Defensive Driving in D.C.: How Traffic School Approval Works

First, understand who decides D.C. tickets

Elsewhere, a traffic ticket usually ends up before a local judge who may offer a class in exchange for a dismissal. Not here. In the District, everyday moving violations like speeding, tailgating or a rolling stop are civil cases, and the people who decide them are hearing examiners in DC DMV's Adjudication Services, not judges.

Three things put points on your record: a liable finding at a hearing, letting the 60 day payment deadline pass, or simply paying, which DC DMV treats as admitting you did it. Points attach to moving violations only. Parking tickets and camera tickets carry none.

Criminal traffic cases, for example driving under the influence, driving with no permit or driving while suspended, are heard in D.C. Superior Court. Neither the course approval nor the points waiver is available for those.

Your first 30 days: the ticket clock

Day one is the day you get the ticket. For the next 30 calendar days you may pay it or challenge it at no extra cost. Between day 31 and day 60 the District adds a penalty the same size as the fine, doubling what you owe.

Day 61 is the cliff. You are now treated as liable, and the points go on just as though you had paid. From then until day 120 you can either pay the doubled amount or file a Motion to Vacate. Day 121, the debt is sent to collections.

Example: a ticket written on March 1 should be contested by mail by March 31. Leave it until April 15 and the fine has doubled. Leave it into May and you are liable, with points, whether or not you pay.

If you contest: getting traffic school approved

The online course only protects you from points if a hearing examiner approves it first. The one way to ask is to challenge the ticket by mail and, in that same request, ask that the points be waived.

Even with approval, the fine stays due. Once the course is done, the violation is still listed on your record, just with no points. You will find the approved provider on DC DMV's Driver Point System page.

After approval: the two deadlines

Count both deadlines from the day the examiner issues the decision. Blow either one and the course does you no good.

DC DMV's name for the provider reporting your result is Skip the Trip, because you never have to come in. Keep an eye out for a DMV notice confirming the points are off, and chase it with DC DMV if nothing shows up.

• Fine: paid within 15 calendar days
• Course: passed within 30 calendar days
• Proof: sent by the provider, not by you

Over the next two years: the point system

Any point on a District record counts for two years. A total of 10 or 11 suspends your DC license for 90 days. A total of 12 or more revokes it, and DC DMV will not reinstate you for at least six months.

DC DMV's point chart puts moving violations without a specific listing at 2 or 3 points, and the listed ones, reckless driving or going 21 mph or more over the limit for instance, higher; look up the exact value on the chart. Certain offenses, such as fleeing police or DUI, revoke your license automatically no matter how many points you have.

• At 10 or 11 points: suspended for 90 days
• At 12 points or more: revoked, six months minimum
• Every point: counts for two years from its record date
• Camera or parking tickets: no points at all

If the ticket came from Virginia or Maryland

A moving violation from another state still counts in the District, and DC DMV scores it at whatever the matching or closest DC offense is worth. DC DMV's own illustration: something worth 2 points in Virginia might land as 6 here.

Getting those points removed means first winning permission from the other state's court to take its traffic school or an online course. Even then, DC DMV makes the final call. You cannot use DC DMV's online course for these tickets, and no course gets you out of a mandatory suspension or revocation. Send the court's decision and your course completion to DMV Driver Improvement Office, PO Box 90120, Washington, DC 20090.

Another route: the good driving points waiver

The District also allows a hearing examiner to excuse the points on account of a good driving history. To be considered you must have responded to the ticket in time, accepted that you committed the violation, paid the fine, and explained in writing why the points should be waived.

The Points Waiver form goes by mail to DMV Adjudication Services, Request for Points Waiver, PO Box 37135, Washington, DC 20013. The answer, according to DC DMV, comes by post inside thirty days.

If the examiner rules against you: appeals

If the examiner finds you liable, your first move is a request for reconsideration, filed within 30 calendar days. If reconsideration or a Motion to Vacate is denied, a further 30 calendar days opens for an appeal to the DC DMV Appeals Board. That appeal costs the ticket amount and a $10 fee, plus a $50 deposit for the transcript when the moving violation hearing happened in person or by video.

The Appeals Board reads the record and decides; you do not appear and cannot add evidence. A reversal means DC DMV posts your money back to you. If the board agrees with the examiner, your last step is D.C. Superior Court, again within 30 calendar days.

If your license was revoked for points

DC DMV sends the reinstatement checklist by mail, and you may be able to complete it online. Expect to prove every ticket has been paid or dismissed, lift any holds on your license, and pay a fee to reinstate.

A revocation for a major moving violation follows another path: a reinstatement hearing in front of Adjudication Services, which you cannot arrange online or over the phone.

Other reasons to take the course

According to DC DMV, the online course is also useful for heading off insurance increases or brushing up, and it recommends it to families unsure whether an aging parent or grandparent is still safe on the road.

Call your insurer before you sign up to make sure the course will actually cut your premium; the District itself does not require any discount.