Managing Points on a South Dakota Driving Record

Before the next ticket: what each offense costs you

Points are listed in SDCL 32-12-49.1 and have hardly moved since the 1990s, which keeps the South Dakota system simpler than many nearby states. If one traffic stop ends in more than one conviction, ARSD 61:18:02:02 has DPS score only the offense worth the most.

One phrase in the statute causes confusion. Its two point bucket for other moving violations expressly leaves out speeding, which is why you will hear that speeding carries no points here. The conviction is still on your record, insurers still see it, and DPS can still respond to a pattern, so ask DPS how your ticket is recorded instead of assuming it is harmless.

• DWI: 10
• Reckless driving: 8
• Eluding police: 6
• Drag racing: 6
• Failure to yield, improper passing, or wrong side of the road: 4 apiece
• Running a stop sign or stop light: 3
• Any other moving violation, speeding excluded: 2

Tickets that add nothing, and tickets from elsewhere

ARSD 61:18:02:03 keeps points for moving violations only. Parking and standing tickets, equipment problems, seat belt citations, and size or weight violations carry none, and that includes truck speed limits the Department of Transportation sets to protect roads. SDCL 32-38-1 adds that a seat belt violation is not a moving offense for point purposes.

Out of state tickets are different. Under ARSD 61:18:02:04, DPS charges points to a South Dakota resident for a conviction in another state whenever the same offense would earn points here.

If you cross the line: how suspensions work

SDCL 32-12-49.2 makes you subject to suspension at 15 points within any 12 months in a row or 22 within any 24. The length depends on the past 48 months of your record under SDCL 32-12-49.3 and ARSD 61:18:02:10: 60 days the first time, six months the second, and a year for every one after that.

A license already suspended for another reason can still pick up a point suspension under ARSD 61:18:02:08. And if you get a restricted license during a point suspension and lose it for breaking its terms, you cannot get another one for the rest of that suspension.

For example, a driver with a reckless driving conviction in January (8 points) and a failure to yield in August (4 points) sits at 12. One more stop sign ticket before the following January makes 15 within 12 months.

How long points keep counting

Convictions stay on your DPS record, but their weight for suspension purposes fades. Only points inside the 12 or 24 month windows count, and SDCL 32-12-49 stops DPS from considering any offense older than four years when it decides on a suspension for repeated violations.

There used to be a rule, ARSD 61:18:02:07, that let points be reduced. It was repealed in 1998 with nothing to replace it. Today the only thing that drops a conviction from the count is time. Keep in mind that insurers may look back further than DPS, so a clean record pays off beyond the point total.

Will a defensive driving class help?

Not with points. No statute or DPS rule credits a defensive driving, traffic school or driver improvement course against your total. A judge can still order a course as a condition of probation, which might keep a conviction from ever being entered, but that is the court's decision and not a point reduction.

When you are near the threshold, the useful moves are avoiding new convictions and getting advice from the court or a South Dakota lawyer before pleading to another moving violation. Remember that paying a ticket is a conviction, and the conviction is what brings the points.

Teen drivers run on a faster track

Permit holders are handled separately and more quickly. Under SDCL 32-12-15, a driver under 16 on an instruction or restricted permit loses it for 30 days after a first Class 2 misdemeanor traffic conviction (or the city or county equivalent for a moving violation), whatever the points, and for 180 days or until 16 after a second. A felony or Class 1 misdemeanor goes straight to the 180 day suspension. Each conviction also restarts the six clean months required before the next upgrade.