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The greatest danger of speeding is, of course, the increased risk of having an accident. However, even if you don’t experience a crash, letting your foot get too heavy on the accelerator in New York can give you a different triple-whammy.

You will face not only a monetary penalty, but you will also be assessed penalties under the New York Driver Violation Point System. If you are assessed more than 11 points in any 18-month period, you will find your license suspended, and you will be prohibited from driving. Additionally, you may face an increase in your insurance premiums.

Identifying High-Risk Drivers

The goal of speed and driving law enforcement is to reduce the carnage that occurs daily on our roads and highways. When you get a ticket for speeding or other moving violations, you are showing behavior that statistics prove introduces risk to you and other drivers. Insurance companies also use this concept of risk to establish insurance premiums.

The idea behind the Driver Violation Point System administered by the New York DMV is to identify the highest-risk drivers and get them off the road. That means it is important to avoid the accumulation of points, and critical to not exceed the 11 points. If you understand the way the point chart works, you will realize it is fairly easy to hit this maximum for a number of different violations.

For example, one conviction for exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 40 MPH can result in an assessment of 11 points. Moreover, just speeding by 21 to 30 MPH will put 6 points on your record upon conviction.

Even if you accrue as few as 6 or more points in an 18-month period you can face financial penalties such as the Driver Responsibility Assessment fee. Also, remember your points are usually monitored by your insurance company.

Violations for which you are convicted and the points assessed remain on your permanent driving record for up to four years and may affect your driving record. Alcohol or drug-impaired convictions will remain on your record for 10 years. However, your points calculated for assessing a suspension are only included in the rolling 18-month window based on dates of conviction of such violations.

Reducing Your Points

The best way to avoid points on your driving record is, naturally, to obey the driving laws. Unfortunately, we all know that violations do occur, and you are faced with new points being assessed.

The good news is that there are ways to deal with those points rather than just waiting for the 18-month period to pass by. The DMV has established the Point and Insurance Reduction Program that includes courses offered by DMV-approved traffic schools. Point Reduction Course to the rescue!

Under the PIRP, you can take proactive action to protect your driver’s license and avoid exceeding the 11 points. If you do enroll in and complete the approved course, you will have four points taken off your total points from the perspective of a suspension.

In other words, if you have eight points and receive another violation of four points after completing such a course, you will only show a total of eight points (the original eight, minus four for the course, and plus four for the new violation equals eight) for purposes of calculating the suspension.

The completion of an approved PIRP course is important to keep you from exceeding the 11 points and having your license suspended. However, it is worth noting that the tickets and points aren’t actually removed or erased from your driving record. An added bonus for completing such a driving course is you receive a certificate that can save you 10 percent on your automobile collision and liability premiums from your insurance company. (Note that it can take up to ten weeks for the completion of a course to show up on DMV records).

You can readily see that even if you have only one violation and a few points, taking the time to complete a PIRP-approved course will save you money and provide a buffer for any subsequent violations during your 18-month window.