When Points on Your California License Can Lead to Suspension — And What You Can Do to Avoid That

They are the sights and sounds no driver ever wants to see or hear. They are flashing lights of a law enforcement vehicle pulling you over, or the disheartening thump or crunch of your vehicle colliding with another. While these things may have an immediate impact on you in areas like expense, they can also impact you in a longer-term sense -– through points on your driver’s license. Accumulating too many points in too short a period of time could mean losing your driving privileges, which can have dramatically harmful collateral impacts on your life, including losing your ability to do things for your family and perhaps even losing your job. If you’ve been assigned points, there may be a way to get that reversed, however. To get as many points as possible reversed, be sure you’ve contacted a knowledgeable San Francisco DMV attorney.

First off, there are some types of infractions that do not result in points on your license. These can include things like non-moving violations (such as a license plate light that isn’t working). When it comes to a points-based license suspension, these violations won’t factor into that calculation.

One-point violations include a variety of things. Anything from speeding to making an unsafe lane change to running a stop sign to causing an accident will generally net you one point on your license. Two point violations generally involve more serious offenses like a DUI, hit-and-run, driving on a suspended license, speeding at 100 mph+, and reckless driving.

There are certain situations where your point accumulation may be even worse than that. If you are driving a commercial vehicle when you receive your ticket, then the DMV will hit you with 1.5 times the number of points that the violation is normally worth. So, if you get ticketed for leaving the scene of an accident while you were behind the wheel of a commercial truck, you may be looking at a 3-point violation.

These points can matter a great deal. Getting as few as 4 points in a 12-month period can result in a license suspension. So, if you were to be ticketed for reckless driving while operating a commercial vehicle, and then ticketed in relation to having an at-fault accident in your personal vehicle, those two things alone could be enough to cost you your driving privileges.

What, then, can you do? You can challenge the assessment of points and go before a hearing officer. For example, in the scenario immediately above, the driver was ticketed and assessed 1 point for an at-fault accident and three points for reckless driving. That driver is entitled to ask for a hearing and, if the driver can prove at the hearing that the accident in his personal vehicle was not his fault, or that the accident in the commercial vehicle did not meet the law’s standards for reckless driving, then he might be entitled to have one or more points reversed, which then brings him below four points and, therefore, not in line for a license suspension.

What you can take away from all that information is that losing your driving privileges due to accumulating too many points on your license is a very real risk, but there are also very real options for avoiding the assessment of points in some circumstances. If you are potentially facing such a suspension, you need experienced DMV defense counsel on your side. Reach out to the diligent San Francisco DMV defense attorneys at Uthman Law Office for the help you need. Attorney David Uthman has over 20 years of experience as a litigation attorney and almost a decade of experience as a police officer. At the Uthman Law Office, we know the law, we know the process and we know how to get results. Call us today at (415) 556-9200 to schedule your FREE initial consultation.

More blog posts:

The California DMV Has Suspended Your Driver’s License for Lapses of Consciousness–Now What?, San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog, Dec. 27, 2018

When the California DMV Can Take Your License Based on Your Medical Condition and What You Can Do About It, San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog, Nov. 27, 2018