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How does point reduction work?

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When you have a traffic violation in New York, you may incur points on your license. These points accumulate and if you get too many, you lose your license. More serious offenses equal more points. Some minor offenses do not cause you to get any points. The points go on your driving record. You do have the option of using a point reduction to help avoid a suspension due to accumulating too many points.

The Department of Motor Vehicles explains that if you get 11 points in an 18-month period, you face a license suspension. The point reduction program allows you to remove four points from your current 18-month period to prevent suspension.

Do note that you cannot use point reduction to make your points lower than zero. Also, a point reduction will not reverse a current suspension, nor will it help if you already have a violation hearing on the schedule. It also has no effect on your insurance rates because it does not remove the number of points from your driving record. It only affects the points in the 18-month period record.

To use point reduction, you must take a Point and Insurance Reduction Program through an approved provider. You can only take a course once every 18 months. The course provider must provide the DMV with notification of your completion of the course.

Keep in mind that points stay on your driving record even using the point reduction option. They will show up for four years or up to 15 years for drug and alcohol-related points. This information is for education and is not legal advice.

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