TLC Persistent Violator Program: Points & Suspension

In short

TLC adds up your TLC points (from TLC rule violations) and your DMV points (from traffic tickets) over a 15-month window. Reach 6 to 9 combined and TLC suspends your TLC license for up to 30 days. Reach 10 or more and TLC revokes it. This is the Persistent Violator Program in TLC rule §80-27 (TLC rule book, chapter 80). A Point Reduction or Defensive Driving Course can take 3 points off, but only if you finish it before the Persistent Violator summons is decided.

In 2023 TLC folded its old Critical Driver Program into this program (TLC rule package, 2023). Some older TLC web pages still describe the Critical Driver Program; the current rule text controls. See the Critical Driver Program's history. This is general information, not legal advice.

The thresholds

Points are counted from the date of conviction, within a 15-month window. If several violations come from a single incident, TLC counts only the one with the highest points.

How the count works: a worked example

The window is 15 months, counted from the date of conviction. That means the date you were found guilty or pleaded guilty, not the date of the stop. Points from convictions older than 15 months drop out of the count.

Say a driver has these convictions (example only):

• January: a TLC cell-phone violation, 3 TLC points.
• May: a speeding ticket in traffic court, 3 DMV points.
• November: a red-light violation under TLC rules, 3 TLC points.

By November that is 9 points within 15 months: 6 TLC plus 3 DMV. That is in the 6–9 band, so a suspension of up to 30 days. One more 1-point conviction before the January points age out would make 10, and revocation. If the driver completes a Point Reduction Course before the Persistent Violator summons is decided, TLC deducts 3 TLC points: 9 becomes 6, which is still a suspension. The timing of the course matters as much as the course itself. Use the points calculator to run your own dates.

One incident, one count. If several violations came from a single incident, TLC counts only the one with the highest points (§80-27(a)(2)).

How it's enforced

TLC imposes the Persistent Violator penalty after a hearing at which you're found to have violated the rule that triggers it. That penalty is in addition to the penalty for the underlying violations, and TLC may impose penalties that are more severe than those in the section (§80-27(a)(3)–(4)). So you'll typically get a separate Persistent Violator summons, with its own hearing date. Treat it like any other summons: respond by the date, or it can be decided by default.

A defense in the rule itself. It is an affirmative defense that the act behind the violation was "beyond the control and influence of the Driver" (§80-27(a)(6)). You have to prove it, with evidence, at the hearing.

Point reduction courses

• Point Reduction Course: TLC deducts 3 TLC points — no more than once every five years.
• Defensive Driving Course (DMV-approved): TLC deducts 3 DMV points — no more than once every 18 months.
• To avoid the suspension, complete the course before the Persistent Violator summons is decided. If you complete it after, the reduction only counts after you serve the suspension. If TLC has already suspended or revoked your license, a course won't change that decision.
• The reduction applies only to points from convictions for violations within 15 months before you complete the course.
• If no Point Reduction Course is available when you try to enroll, you may take a DMV-approved Defensive Driving Course, and TLC will deduct 3 points, whether TLC or DMV points (§80-27(a)(5)(v)).
• You must give TLC proof of when you took the course and that you completed it. A driver with an out-of-state license must also send a recent driving abstract from that state.

See the TLC defensive driving course and can I reduce TLC points before my hearing?

Where points come from

Many TLC rules carry points — for example a red light (80-13(a)(3)(vii), 3 points), a stop sign (3 points), or using a phone while driving (80-14(g)(1), 3 points). Moving violations under 80-13(a)(2) add 1 point from the second violation in 15 months. See the violation library.

Keeping points off in the first place

Because the program counts convictions, the most effective protection is at the source: each charge you successfully contest is points that never enter the count.

• TLC points come from TLC summonses decided at OATH. Some TLC traffic-rule charges, such as the general moving-violation rule §80-13(a)(2), add points only from the second violation in 15 months; others carry points from the first. Check each code in the fine lookup.
• DMV points come from moving-violation tickets written by an officer and decided in traffic court, not at OATH. See DMV points for TLC drivers.
• Camera tickets (speed and red-light cameras) are fines against the vehicle owner, not driver convictions, so they add no points. Unpaid ones cause other problems; see do camera tickets give TLC points?

Pleading guilty or paying a summons is a conviction for this purpose. Before you pay a ticket that carries points, work out where it leaves your 15-month total, and ask a representative whether a defense is worth raising.

After a revocation

Drivers revoked under this program face a waiting period before they can apply again; TLC explains it on its page about reapplying after revocation. Our license reinstatement guide covers the steps.

If you have a real defense to an underlying ticket, contesting it is one way to keep points off your count. Start with a scan.