No one likes to receive a speeding ticket, but it can be especially annoying if you receive a ticket while travelling out of state. You have to handle the ticket in the state you received it, rather than in your home state, which can be a huge inconvenience. You may be wondering if that ticket follows you home and affects your driver’s license or insurance rates. After all, if you have to handle the ticket in the state you received it, it is almost as if your home state doesn’t even know about it. Learn the answer to this question by reading this article.
The Driver License Compact
There is an agreement in the US called the “Driver License Compact,” or “DLC.” Nearly every state and Washington DC has signed this agreement. It essentially says that these states share ticket information with other states. Generally, every state will report a ticket, but states that have not signed the DLC will not make use of this information. So, if you are from one of these states, then you may be safe from your ticket following you home:
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Tennessee
- Wisconsin
In addition to these states, a few states ignore minor violations in other states and only care about major infractions.
Insurance and Points
You probably know that there are two ways a ticket can affect you. It can put points on your license, which will cause you to lose your driving privileges if too many accumulate. It can also increase your insurance rates. The Driver License Compact only affects license points. Unfortunately, getting a ticket in a different state will almost certainly affect your insurance normally, regardless of which state you live in. In other words, The DLC agreement does not affect whether or not your ticket influences your insurance policy in any way.
Occasionally someone will find that a ticket from another state gets completely overlooked by his or her insurance provider. It does happen, but there is no way to control it. It seems that some insurance providers are more vigorous about finding every ticket than others. Because you have no control over it, you should simply keep your mouth shut and hope your provider does not find out. If you tell them that you got a ticket, even if you are just asking about their foreign ticket policy, they will likely find out. If you want more information about your home state specifically, you should speak with an attorney, like a criminal defense attorney from The Morales Law Firm, today.