8.6 Rapid Point Accumulators

• Library: Defense of Serious Traffic Cases in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2020 Ed.)

8.6 RAPID POINT ACCUMULATORS

8.601 The Uniform Demerit Point System. Section 46.2-492 of the Virginia Code describes the uniform demerit point system. The Commissioner of the DMV assigns point values to convictions (or to findings of not innocent when the driver is a juvenile) based on the reports of conviction filed by the courts. Points can also be given to a driver for offenses committed under equivalent local ordinances in Virginia or for those reported by other states, the federal courts, or Canadian authorities. The Commissioner assigns points to these offenses based on the conviction a driver would have received in Virginia for similar conduct. ¹⁶⁷ Demerit points are only assigned for moving violations. ¹⁶⁸

Point values are assigned based upon the seriousness of the offense. ¹⁶⁹ When more than one conviction results from the same set of facts, only the point value of the most serious offense is assessed. ¹⁷⁰ However, the statute provides that no points should accrue for any conviction resulting from a charge when the vehicle has been parked or stopped on a portion of a highway that is not normally used by traffic in order for the driver to rest, as long as the court makes this finding part of the record of conviction transmitted to the DMV. ¹⁷¹

8.602 Driver Improvement Clinics. The DMV develops the uniform standards for a statewide program of driver improvement clinics. ¹⁷² The clinics are designed to instruct those identified by the courts or the DMV as problem drivers and to achieve a lasting corrective influence on their driving performance. The programs include instruction on issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, aggressive driving, and distracted driving.

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8.603 Adult Drivers. The first contact the DMV will have with a driver who has accumulated a high number of demerit points is an advisory or warning letter. A driver who has received eight points or more for offenses committed during a 12-month period or 12 points or more for offenses committed during a 24-month period will be advised of remedial actions that can be taken. These letters are sent by regular mail to the driver's last address of record and have no legal effect on the DMV's future actions, regardless of whether the driver actually receives the letter or, even if the letters are never sent. ¹⁷³ An adult driver who has accumulated 12 demerit points based on convictions for traffic offenses committed within a period of 12 consecutive months or has eighteen demerit points based on convictions for traffic offenses committed within a period of 24 consecutive months will be directed by the DMV to attend a driver improvement clinic. ¹⁷⁴

Attendance at the driver improvement clinic provides a driver five safe driving points that cancel out five of the accumulated demerit points. ¹⁷⁵ After one year has passed from the date of satisfactory completion of the first clinic, the driver is eligible to voluntarily attend a second driver improvement clinic to receive a reduction in insurance premium charges. ¹⁷⁶ No safe driver points are awarded if the court sends the client to a driver improvement clinic, unless the court notifies the DMV that safe driving points should be awarded. ¹⁷⁷

As a result of the accumulation of demerit points, the driver will also be placed on probation for a period of six months. At the end of that probationary period, a driver-control period of 18 months begins. If the driver commits any violations for which points are assessed during the 18-month period, the driver will immediately revert to probationary status for six more months followed by another driver-control period of 18 additional months after the new probationary period. ¹⁷⁸ Whenever any person who has been placed on probation is convicted of a demerit-point violation committed during the probation period, the DMV is required to suspend the person's license for a

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period of 90 days when six points are assigned, 60 days when four points are assigned, and 45 days when three points are assigned. ¹⁷⁹

Upon request, the Commissioner must grant a restricted license...