Points on a Washington License? How DOL Really Counts Tickets

First, forget points

Drivers moving from other states often expect a points balance on their Washington record. There isn't one. DOL tracks moving violation findings and suspends when you pass a threshold, and every moving ticket weighs the same: speeding counts exactly as much as failing to yield.

Your record does list the details, though: convictions, infraction findings, DOL actions and collisions, and that is what insurers and employers look at.

Which tickets count

WAC 308-104-160 calls a violation moving when it happens while the vehicle is in motion. Infractions on that list include speeding, not stopping, not yielding, tailgating, unsafe lane changes, improper turns and not signaling.

The criminal ones count as well: DUI, reckless driving, hit and run, driving while suspended, each carrying its own separate penalties. Parking, equipment and paperwork tickets, an expired registration or missing insurance card for example, are nonmoving and stay out of the count.

When the count catches up with you

Track one counts occasions: 3 occasions with moving violation findings inside a year, or 4 inside two years, and you are suspended for 60 days. The second track: six moving violations within 12 months or seven within 24 months, also 60 days.

A year of probation follows either suspension. Each new qualifying ticket during probation adds 30 days of suspension, and under track two a probation violation also resets the one year clock.

Example: tickets in January, June and November of the same year are three occasions in 12 months, enough for a suspension. If two of those tickets came from the same stop, that is only two occasions.

If you hope a course will erase a ticket

It will not. Nothing removes a finding once it is on your record. DOL's approved safe driving course comes into play only when an accumulation suspension is coming: get the completion to DOL before your suspension date or while it is still in effect, and DOL may release you sooner, a benefit available once in five years.

Keeping a ticket out of the count means stopping the finding itself, either through a court deferral under RCW 46.63.070 or by winning at a contested hearing. That makes the choices in the 30 days after a ticket more important than any class.

If you are under 18 or under 25

Intermediate license holders under 18 move up a steeper ladder. Violation one brings a warning letter and keeps the passenger and night limits until 18. Violation two brings a suspension of six months or until 18, whichever comes sooner. Violation three means suspension until 18.

For drivers under 25 there is a new step from January 1, 2027, set by RCW 46.20.1191. Two occasions with findings bring a notice from DOL, and a safe driving course must be done in the next 180 days or the license is suspended.

How long a ticket keeps mattering

The suspension rules only look back 12 and 24 months, so a ticket outside those windows no longer counts toward them. The record itself begins with your first Washington permit or license. DOL has no single published schedule for when each kind of entry drops off, so ask DOL about any specific item.

Insurers get a shorter view. RCW 46.52.130 limits the abstract DOL gives an insurance company to the last three years. An employer can see the full record for a driving job only with your signed consent.

After every ticket: check your record

In October 2026 a copy is $15. Residents can order online in License Express, where it appears on the dashboard a day later. By post, send the Driving Record Request form to Department of Licensing, Driver Records, PO Box 3907, Seattle, WA 98124-3907, and allow 10 to 14 days.

Look it over each time a ticket is resolved. A ticket that was deferred and dismissed should not appear as a committed infraction, and a mistake could push you toward a suspension you did not earn.

If you are suspended and still need to drive

Ask DOL about an Occupational/Restricted License as soon as the suspension letter comes. If you qualify, it lets you drive to your job and other essential appointments for the rest of the suspension.

Driving suspended without one is a crime in Washington and is itself a moving violation, so it can turn 60 days into something far longer.