New York driving lesson · How to Keep Your License
Traffic tickets & out-of-state violations
A 3-minute lesson from the New York course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
A traffic ticket won't go away if you ignore it. Failing to answer gets your license suspended, and New York works with most other states: tickets you ignore elsewhere can still suspend your New York license.
Know the rule
When you get a ticket, follow its instructions for the plea you want to make. If you don't respond, your license will be suspended indefinitely and you could be found guilty by default conviction.
Outside NYC, violations are handled in the criminal and traffic court of the city, county, town or village where the offense happened. Anyone who gets a ticket can present a defense and be represented by a lawyer.
DMV does not record moving violations that NY non-commercial drivers commit in other jurisdictions, except in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Other out-of-state convictions don't add NY points.
The suspension lasts until you answer the ticket; you must send DMV proof that the ticket was satisfied. Drivers from other states (except those listed) who ignore a NY summons are suspended in their own state.
DMV records any NY driver's conviction for criminal negligence, homicide or assault from driving a motor vehicle that results in death, in this state or another. The license is revoked and registrations may be revoked.
You get a speeding ticket on vacation in Pennsylvania and ignore it. Pennsylvania isn't on the exempt list, so your NY license will be suspended until you prove the ticket was satisfied. The conviction itself adds no NY points, because it wasn't in Ontario or Quebec.
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.
A driver under 21 is convicted of an alcohol-related violation that occurred out of state. What happens to their New York license?
Revoked for at least 1 year
Revoked for at least 90 days
Suspended for 30 days
No action, since it happened out of state
Answer: Revoked for at least 1 year
An under-21 driver convicted of any out-of-state alcohol- or drug-related violation faces at least a 1-year New York revocation.