In Arizona, the MVD can suspend your driver’s license once you accumulate 8 or more points within any 12-month period, and a one-year suspension is automatic if you reach 24 or more points within 36 months. The 8-point line is where discretion begins: the MVD may order Traffic Survival School, suspend you for up to 12 months, or take a lesser action depending on what your record looks like. The 24-point line leaves no such room.
Points by Violation Type
Every moving-violation conviction (or bail forfeiture) adds points to your permanent driving record. The schedule is short:
- 8 points: DUI, extreme DUI, reckless driving, or aggressive driving
- 6 points: leaving the scene of an accident, or failing to stop, yield, or obey a signal when that failure causes a death
- 3 points: speeding
- 2 points: all other moving violations, such as improper lane changes, following too closely, or illegal turns
A single DUI or reckless driving conviction, on its own, puts you at the 8-point threshold. Everything else takes stacking. Four speeding tickets in a year would do it. So would a hit-and-run plus a lane-change violation.
How the 12-Month and 36-Month Windows Work
Points attach to the date of the violation, not the date of conviction. If you were cited in January and the case didn’t resolve until June, the MVD counts those points from January when it looks back across 12 or 36 months. That timing detail matters when a case drags on and you’re trying to figure out whether an older ticket still counts.
Points never fully leave your permanent record, but for suspension math the MVD only looks inside the relevant window. Once a violation is more than 36 months old, it no longer counts toward any suspension calculation, even though it stays visible on your Motor Vehicle Record.
What Happens at 8 Points in 12 Months
Hitting 8 points triggers action, but not a fixed outcome. The MVD may require Traffic Survival School, or it may suspend your driving privilege for up to 12 months. The statute gives the MVD discretion, so a first-time offender with 8 points from one DUI might be ordered into Traffic Survival School, while a driver who reached 12 points through several separate incidents in the same year could face the full suspension.
There is no published tier chart tying specific point totals to specific suspension lengths. Claims that, for example, 13 points automatically produces a three-month suspension don’t appear in the statute or on the MVD’s website. ARS 28-3306 authorizes the MVD to suspend or revoke a license when the record shows violations frequent enough to indicate disregard for traffic laws, without locking in durations by point count.
Traffic Survival School itself is an eight-hour course, separate from a defensive driving course, and costs roughly $150 through MVD-approved providers. You don’t get to elect it on your own as an alternative to suspension; the MVD decides whether to offer it. If it’s ordered and you don’t complete it, your license is suspended until you do.
What Happens at 24 Points in 36 Months
Reach 24 or more points inside a rolling 36-month window and the outcome is a one-year suspension. There is no discretionary path around it, and it applies regardless of any earlier action the MVD may already have taken on your record.
Keeping Points Off in the First Place
The most effective move happens before points ever post. Arizona lets eligible drivers attend a certified defensive driving course to have a single citation dismissed; when you complete the course, the court forwards the judgment to the MVD and no points are assessed for that violation.
The limits are worth knowing. You can only use this option for one violation at a time, and you can’t have taken a defensive driving course for an eligible citation in the previous 12 months. Criminal traffic offenses like DUI and reckless driving don’t qualify. For an ordinary speeding ticket, though, it’s the single best way to protect your record.
If You Get a Suspension Notice
You have the right to request an administrative hearing to contest the suspension. In most cases the deadline is 15 days from the date of the written notice, and missing that window generally means the request is denied and the suspension takes effect.
Requests must be in writing and should include your full name, mailing address, Arizona driver license number, date of birth, a phone number, and a brief statement of why you’re requesting the hearing. The MVD’s Executive Hearing Office accepts requests by email (its preferred method), by mail, by fax, or in person at its Phoenix office. Include your attorney’s contact information if you have one.
Out-of-State Tickets Still Count
Arizona belongs to the Driver License Compact, so a conviction in another member state gets reported back and the MVD treats it as if it happened here, assessing points on Arizona’s schedule. A speeding ticket picked up in New Mexico still puts 3 points on your Arizona record. Non-moving violations like parking tickets aren’t covered by the compact.
A Note for CDL Holders
The point thresholds above govern your regular driving privilege. If you hold a commercial driver license, the same points apply to your personal record, but a separate set of rules under ARS 28-3312 can disqualify your CDL on top of anything the point system does. A first conviction for DUI in a commercial vehicle (at the 0.04 threshold), leaving the scene, using a vehicle to commit a felony, or causing a fatality through negligent operation carries at least a one-year CDL disqualification, and a second such conviction means lifetime disqualification. Two “serious traffic violations” within three years, including speeding 15 or more mph over the limit, triggers a 60-day CDL disqualification even if they happened in your personal vehicle. Point math alone won’t tell a CDL holder the whole story.
Running the Numbers on Your Own Record
To gauge where you stand, list every moving-violation conviction in the past 36 months with its violation date, assign points from the schedule above, then check two totals: everything inside the most recent 12 months, and everything inside the full 36. Eight in the shorter window puts you in MVD-discretion territory. Twenty-four in the longer window is an automatic year. Anything close to either line is a reason to take the next citation seriously and, if it qualifies, use defensive driving school to keep those points from posting at all.