How the Points Clear checker works
Updated
Where the rules come from
The dataset holds 51 state rules (the 50 states and Washington, DC), 51 point tables, 40 court records for courts in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Texas, and 4 course providers. Each rule rests on official pages: a statute or court rule, a state driver license office, a state court system or a court's own traffic page. Every record lists those pages and the day each was read, and the data page prints them all.
- Checked October 2026. Every record was read on official pages and then checked a second time against the same pages, finished on October 14, 2026.
- Confidence. Each record carries a level. Of the state rules, 20 are high, 30 medium and 1 low; of the point tables, 33, 15 and 3. A low confidence point table prints its reason next to the figure.
- Our own reading. For Arkansas and New Mexico we found no published program. Their pages say the reading is ours, and the checker never gives them Eligible or Points off.
- Provider figures. Course prices, hours and formats come from each provider’s own page and print as that provider’s figures, with the month we read them.
The four answers
| Answer | When the checker gives it |
|---|---|
| Eligible | The state or court runs a course that dismisses the ticket or keeps its points off the record, and your ticket passes every published limit. |
| Points off | The course takes points off and the conviction stays. Also given when a dismissal or masking program is open to CDL holders but federal law keeps the conviction on their record. |
| Insurance only | The state runs no course for tickets, and a voluntary course may lower an insurance premium. Your insurer decides. |
| Not eligible | A published limit bars the course for this ticket, or the state runs no course and publishes no voluntary one. |
Two notes can change how an answer reads. Confirm with your court appears when a fact the rule needs is not published, when courts in the state set part of the rule and no court is chosen, or when the reading is our own. Speak to a lawyer replaces the answer when a guardrail fires; it shows no course and no provider.
The order of the checks
- Guardrails. Alcohol or drugs, a crash in which someone was hurt, or a charge of hit and run, reckless driving or driving with a suspended license: the answer is Speak to a lawyer, and the check stops there. See guardrails.
- Our own reading. For Arkansas and New Mexico, the answer is Insurance only where a voluntary insurance course is published, otherwise Not eligible, always with Confirm with your court.
- No program. Where the state runs no course for tickets, the answer is Insurance only when a voluntary insurance course is published, and Not eligible when none is. In a state where courts set part of the rule, the answer adds Confirm with your court.
- The program. Everywhere else the first reason names the program and what it does: dismissal, keeping the conviction confidential, or points off.
- The limits. The checker tests each published limit in the fixed order of the table below. Each test passes, bars the course, or asks you to confirm.
- The answer. Any bar gives Not eligible. Otherwise a dismissal or masking program gives Eligible, or Points off when federal law keeps a CDL conviction on the record; a points off program gives Points off. Any request to confirm adds Confirm with your court.
| Limit | Tested when | Not eligible when | Confirm with your court when |
|---|---|---|---|
| CDL holders | Your license is a CDL | The rule closes the course to CDL holders, or a dismissal or masking program is silent on them (49 CFR 384.226) | A points off program publishes nothing on CDL holders |
| Commercial vehicle | The ticket was in a commercial vehicle | The rule closes the course to those tickets | The rule publishes nothing on them |
| Learner or provisional license | You hold a learner, permit or provisional license | The rule closes the course to them | The rule publishes nothing on them |
| License from another state | You are licensed elsewhere | The rule takes only its own licensed drivers | The rule publishes nothing on it |
| Violation | Always | The published exclusions leave this type of violation out | Never |
| Speed | Speeding | You were further over the limit than the published cap | A dismissal or masking program publishes no cap and no points limit |
| Double the posted limit | Speeding | The rule closes the course at double the posted limit and you were at or above it | The rule has that bar and you left the posted limit empty, or a dismissal or masking program publishes nothing and you were at or above double |
| Actual speed | Speeding, with the posted limit given | Your speed is above the highest speed the rule allows | Never |
| Points on the ticket | The rule takes tickets up to a number of points | The ticket carries more | The points are not published, or the ticket carries a range that straddles the limit |
| Crash without injury | You report a crash with no one hurt | The rule closes the course to tickets with a crash | A dismissal or masking program publishes nothing on crashes |
| How often | You give the date of your last course | The ticket is dated before the window reopens | The rule publishes no frequency and no lifetime limit |
| Lifetime limit | The rule caps courses over a lifetime (Florida, Michigan, Ohio) | You have reached the cap | Never |
| Deadline | Always | The rule counts days from the ticket date and that day has passed | Never; other deadlines print in words |
| Your court | Courts set part of the rule and no court is chosen | Never | Always |
How a court changes the rule
When you pick a court, the checker starts from the state rule and lays the court’s record over it. A value the court publishes replaces the state value; a value the court leaves out keeps the state value. Lists of excluded violations and of offenses that need a court appearance combine: a court list never drops a state entry. Of a state and a court limit on points, or on the actual speed, the lower one applies. Every reason says whether its value came from the state or the court and links that record’s source.
