins
• It will not undo a points suspension ITD has already ordered
• Pay any open citation before finishing, or ITD will not approve the reduction
• Email completion certificates to [email protected]

Checking your record

A copy of your record costs $7 as of October 2026; certification adds $14. The fastest route is ITD's online records portal, which returns it right away. You can also post the written request form with payment. Paying by card adds a service fee, and ITD will not email a certified record.

Look at your record before picking a class, after any conviction and before applying for a driving job. Make sure each conviction shows the right points, that dual convictions from one stop were counted once, and that any city program ticket shows none.

Insurance, older drivers and teens

ITD's points and your insurance bill run on different tracks. An insurer reads your record and applies its own formula, and since the 3 point credit leaves the conviction in place, the insurer still sees the ticket. Only the city program has a legal answer to that: once finished, the ticket may not be rated as a moving violation.

Drivers 55 and up have a separate benefit: Idaho Code 41-2515 makes insurers lower the premium after an approved accident prevention course, as long as nobody ordered you to take it because of a ticket. For teens under 17 holding a supervised permit, points do not matter at all. Any conviction cancels the permit and restarts the six months.