Defensive Driving in New Jersey After a Ticket

First: no course makes a New Jersey ticket go away

The state's defensive driving program works on points after you are convicted. It does not dismiss the ticket or keep it off your record, and the MVC keeps a permanent history of every point you have ever been given, reductions or not.

What happens to the ticket is up to municipal court. The Judiciary's self-help pages explain that a not guilty plea can lead to a call from the prosecutor about a deal, and otherwise a judge decides the case on the scheduled date. Any change to the charge comes out of that process, never out of a class.

Check the ticket before paying anything. One marked court appearance required cannot be settled online; you go to the municipal court named on it. Lost the ticket? The clerk can find it by your name, license number or plate.

When you see points posted: how the 2 point credit works

Finishing an approved defensive driving course takes 2 points off your running total. The credit is available once in any 5 year stretch, and only if there are points on your record on the day you complete it.

Say you pick up a 4 point speeding ticket in May and finish an approved course in July. Your total drops to 2. Take a second course in 2027 and it earns nothing, because the 5 year window has not closed.

Two things it will not do. It will not lower the points the MVC uses for surcharges, and, as the MVC itself cautions, your insurer may ignore the reduction when setting your rate. That is why the separate insurance discount is usually worth more.

How many points a ticket carries

Values come from the MVC's points schedule. Any moving violation committed in another state counts as 2 points here.

• Speeding: 30 mph or more over is 5 points, 15 to 29 over is 4, and 1 to 14 over is 2
• Reckless driving 5 points, careless driving 2
• Tailgating 5 points, illegally passing a school bus 5 points
• Failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, or to someone in a crosswalk: 2 points
• Unsafe driving: no points the first two times in five years, 4 points from the third

If your total is climbing: suspensions and surcharges

Reach 12 points on your current record and a suspension follows, with a notice of scheduled suspension mailed to you first. Separately, 6 or more points within three years brings a $150 surcharge, plus $25 for every point beyond six.

Points also fall off without any course. Every year with no violation and no suspension removes 3 points. You can stack methods, as long as each one's timing is respected.

Surcharges are not court fines, and they are billed for three years. A 2017 MVC brochure put the charge for a first or second conviction for drunk driving or refusal at $1,000 annually for three years; check the MVC surcharge page for today's figures. Leaving New Jersey does not cancel what you already owe.

If the MVC writes to you: the Driver Improvement Program

If you are an experienced driver and your total has crept to 12 to 14 points across more than two years, the MVC may write to offer the Driver Improvement Program as an alternative to a 30 day suspension. The program is taught in a classroom by an approved provider, removes up to 3 points and can be used once every two years.

Before scheduling you pay the MVC a $75 administrative fee, and then the provider's training fee. The MVC is blunt that a defensive driving course cannot stand in for it. Skip a class, or pick up a moving violation in the twelve months after, and you are suspended.

If you are a new driver: the Probationary Driver Program

On a probationary license, two moving violations or more totaling at least four points means a required 4 hour session called the Probationary Driver Program. One time only, it takes off as many as 3 points, and it carries the same $75 MVC charge plus the training fee.

Here too, defensive driving is no substitute. At our check, the approved providers were Superior Driving School and the National Safety Council.

Picking a course: online, classroom and 55 and over

The MVC lists dozens of approved defensive driving providers, classroom and online, in no particular order. Among them are AARP, the National Traffic Safety Institute, the National Safety Council, and AAA Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

There is also a list of approved mature defensive driver courses for drivers 55 and over, covering how getting older changes eyesight, hearing, flexibility and reaction time. Check with your insurer that these earn the same discount.

After you finish: claiming the insurance discount

According to the Department of Banking and Insurance, every insurer in the state must, by law, offer a discount to drivers who complete an MVC-approved defensive driving course, and the department sets no age limit on it.

How big the discount is and how long it lasts is up to each insurer, so call before signing up. Find out if they need your completion record from you or will verify it with the provider directly.

What will not earn credit

No credit comes from a course built on anything other than New Jersey's state-approved curriculum, whatever an out-of-state seller calls it. The same goes for a repeat course within 5 years, and for a certificate you post to the MVC on your own.

Nor does defensive driving answer a Fee Due notice. If the MVC sent you one for the Driver Improvement or Probationary Driver program, schedule that program.

CDL holders cannot use any course or plea to hide a conviction. Federal law prohibits states from masking convictions for CDL holders, and you have 30 days to tell your employer about any moving violation conviction, personal car included.