A 3-minute lesson from the Michigan course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Once you're licensed, you must keep showing you can drive safely or your license can be restricted, suspended or revoked. Your driving record is how the state keeps track — and points are its early-warning system.
Know the rule
The Secretary of State gets information from law enforcement and the courts, including moving violations, crashes and certain drug crimes. Convictions from other states appear on your Michigan record with Michigan points.
Under the Driver Privacy Protection Act, personal information on your record (name, address, license number) isn't released to the public except for permissible uses such as insurance rating, vehicle recalls and rental-car driver verification.
In most cases, if you don't take care of a traffic ticket, your license will be suspended. Moving-violation tickets received while suspended add more suspensions and a reinstatement fee.
You got a speeding ticket two and a half years ago. Its points are gone — points last two years from the conviction date — but the conviction itself still shows, because most convictions stay at least seven years.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
When does a point get posted to your Michigan driving record?
Only once you're convicted
As soon as a ticket is issued
The moment you're pulled over
When the officer gives a warning
Answer: Only once you're convicted
Points are placed on your record only after you've been convicted of a moving violation.
A driver's conviction stays on their record for 7 years, but the points from that same conviction fall off sooner. How long do the points themselves last?
1 year
5 years
7 years
2 years
Answer: 2 years
Points placed on your driving record remain there for two years from the date of conviction.