Why Doesn’t A New Jersey DWI Place Points On My Driver’s License?

 

Because New Jersey DWI laws are somewhat unique, New Jersey is one of the States that will place penalties, in the form of points, on your license. If you’ve been arrested for DWI, no points will be placed on your license; points are assessed for moving violations only. They are assessed by New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC). Be aware that as your license accumulates points, surcharges will also accrue which will have to be paid (which can ultimately run into thousands of dollars). For example, drivers who accumulate six points on their driving record within a three-year period will have to pay a surcharge. And a 12-point accumulation will ultimately lead to your driver’s license being suspended or revoked. Another unfortunate result of having points on your license is that your insurance rates will most likely increase; the more points you have on your license, the higher your insurance premium.

 

The New Jersey statutes have assigned a point value to every moving violation. Most moving violations listed on their point schedule are two or three-point infractions. However, exceeding the speed limit between 15 and 29 miles per hour (MPH) is a four-point infraction, and increases to a five-point infraction if the driver exceeds the speed limit by 30 MPH. The largest point assessment on New Jersey’s point schedule is an accident that results in personal injury; so, if your DWI in New Jersey caused an accident, your license will show this eight-point violation.

 

And don’t think that because you’ve had a moving violation in New York that New Jersey won’t find out about it! New Jersey and New York are members of the Interstate Compact Agreement; this means that driving violations committed in one of the 43 Interstate Compact Agreement States are reported to a driver’s home State. New Jersey will add two points to your license for each offense committed in one of those member States, and this becomes part of your driving record. The only States that are not members of the Interstate Compact Agreement are Alaska, California, Michigan, Montana, Oregon and Wisconsin.

 

New Jersey’s auto insurance carriers have their own type of point system, known as insurance eligibility points or insurance points; the number of points you have on your driver’s license will affect the cost of your auto insurance premiums. The MVC will inform New Jersey’s auto insurers how many points have been assessed to someone’s driver’s license, and the insurers will most often use that number to assess the same number of insurance eligibility points to your policy. Nine is an important number to remember, because having as many as nine points will disqualify you from being able to purchase auto insurance on the open market. People who have nine or more insurance eligibility points will have to go to a special marketplace to purchase insurance, most likely at very high rates. Therefore, just one New Jersey DWI that caused an accident will put you right on the edge of having to pay very high premiums.

 

What New Jersey giveth, they also take away. Meaning, points don’t have to remain on your record forever: If you drive for 12 consecutive months without a moving violation, three points will be deducted from your driver’s license. If you take a defensive driving program, New Jersey will deduct two points off of your license once every five years. And if you take a driver improvement program (which is a three-hour class sponsored by the MVC), New Jersey will take three points off your driver’s license once every two years.