How Do Texas Driver’s License Points Work?
How long do tickets stay on your record in Texas? How many violations can you get before you risk license suspension? What’s a license point, anyway?
That’s what we’re here to find out. In this guide, we’ll help you understand how license points work in Texas, including how to get points off your license. Ready? Let’s get to it.
The Texas license points system
Like many other states, Texas uses a points system to keep drivers accountable. Anytime you do something unsafe on the road — whether that was something minor like speeding a little or something big like driving while intoxicated — you risk getting points added to your license.
Anytime you get cited with a violation (like the ones we just mentioned), you get a certain number of points added to your license.
Generally, if you committed a traffic violation but it didn’t result in a collision, you’ll get two points added to your license. If your violation causes a crash, expect three points to show up on your license.
The state maintains a robust list of things that could land you with license points. It doesn’t, however, specify how many points come with each. In most cases, though, you can expect non-crash violations — like not using your turn signal or cutting in after passing — to land you with two points. If you do any of these things and cause an accident, you’re probably looking at three points.
You might note that list has specific violations that don’t come with points. DUIs and DWIs don’t mean getting points added to your license. That’s because those violations get assessed specific surcharges that you have to pay for three years and usually mean an immediate license suspension.
Why Texas license points matter
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) used to have a Driver Responsibility Program (DRP). If you had six or more points on your license, the DRP could assess you a surcharge each year. But — good news for drivers with license points — that was repealed in 2019.
Now, it really comes down to not accumulating too many points too quickly. You might be wondering, do points on a license go away in Texas? We’ll get to that in the next section.
What you need to know now is that if you get four or more traffic violations in a one-year period or get seven or more in a 24-month period, your license can get suspended.
With the DRP repealed, it’s not necessarily the points you need to keep an eye on, but the number of traffic violations. Still, though, because points tie directly to those violations, they’re a good way to track where you’re at.
Do points on a license go away in Texas?
Absolutely. But that, of course, begs the question: how long do tickets stay on your record in Texas? A year, at least. If you make it a 12-month period without getting any more points on your license, one point will fall off your license. You lose another point for the next violation-free year, and so on.
It doesn’t have to be a waiting game, though. You can get some traffic violations dismissed by taking a driver safety course. And you can take this course online in just six hours and it only costs $25. To learn more about getting certain violations dismissed, check out our guide.