Wayne County Traffic School
Log in
Get started

Michigan tickets, courts and points

A reference for every Michigan driver, from Detroit to Marquette. What a violation adds to a record, which district court hears it, and what the Secretary of State's basic driver improvement course under MCL 257.320d actually does. Everything here cites the statute or the court directory it came from.

This is general information from a driver-safety school. It is not legal advice. Your court can tell you what it requires, and an attorney you hire can answer questions about your own case.

Situations

What each one does to a record, which statute says so, and who decides.

  • You hold a commercial driver license

    MCL 257.320d(3)(a) makes a commercial driver ineligible for the basic driver improvement course, and it does so even when the ticket was written in a personal car. This is the exclusion drivers most often read backwards.

    Read the article: You hold a commercial driver license

  • A court ordered you to take a basic driver improvement course

    After a third hand-held mobile device infraction in three years, MCL 257.602b(8) says a Michigan court shall order a basic driver improvement course. That order is not the Secretary of State's points programme, and MCL 257.320d(17) says the points still go on the record.

    Read the article: A court ordered you to take a basic driver improvement course

  • What a reduction to impeding traffic actually is

    A plea to a non-moving violation such as impeding traffic under MCL 257.676b keeps points off a Michigan driving record, but nobody can promise you one, and a safety course is sometimes a condition of the deal rather than a way to get it.

    Read the article: What a reduction to impeding traffic actually is

  • The basic driver improvement course is once in a lifetime

    MCL 257.320d(3)(g) makes a driver who has previously completed a basic driver improvement course ineligible to take another one, and the Secretary of State keeps a database of completions for the life of the driver.

    Read the article: The basic driver improvement course is once in a lifetime

  • You got a ticket in another state

    Michigan's basic driver improvement course under MCL 257.320d applies to a moving violation committed in this state. A ticket written in Ohio, Indiana or anywhere else is outside it, whatever the ticket does to your Michigan record.

    Read the article: You got a ticket in another state

  • Points, the abstract, and what an insurer actually sees

    A Michigan conviction reaches your driving record as an abstract, the abstract is what carries points under MCL 257.320a, and MCL 257.320d works by keeping a specific entry off it rather than by removing one later.

    Read the article: Points, the abstract, and what an insurer actually sees

  • The 60-day window, and what starts it

    MCL 257.320d(1) gives an approved sponsor 60 days from the date the Secretary of State notified you that you were eligible to report your successful completion. The clock starts at the notice, not at the ticket, and finishing is what has to happen inside it.

    Read the article: The 60-day window, and what starts it

Violations and what they cost

Point values come from the schedule in MCL 257.320a. Each page names the source the value was checked against.

District courts

The directory covers district courts across Michigan and begins with the metro Detroit counties listed below; more are added as each one is checked. Names, cities and addresses are read from the Michigan trial court directory published at courts.michigan.gov. Always confirm a hearing location on your own citation or with the court itself before you travel. A court that is not here yet is not a court we cannot help a driver with: the courses and the certificate are the same wherever the citation was written.

Wayne County

Oakland County

Macomb County