Vermont Driving Points and How to Bring Your Total Down

Start here: points by violation

23 V.S.A. 2502 assigns points section by section. Parking, equipment, size and weight violations carry none. If the violation caused a crash found to be your fault, two more points are added.

• Under 10 mph over, rolling a stop sign or red light, failing to yield at an intersection, unlicensed or uninsured driving, and most other moving violations: 2
• More than 10 over, illegal passing, passing in a no-passing zone, tailgating: 3
• Not yielding to a pedestrian, disobeying an officer, a first phone or texting offense in a work or school zone: 4
• More than 20 over, passing a stopped school bus, not yielding to an emergency vehicle, a repeat phone or texting offense in a work or school zone: 5
• More than 30 over: 8
• Negligent operation, leaving the scene of a crash, trying to elude police: 10

If you cross the line: how long the suspension runs

The ladder in 23 V.S.A. 2506 climbs fast. Ten points costs 10 days; 15 costs a month; 20 costs 90 days; each further block of 5 adds a month. A first conviction for negligent operation, leaving the scene or eluding police carries at least 30 days, climbing to 90 days and then six months for repeats.

Vermont has no hardship or work license, so even 10 days means not driving at all. A crash that causes a death adds a full year.

While you wait: the two year clock

Points stay countable for two years from the conviction date under 23 V.S.A. 2503, not from the day you were stopped. If you contest a ticket and lose months later, it stays on the books later than you might expect.

Timing changes everything. Take two drivers at 8 points. One has a conviction from 23 months ago that is about to fall off; the other got all 8 this year. A new 2 point ticket suspends the second driver but may leave the first at 4.

The question everyone asks: will a course help?

No. Neither the point statutes nor DMV's suspension pages give credit for any defensive driving or traffic safety course. A class at a DMV-licensed school can improve your driving, but your total stays the same.

What can help is stopping points before they post. That is the job of the 23 V.S.A. 2501(b) waiver, available at a hearing for small violations (3 points or under) if you have been point free for five years, have at most 3 across ten, were in a private vehicle, and the incident hurt no one and damaged nothing of anyone else's.

If the driver is a teen

Permits and junior licenses are recalled far below the adult line. One 3 point speeding ticket, or 6 points in total, means a 90 day recall, and junior texting means a 30 day recall with at least two points.

Recalls come with the right to a hearing and no reinstatement fee, but they reset the six clean months a teen needs before the next license stage.

After a suspension: getting your license back

For a points suspension, DMV lists two steps: serve the entire term and pay the Driver Control fee, $96 as of October 2026. You can pay it whenever you like, even before the ticket fine is cleared.

Other suspensions can add an SR-22 insurance filing, retesting or a medical clearance. Vermont suspensions have no statute of limitations, so an unpaid reinstatement fee can leave you suspended for years.