Facts the checker reads from the rule text
Most exclusions are published as sentences. Where a sentence sets a limit the checker must act on, it is turned into one structured fact, tied to the exact words it rests on. The checker acts on these facts and on nothing else in the exclusion text. The other exclusions print with the rule on the state page for you to read.
| Rule | What the checker acts on | Published words it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Leaves out equipment or registration and other non-moving violation tickets | "violations not on the Supreme Court list of eligible violations (non-moving violations such as registration, insurance or parking)" |
| California | Tickets of up to 1 point only | "a violation that carries a negligent operator point count of more than one point under Vehicle Code section 12810, or one and one-half points or more under section 12810.5(b)(2)" |
| Florida | Leaves out equipment or registration tickets | "s. 320.07(3)(a) or (b) (expired registration)" |
| Michigan | Tickets of up to 3 points only | "violations for which 4 or more points may be assessed" |
| Missouri | Leaves out seat belt, equipment or registration and other non-moving violation tickets | "violations other than speeding, careless and imprudent driving, and moving violations not otherwise listed in RSMo 302.302.1" |
| North Dakota | Tickets of up to 5 points only | "offenses assigned six or more points (speeding 26 or more over, or 21 or more over where the limit is above 65 mph; careless driving; passing a school bus)" |
| Rhode Island | No course is involved: no course provider is shown | "Dismissal based on good driving record (R.I. Gen. Laws 31-41.1-7; no course involved)" |
| Tennessee | Only speeding tickets | "any conviction other than speeding (the course removes points for a speeding conviction only)" |
| Utah | Leaves out equipment or registration and other non-moving violation tickets | "citations with only non-moving infractions" |
| San Mateo County, California | Leaves out seat belt and equipment or registration tickets | "seat belt, mechanical, or equipment violations" |
| Miami-Dade County, Florida | Leaves out equipment or registration tickets | "tag, registration, driver license or PIP insurance violations" |
| Polk County, Florida | Leaves out equipment or registration tickets | "violations involving driver's licenses, vehicle registration, or proof of insurance" |
| Henderson Municipal Court, Nevada | Tickets of up to 4 points only | "moving violations of more than 4 points" |
| Las Vegas Municipal Court, Nevada | Tickets of up to 4 points only | "moving violations carrying more than 4 demerit points" |
A few rules bar the course above an actual speed, whatever the posted limit. The checker tests these when you enter the posted limit, and adds nothing when you leave it empty.
| Rule | Highest speed that stays open | Published words it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 94 mph | "speeding at 95 mph or more" |
| Utah | 99 mph | "speeding 100 mph or more" |
| Fresno County, California | 100 mph | "a speeding violation in which the alleged speed is greater than 100 miles per hour" |
| Los Angeles County, California | 100 mph | "violations carrying more than one point, such as driving with a suspended license, failing to stop at an accident scene, speeding in excess of 100 miles per hour, reckless driving and speed contests" |
| San Joaquin County, California | 100 mph | "speeding where the speed exceeded 100 m.p.h." |
| Tulare County, California | 100 mph | "a speeding violation in excess of 100 miles per hour or 26 miles or more over the speed limit" |
Points
- For speeding, the checker reads the state's speed bands and finds the one your speed over the limit falls in. Where a state splits speeding by road or posted limit, more than one band can match, and the points show as a range.
- For other violations, the checker reads the first row for that type of violation. Later rows, such as the same violation with a crash, print on the state page and never change the result.
- Where no band matches or the value is missing, the points read not published. A state without a point system says so, and three states that count offenses instead say that too.
- Utah scores on a 100 point scale and Massachusetts counts insurance surcharge points; the result labels both. North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Tennessee count points within a window, never "for" a period.
Deadlines
The checker works out a last day only when the rule counts a number of days from the ticket date. After that day the answer is Not eligible. When the deadline is a court date, a date the court sets, or a window that opens after a conviction or a letter, the result prints the rule’s own words and no date. A court’s published wording replaces the state’s. The deadline guide lists every rule.
How often, and lifetime limits
Where a rule allows one course in a number of months, the checker counts that period from the day you finished your last course, whatever date the rule itself counts from. A course always comes after the ticket it was taken for, so this can bar a ticket a court would accept, and never the other way round. The reason names the date the window reopens and what the rule says it counts from. Where a lifetime cap exists (Florida, Michigan, Ohio) and you report an earlier course, the checker asks how many you have taken.
When a rule is not published
A missing value is never a yes and never a no. When the rule leaves out a fact your ticket touches, the checker adds a reason that names the fact and marks the answer Confirm with your court. An Eligible answer without that note rests on published values alone.
Guardrails
These rules are ours, not a state’s, and every answer that uses one labels it that way. When alcohol or drugs were involved, someone was hurt in a crash, or the charge is hit and run, reckless driving or driving with a suspended license, the answer is Speak to a lawyer. The checker stops there: no course, no provider, no fee and no deadline appear with it.
Courses and providers
- Providers appear only under Eligible and Points off. Insurance only, Not eligible and Speak to a lawyer never show a course.
- Under an answer that asks you to confirm with your court, the list sits behind that step.
- A provider appears for a state when it offers a course there that we can link. A course the state's own list does not confirm, or confirms only in part, carries "Check with your court that it accepts this course." Courses we do not link are listed with the reason on the providers page.
- Providers appear in alphabetical order. Price and any commission never change the order, the answer or which providers appear. How we make money sets out the rules.
- Rhode Island's dismissal on a good driving record involves no course, so no provider appears with it.
Fees, prices and insurance
Court fees print in the court’s own words with the dollar figure where one exists. Course prices are each provider’s own, with the month we read them. An insurance figure appears only where a state publishes one, with its source; elsewhere the result says "Insurers set their own rates; ask yours." The checker shows no average, no typical figure and no estimate.
What the checker does not model
- Two violations from the same stop. Check each ticket on its own; Michigan and Utah bar the course for more than one or three moving violations from one incident, and their state pages say so.
- Exclusions that exist only as text, such as passing a school bus, a work zone with workers present or Michigan careless driving. They print with the rule; a ticket filed as "other moving violation" can pass the checker and still be excluded.
- Second programs in Tennessee (judge’s traffic school) and South Carolina (the solicitor’s Traffic Education Program). Their state pages describe them.
- North Dakota's lower speed limit for the course on roads posted above 65 mph. The checker shows the points range and asks you to confirm.
Re-checks and corrections
We re-check every record within six months of its last check, and sooner where a change has been announced. Send the official page that shows a different rule to info@pointsclear.com; we check every report against that page and list changes on the data page.