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.
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Read MCL 257.320d(3)(a) slowly, because the second half of it is the half people miss. An individual is ineligible if "the violation occurred while the individual was operating a commercial motor vehicle or was licensed as a commercial driver while operating a noncommercial motor vehicle."
There are two exclusions in that one sentence.
The first is the obvious one: a ticket written while you were driving a commercial vehicle is out.
The second is the one that catches people: if you were licensed as a commercial driver, a ticket written while you were driving your own car on a Saturday is also out. The exclusion follows the license, not the vehicle. Holding a CDL takes the basic driver improvement course off the table for your personal driving too.
Why the rule is written that way
Federal rules on commercial licenses are strict about what a state may mask from a commercial driver's record, and a programme that withholds points from a CDL holder would run into them. Michigan drew the line at the license.
What that leaves
The court that issued the citation still has the same range of outcomes it has for anyone, and that is where a commercial driver's attention belongs. Talk to a lawyer about the charge itself rather than about the course, because the course is the one route this statute closes for you.
A defensive driving course is still a defensive driving course, and a carrier or an employer may ask for one. Take it for that reason if it is useful to you. It is not a way around MCL 257.320d(3)(a), and we will not sell it as one.
One narrow exception, and it is not a good one
MCL 257.320d(17) says a driver ordered by a court to take a basic driver improvement course takes it whether or not the driver is eligible under subsections (3) and (4). So a judge can order the course even though the eligibility list excludes you. In that situation the same subsection says the Secretary of State enters the points anyway. Being ordered to take it is not the same as being eligible for what it does.