Virginia DMV Demerit Points, Violation by Violation

Virginia DMV demerit points come in exactly three sizes: 3, 4 or 6 for a single conviction, with no conviction worth more than six. A separate number matters just as much — the 3, 5 or 11 years the conviction itself stays on the driving record after the points have stopped counting.

How the Virginia DMV sets demerit points

Va. Code § 46.2-492 gives the Commissioner of the DMV the job of assigning a point value to every reportable traffic conviction, rated “based on the severity of the offense and the potential hazardous exposure to other users of the highways and streets,” on a graduated scale that may not exceed six demerit points for any single conviction. The statute names examples in each band; the DMV then publishes the full lists of six-point, four-point and three-point violations.

Three rules apply across the whole schedule:

• One occasion, one assessment. Convicted of two or more offenses committed on a single occasion, a driver is assessed points for one offense only — the one carrying the higher value (§ 46.2-492 E).
• Registration, insurance and equipment offenses carry no points. Subsection A excludes them, so a missing inspection sticker or plate adds nothing to the point balance.
• Points and record retention are different clocks. Points are valid for two years from the date of the offense under Va. Code § 46.2-493. The conviction stays on the record for the years shown below, whatever the points are doing.

Nothing in the tables depends on the fine. The point value tracks the conviction, and it is the conviction that the court reports to the DMV.

Six-point violations in Virginia

Six is the ceiling. These are the convictions the DMV treats as serious.

Violation	Points	Years on the record
Reckless driving — the general offense and every other reckless driving offense, including speeding 20+ mph over the limit or over 85 mph, racing, passing a stopped school bus, driving too fast for conditions, faulty brakes, obstructed view and parking-lot reckless driving	6	11
Driving while intoxicated (DUI)	6	11
Driving on a suspended or revoked license	6	11
Failure to stop at the scene of a crash involving injury, death, or property damage of $1,000 or more	6	11
Attempting to elude police — felony	6	11
Attempting to elude police — misdemeanor	6	3
Speeding 20 mph or more over the limit, charged as a speeding infraction rather than reckless driving	6	5

The last row is the one drivers misread most often. Twenty over is the same six points whether it is written up as reckless driving or as speeding — what changes is that the reckless charge is a misdemeanor and sits on the Virginia driving record for 11 years instead of five.

Four-point violations

Violation	Points	Years on the record
Speeding 10–19 mph over the limit	4	5
Aggressive driving	4	5
Reckless driving — failure to stop before entering a highway	4	11
Following too closely	4	3
Failure to yield right-of-way	4	3
Failure to obey a traffic signal	4	3
Passing a stopped school bus, where not charged as reckless driving	4	3

Note the third row. One reckless driving offense — failing to stop before entering a highway — is a four-point violation rather than a six, but it keeps the 11-year retention that goes with a reckless conviction.

Three-point violations

Violation	Points	Years on the record
Speeding 1–9 mph over the limit	3	5
Improper driving	3	3
Failure to obey a highway sign	3	3
Use of a handheld communications device	3	3
No Virginia driver’s license, or failure to obtain one	3	3

Improper driving is the lesser offense that a reckless charge is most often reduced to, and the table shows why the reduction is worth having — a difference an employer or a court reading an ordered DMV transcript will still see eight years after the points have gone. It halves the points and cuts the retention period from 11 years to three. Whether a charge can be reduced to a lower-point offense is decided in court rather than at the DMV, and where the points at stake would tip a balance toward a required clinic or a suspension, that is worth a Virginia traffic attorney’s view before the hearing.

What is not on the list

A mailed photo-speed penalty is not a conviction as an operator, is not made part of the driving record and may not be used for insurance purposes, so it carries no demerit points. The civil penalty may not exceed $100 and liability attaches only at 10 mph or more above the posted limit in the monitored zone. If an officer operates the device and hands over a summons in person, the resulting conviction does count.

An insurer’s own “points” are not on this schedule either. Insurance companies run separate point systems, and the DMV notifies an insurer of a conviction only on request. A driver can therefore have a clean DMV point balance and a surcharged premium at the same time, or the reverse.

Out-of-state convictions do appear. Section 46.2-492 B directs the Commissioner to assign point values to convictions received from other states, from Canada and its provinces, and from their subdivisions, where the same conduct would have been reportable in Virginia.

What the points add up to

The point value matters because of what the DMV does with the running total, without any further court hearing. For drivers 18 and older, eight points in 12 months (or 12 in 24) can bring an advisory letter, and 12 in 12 months (or 18 in 24) requires a driver improvement clinic under Va. Code § 46.2-498.

At 18 points in 12 months (or 24 in 24), Va. Code § 46.2-506 takes over. The DMV must offer a written choice between a 90-day suspension plus a clinic and nine months in the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program plus a clinic. The driver then has 30 days to answer, and a driver who does not answer is suspended.

Two six-point convictions in a year, or one six-point conviction plus a pair of fours, is enough to reach the clinic threshold. The whole escalation, including the probation and driver control period that follow, is set out in the guide to the Virginia license points system, and the balance itself is explained in what a Virginia point balance means.

Working out where you stand

Add up only the convictions from the past two years, counting the higher value where two offenses came from one stop, and subtract any safe driving points — one for each violation-free calendar year, to a maximum of five, under Va. Code § 46.2-494. The result is the number the DMV will act on. The arithmetic is easier from the record itself; reading the balance off the record covers where it is published, and what can be done about a high balance covers the three routes that reduce it.