Point Reduction in Indiana: A Plain Guide to Your Record

First, how a point value is set

A BMV body called the Point Study Committee scores each moving violation by the danger it poses, anywhere from zero to ten. The full schedule is a rule, 140 IAC 1-4.5-10, and you can reach it from the BMV's DSP page.

Points attach at conviction, and paying a ticket counts as a conviction. The two year clock runs from the conviction date, not the day you were pulled over.

Example: you are stopped in November and settle the ticket in January. Count two years from the conviction date that appears on your record, not from the November stop.

What common tickets are worth

The Driver's Manual gives these examples. Always check your own violation against the full schedule, because the value in force on the day of the offense is the one that applies.

• Speeding: 2 points up to 15 mph over; 4 points between 16 and 25 over; 6 points at 26 over and beyond.
• Headlights off when required, or brake or signal lights not working: 2 points.
• Holding a phone or other device, changing lanes unsafely, or running a stop or yield sign: 4 points.
• Tailgating, or not yielding to an emergency vehicle: 6 points.
• Racing on a road, or driving while suspended: 8 points.

If the BMV writes to you

The BMV says it may act when points pile up, but the official pages we read do not publish a point threshold, so ignore any number you see on an unofficial site. What the BMV does publish are triggers based on convictions.

A second conviction inside 12 months can bring an order to complete a DSP, and under 21 the second conviction does it regardless of timing. The order gives you 90 days. Let them pass and your privileges are suspended until the course is completed and processed. A third pointable violation within a year of the previous two may also prompt a request for proof of insurance, again with 90 days to respond.

After you take the course: the credit and its limits

Any Indiana driver can take a DSP from an approved provider and get a 4 point credit on their Indiana Official Driver Record. The credit can be used once in a three year period. A course taken inside that window earns nothing new, and it pushes the three year window out from the new completion date.

The credit reduces your active total. It does not delete any conviction. A court-ordered course qualifies for the credit only if the provider is on the BMV approved list, so check before enrolling.

When points cost you at renewal

Points come back to bite at renewal time. Collect six points or more between renewals and you must pass the knowledge exam before the BMV renews you. That includes a driver turning 21 and switching from a probationary to a standard license.

Probationary drivers have an even lower bar: any points on the record mean a knowledge exam when they apply. With diversion unavailable under 21, the DSP is frequently the only way for them to reduce points.

Where points stop mattering: habitual traffic violator status

Points are one system. Indiana's Habitual Traffic Violator law is another, and it looks back over 10 years of judgments. Ten or more violations in that time, one of them major, means a five year suspension. Three serious offenses, operating while intoxicated and reckless driving among them, mean ten years. Two offenses that hurt or killed someone also mean ten years, and a lifetime suspension applies when both were impaired driving crashes that caused a death.

No class undoes an HTV finding. The DSP is for keeping ordinary point totals low before a pattern forms.