North Dakota Defensive Driving: Two Ways a Course Helps

Before you pay: what a course will not do

No North Dakota course makes a ticket disappear. Under section 39-06.1-10.1 of the Century Code, choosing the course does not save the bond, so the fine is paid and the violation stands.

What you get is a record without the points for that violation, provided it carries 5 points or fewer and your proof arrives on time. Since points are what trigger suspensions, that is usually the part worth fighting for: a small speeding ticket handled this way adds nothing toward the 12 points that suspend an adult or the 6 that cancel a teen.

In the first 14 days: paying or asking for a hearing

Most traffic tickets in North Dakota are noncriminal. From the day you receive the citation you have 14 days to choose. Posting and forfeiting the bond admits the violation. Asking for a hearing means signing the request on your copy and mailing it with the bond to the court in the county where you were stopped. North Dakota Courts takes payment online, by mail or in person.

If you ignore the ticket, the law treats that as an admission. Not showing up, without having paid or posted bond, is a class B misdemeanor. You can appeal a hearing loss to district court, but the violation still goes to NDDOT while the appeal runs.

Fines are written into state law. In October 2026 an ordinary moving violation cost $20. Speeding is the larger of $20 or $3 for each mph over the limit, climbing to $5 per mph where the posted limit is above 65, with another $20 once you are 16 mph or more over.

Example: you are stopped at 77 in a 65 zone. That is 12 over, so the fine is $36, the larger of $20 and $3 times 12, and the points schedule puts it at 1 point.

Option one: elect the course instead of points

Three things have to happen. You tell the court of your election when you post bond. The sponsor gets paid for the course. And the department receives your completion proof within 30 days of the day you told the court. Miss the deadline and the points go on.

The election is off the table if you used it within 12 months before the new ticket's date, if the offense is worth 6 points or more, or if it appears among the serious offenses in section 39-06.1-05. Choosing it also gives up the separate 3 point reduction.

Option two: take 3 points off what you have

Finish an approved driver training course, send NDDOT the certificate, and the director has to take 3 points off your total. The limits: one reduction per 12 months, and a maximum of 9 points over three years. Only points that were on your record before you finished the course count.

Timing matters if you are near the line. When the certificate arrives and your record already shows 12 points, or 6 for a minor, the reduction waits until the suspension or cancellation has been served. No points come off while you are under a suspension or cancellation that points caused.

Over the following months: points that fade without a course

Separately from any class, NDDOT drops 1 point for every three months that pass with nothing new on your record, with the count starting from your most recent points.

Serving a point suspension also changes the count. Afterward the law sets your total at 11. Reach 12 again and a new suspension follows, so the months right after reinstatement call for careful driving.

Check the ticket: North Dakota speeding points

Small overages are cheap in points here, which is why the in lieu option fits most everyday tickets. The values below apply where the limit is 65 mph or less. Faster roads have their own table, where the opening steps carry lower values.

• Up to 10 mph over: no points
• 11 through 15 over: 1 point
• 16 through 20 over: 3 points
• 21 through 25 over: 5 points
• 26 through 35 over: 9 points
• 36 through 45 over: 12 points
• 46 or more over: 15 points

When the ticket is bigger: values that rule out the option

Common 2 point tickets, such as failing to yield, running a signal or straying onto the wrong side of the road, qualify. Higher ones do not: 6 for careless driving or passing a stopped school bus, 8 for reckless driving and 10 for racing.

An adult reaching 12 points faces a 7 day suspension, plus 7 days for each point beyond 11, and is offered an administrative hearing before it starts. Drivers under 18 lose the license entirely at 6 points.

For lower premiums: a different approval

State insurance law gives a principal operator lower premiums after an accident prevention course that the superintendent of the State Highway Patrol has approved. The discount runs two years or more, three if you are 55 or older, and the sponsor gives you the certificate for your insurer.

Watch the approvals. The Highway Patrol signs off on insurance courses and the NDDOT director signs off on point courses, and a given course may hold only one of those approvals. Before paying, ask the sponsor and your insurer which approval it has.

If you drive for a living: CDL holders

Commercial drivers are not excluded from the in lieu statute, but the forfeited bond remains an admission. A federal rule, 49 CFR 384.226, does not let any state hide a CDL holder's moving violation or divert it off the record, so the violation should still appear even with no North Dakota points.

If your job rides on it, get an answer from both the court and NDDOT's Driver License Division about how the election shows on a commercial record.