Under the Kentucky driver point system, each moving-violation conviction adds three to six points to your record, and reaching 12 points within any two-year window puts your license up for suspension. Drivers under 18 hit that trigger at just seven points. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet tracks the running total and calls you in for a hearing once you cross the line, with suspensions running from 90 days up to two years depending on how many times you’ve been there before.
What Each Violation Costs You
Kentucky regulation 601 KAR 13:025 sets a point value for every moving offense, scaled to how dangerous the behavior is.1Justia. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13:025 – Point System The common ones break down like this:
- Three points: speeding 15 mph or less over the limit, running a red light or stop sign, failing to yield, careless driving.
- Four points: reckless driving, following too closely, failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving on the wrong side of the road.
- Five points: improper passing.
- Six points: speeding 16 to 25 mph over the limit, failing to stop for a school or church bus.
Points don’t attach when the officer hands you the ticket. They attach after the court reports a conviction to the Division of Driver Licensing. Beat the ticket, and no points ever hit your record.
Speeding on highways posted at 65 mph or higher follows a separate point schedule under KRS 186.572, with its own tiers for how many miles over the limit trigger each level.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 186.572 – Assessment of Penalty Points for Speeding on Highways If your ticket was on an interstate, check the highway schedule before assuming you know your count.
How Long Points and Convictions Stick Around
Points stay active for two years from the conviction date. During that window they count toward the 12-point (or seven-point) threshold. After two years, they stop affecting your administrative standing.3Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Kentucky Point System
The conviction itself is a different story. It stays visible on your driving history for five years from the conviction date, and courts, law enforcement, and insurance companies can all see it.3Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Kentucky Point System Even after the points expire, a run of convictions on that five-year record can drive your insurance premiums up.
What Happens When You Hit the Threshold
Once you reach 12 points as an adult, or seven as a driver under 18, within a rolling two-year window, the Transportation Cabinet sends a formal notice and schedules an informal hearing.1Justia. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13:025 – Point System The hearing is your chance to explain mitigating circumstances to a hearing officer before a suspension takes effect.
Suspension length depends on how many times you’ve reached the threshold before:
- First time: 90 days to six months.
- Second time: one year.
- Third or later: two years.
If a new suspension lands while an earlier one is still running, the new period starts after the old one ends. They don’t overlap.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13:025 – Point System
Probation Instead of Suspension
Showing up to the hearing matters. If you hold a valid license that isn’t already suspended in any state and you appear as scheduled, the hearing officer can place you on probation rather than suspend you.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13:025 – Point System The trade is that probation runs twice as long as the suspension would have. A first-time accumulation that would have cost six months of suspension becomes 12 months of probation.
Probation is not a free pass. One additional traffic conviction during the probation period, or failing to enroll in and complete a driver improvement clinic, revokes the probation and imposes the original suspension. If you’ve already been placed on probation once, you can’t get it again for another accumulation within a two-year window.
Offenses That Skip Points Entirely
Some violations bypass the point calculation. A conviction for any of the following triggers an automatic 90-day suspension or probation regardless of your existing point total:
- Racing on a public road.
- Speeding 26 mph or more over the posted limit.
- Attempting to elude a law enforcement officer with a vehicle.
These convictions send you straight to an informal hearing, where the officer decides between suspension and probation.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13:025 – Point System One qualifying conviction is enough, no matter how clean your record was going in.
Keeping Points Off Your Record With Traffic School
Kentucky State Traffic School does not erase points already on your record. What it does is stop points from being assessed at all. The conviction still appears, but the points never get added.5Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. KY State Traffic School So traffic school only helps if you complete it before the points post.
You can’t sign yourself up. Eligibility requires a referral from the Kentucky District Court or Federal court where you got the citation, which is then sent to the Division of Driver Licensing. The Division mails you a letter with enrollment instructions.5Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. KY State Traffic School
The online course is $39 and the classroom course is $15, both non-refundable. You have to enroll within 30 days of your referral or conviction date, or your driving privileges get suspended.5Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. KY State Traffic School That 30-day clock catches people off guard when the court’s letter takes a week or two to arrive. Traffic school can only be used once every 12 months, so if you’ve used it recently, the next ticket brings its full point cost.
Out-of-State Tickets Still Count
Kentucky joined the Driver License Compact in 1996, so traffic convictions in other member states get reported back to the Transportation Cabinet.6The Council of State Governments. Driver License Compact Kentucky then treats those offenses as if they happened here and applies its own point values, not whatever the other state would have assigned.
The compact covers moving violations like speeding and reckless driving along with major offenses like DUI. Parking tickets and other non-moving citations aren’t included. Ignoring a ticket in another state also doesn’t make it go away: that state can report your non-compliance to Kentucky, which may suspend your license until you resolve it.
Extra Rules for CDL Holders
Commercial drivers carry a federal layer on top of Kentucky’s system. A CDL holder convicted of any moving violation in any state must notify both their employer and the state that issued the CDL in writing within 30 days of the conviction date.7eCFR. 49 CFR Part 383 Subpart C – Notification Requirements and Employer Responsibilities That written notice has to include the conviction date, the offense, whether you were driving a commercial vehicle, and the location.
If your license gets suspended or revoked, the timeline tightens: you must notify your employer before the end of the next business day.7eCFR. 49 CFR Part 383 Subpart C – Notification Requirements and Employer Responsibilities Missing these deadlines brings federal penalties on top of whatever Kentucky imposes.
Getting Back on the Road
Kentucky allows drivers to apply for a hardship license during a suspension under 601 KAR 12:060. The application goes through your local circuit court clerk, not the Transportation Cabinet directly.8Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 12:060 – Hardship Drivers License You generally need to show the suspension causes a real hardship, usually inability to get to work or handle essential family obligations. The court has discretion, and applying early gives you the best chance. CDL holders cannot get a hardship license for commercial driving.
When your suspension period ends, your license does not just switch back on. You have to reinstate it and pay a fee of roughly $40. Most drivers can pay online through the Transportation Cabinet’s reinstatement portal with a credit or debit card, though CDL holders have to handle reinstatement in person. If the suspension ran longer than a year, you also have to pass the driving tests again before getting back on the road.9Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Driver’s Licensing – Reinstatement Payment Driving on a suspended license while you wait adds a separate criminal charge, which makes everything worse.