New York License Suspension Rules

points

Source: New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), Chapter 2, pp. 21–22, 'The Point System' · Verified Sep 2026

11

Source: New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), Chapter 2, p. 22, 'The Point System' · Verified Sep 2026

Eleven points inside 24 months and New York suspends the license. The notice arrives by mail, and the hearing you can request afterwards is narrow: you may argue that the convictions were not yours, and nothing else. You cannot re-argue the tickets or ask for the suspension to be waived because of hardship. The window is measured from the dates you committed the violations, not the dates you were convicted, so a slow court does not move a ticket out of the window. Do not confuse this 24-month window with the several 18-month ones nearby. The defensive-driving course reduces up to four points and can be taken every 18 months; three speeding and/or misdemeanor violations within 18 months bring a six-month revocation; and several repeat-offense penalties escalate on an 18-month clock. The point-accumulation window for suspension is the one that runs 24 months.

Source: MV-21, Chapter 2, The Point System: "If you get 11 or more points within 24 months, you will be notified by mail that your driver license will be suspended. You can request a DMV hearing only to show that the convictions in question were not yours. You cannot re-argue the convictions or request the suspension be waived based on special circumstances." Same section: "The point values charged against your record are from the date you commit the violation, not the date you are convicted." Reviewed and retained 2026-09-12: a review pass asserted that New York's point window is 18 months and that 24 "is not a value NY uses". The manual says 24 in terms. The 18-month figures in this manual belong to point-reduction course eligibility, the three-violations revocation trigger and several repeat-offense escalations, which is why the wrong window is an easy pattern-match. The scalar is unchanged; the prose and this citation were added because the fact previously had an empty long value and nothing for a reviewer to check against. · Verified Sep 2026

Alcohol- and drug-related violations are handled two ways at once. Each DWI, DWAI, DWAI-Drug, DWAI-alcohol-combined-with-drugs, Aggravated DWI, or chemical-test refusal is worth 11 points, enough on its own to hit the 24-month point-suspension threshold. In parallel, each conviction triggers a direct license action independent of the point count: a minimum six-month revocation for DWI, DWAI-Drug or DWAI-Combination, a minimum one-year revocation for Aggravated DWI (0.18 BAC and above), and a 90-day suspension for a first DWAI (0.05–0.07 BAC). Drivers under 21 face a minimum one-year revocation on any first alcohol- or drug-related conviction, and Zero Tolerance findings (BAC .02–.07) draw a six-month suspension. Refusal sits outside the conviction track entirely: it is an administrative finding after a DMV hearing, and it carries its own minimum one-year revocation (18 months within five years of a prior refusal revocation or any alcohol- or drug-related conviction).

Source: New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), Chapter 2, pp. 20–22, 'Mandatory Suspension or Revocation' and 'The Point System' Point coverage corrected 2026-09-07: the MV-21 Violation Points table reads "DWI/DWAI/Aggravated DWI/DWAI Drugs/Chemical Test Refusals 11", so plain DWAI and the alcohol-plus-drugs combination are inside the 11-point band; the previous value listed only DWI, DWAI-Drug, Aggravated DWI and refusal. Direct license actions restated from NY VTL § 1193(2) verbatim on 2026-09-27: § 1193(2)(a)(1) gives DWAI a 90-day suspension; § 1193(2)(b)(2) gives "subdivision two, three, four or four-a" (DWI, DWAI-Drug, DWAI-Combination) a six-month minimum revocation and subdivision two-a (Aggravated DWI) one year. DWAI-Combination had been omitted from the revocation list. · Verified Sep 2026

Reckless driving is a 5-point offense in New York. On its own it does not cross the 11-point threshold for an automatic suspension, but three speeding and/or misdemeanor traffic violations (reckless driving is one) within 18 months triggers a minimum six-month license revocation, counted from the dates of the violations rather than the dates of conviction. Reckless driving during a newly-licensed adult's six-month probationary period triggers an automatic 60-day suspension; a repeat during the second probationary period pushes revocation to at least six months.

Source: New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), Chapter 2, pp. 19–22, 'Probation Period', 'Speeding and Other Violations', and 'The Point System' Trigger corrected 2026-09-12: MV-21 states the six-month revocation rule as "Three speeding and/or misdemeanor traffic violations within 18 months (based on date of violation, not date of conviction)." Two things were wrong in the earlier wording: it required all three to be misdemeanor moving convictions, where speeding tickets count on their own, and it counted from conviction dates, where the statute counts from violation dates. Counting convictions is the more dangerous of the two, because court delay would appear to push a driver out of the window when it does not. · Verified Sep 2026

Speeding is scaled by how far over the posted limit you were: 1–10 mph over is worth 3 points; 11–20 mph, 4 points; 21–30 mph, 6 points; 31–40 mph, 8 points; and more than 40 mph over, 11 points, enough on its own to hit the 24-month point-suspension threshold. Speeding in a construction zone is worth 8 points regardless of margin. Independently, three speeding and/or misdemeanor traffic violations within 18 months trigger a minimum six-month license revocation, counted from the dates of the violations rather than the dates of conviction, and speeding during a newly-licensed adult's six-month probationary period triggers a 60-day suspension.

Source: New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), Chapter 2, pp. 19–22, 'Probation Period', 'Speeding and Other Violations', and 'The Point System' Trigger corrected 2026-09-12: MV-21 states it as "Three speeding and/or misdemeanor traffic violations within 18 months (based on date of violation, not date of conviction)." The earlier wording counted convictions, which would appear to push a driver out of the window whenever a court ran slow. · Verified Sep 2026