Defensive Driving in New Hampshire After a Ticket

First, the bad news: no class wipes out a ticket

New Hampshire has nothing like the ticket dismissal programs you may have heard about from other states. Most tickets carry a set fine. Plead guilty or nolo, pay the DMV within 30 days, and you have a conviction plus whatever demerit points go with it.

Want to contest it? According to the Circuit Court, you mark not guilty and return the ticket to the DMV, and the DMV hands it over to the court. At the pre-trial conference, the prosecutor might change the charge, propose a plea deal or decline to go forward, depending on your facts. Court staff will not guess how your case will go.

If you hold a CDL, add one task. Under 49 CFR 383.31, any non-parking conviction, whatever you were driving at the time, has to be reported to your employer in writing inside 30 days, and no course changes that.

Within 30 days: answering the ticket

Start early and the deadline is easy. Online, you can enter any of the three pleas. Calling 603-227-4070 or 800-272-0036 works only for a guilty or nolo plea paid by credit card. For mail, address it to the Bureau of Financial Responsibility, NH DMV, PO Box 3838, Concord NH 03301. Drop box payments take 3 to 5 business days to process.

Picture a ticket written on May 1. You have until May 31 to respond. Mail it late, or let a check bounce, and you are on the road to a suspension.

When the points notice arrives: how the credit works

Saf-C 212.06 sets the rule. Once you carry 3 or more demerit points, completing an approved driver improvement program takes 3 points off your most recent assessment total. That reduced number is what the DMV uses when it decides whether to suspend you.

It is not a record cleaner. The points remain on your driver record report, and an insurer pulling your record still sees each conviction. Treat the course as a shield against suspension and nothing more.

Two limits apply. The credit is available once per stretch of 3 full calendar years in a row, and you must finish the course while the points are being assessed, so it works on points you already have and cannot be banked for future tickets. Send the DMV an original completion certificate.

Picking an approved program

Lots of driving courses are sold around the state, but the DMV recognizes only the ones named on its list, and only those can be counted by the Bureau of Hearings. At the time of the source check, the statewide names were the National Safety Council of Northern New England, AAA Northern New England and the AARP Driver Safety Program, plus local schools in Concord, Amherst and Manchester.

The list does not say which programs, if any, run online. Ask the school before paying, and make sure the class you book is its approved driver improvement program. A course from a school missing from the list may count for nothing at your hearing.

Saf-C 212.07 sets the standards. A program runs 6 hours or longer; if it includes time behind the wheel, 4 or more of those hours are spent in a classroom. The fee is capped at $50 a person. Eligible providers are AARP, AAA or a similar motor club, a National Safety Council chapter, or a New Hampshire licensed driving school that keeps an office here.

How many points a ticket carries

A conviction adds 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 points, based on what you did. A certified copy of your record shows them for three years, counted from the date of the violation.

• 3 points: speeding by less than 25 mph, failure to yield, tailgating, running a stop sign
• 4 points: speeding by 25 mph or more, improper passing, negligent driving, using a mobile electronic device
• 6 points: DWI, driving while suspended, reckless driving, school bus violations, conduct after an accident
• 1 point: not getting a New Hampshire license, inspection violations

When the total gets close to a suspension

The line depends on your age. From age 21, collecting 12 points within one calendar year can cost you up to 3 months, 18 points in two years up to 6 months, and 24 points in three years up to a year.

Under 21, the same three windows trigger at 9, 15 and 21 points. Under 18, they trigger at 6, 12 and 18. Separately, the DMV may hold a hearing and suspend a youth operator under 20 over certain convictions, whatever the point count says.

A worked example: a 30 year old with two 4 point tickets and one 3 point ticket in the same year has 11 points. One more minor ticket crosses 12. Finishing an approved course while those points are being assessed brings the suspension count down by 3.

If a court or the state orders a course

A justice of a superior, district, county or circuit court can order you into a driver improvement program, and the Bureau of Hearings can do the same once it has reviewed your record at a hearing.

Do not confuse that with the driver attitude program in Saf-C 212.08. It is a condition of getting your license back in three situations: a district court ordered it, the Bureau of Hearings ordered it, or you were certified a habitual offender. When checked, two local schools plus the National Safety Council and AAA, both of Northern New England, were approved to teach it.

If you let the deadline slide

Missing the 30 day window, skipping a hearing or not paying triggers a $50 administrative fee (RSA 502-A:19-b). Thirty days after the missed step, the DMV suspends your license with no further warning, and a bench warrant may be issued.

Getting the license back costs an extra $100 paid to the DMV. Miss a pre-trial conference or a trial in Circuit Court and you are found guilty administratively, with a notice of the full fine sent by mail.

Will the course lower your insurance?

The DMV's course pages say nothing about insurance discounts, either for driver improvement or for mature drivers. A few of the national providers listed sell mature driver courses, but any price change is up to your insurer.

Phone your insurer before you sign up. Ask whether that exact course earns a discount and for how long. If the discount is your main motive, ask for the answer in writing.