Vermont Traffic Violations

If you get a traffic ticket in Vermont, your citation will give you all the info you need on how to pay the fine attached to your Vermont traffic violation. Your traffic violation citation will provide the address and contact information on the back about the local Vermont court overseeing your violation, as well as a court date for your to appear if you want to contest your ticket. Remember, if you pay your traffic violation fine, you are admitting guilt to the underlying offense.

You may also want to appear in the local Vermont court to plead guilty and request an opportunity to have your charges reduced or dismissed in exchange for enrolling in a safe driving program, such as a Vermont online traffic school or online driver improvement program.

Whatever you decide, you will have roughly 20 days before needing to appear in court, or paying your fine and moving forward.

Vermont Points System

If you plead or are found guilty of a traffic violation in Vermont, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles ("DMV") will be notified by the Vermont court overseeing your violation of the conviction, and both the traffic violation and points associated with the violation will be assigned against your record. The Vermont Point System is long, but here are a few examples of points that will be attached to your record for violating certain traffic laws:

• Speeding
• By Less than 10 mph: 2 points
• By more then 10 mph: 3 points
• By more than 20 mph: 5 points
• By more than 30 mph: 8 points
• Failure to Stop at an Intersection: 2 points
• Failure to Observe Traffic Signals: 2 points
• Tailgating: 3 points
• Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian: 4 points
• Failure to Yield to an Emergency Vehicle: 5 points
• Leaving an Accident Resulting in Injury: 10 points
• Eluding a Police Officer: 10 points

Any points you accumulate will stay on your Vermont driving record will stay there for 2 years from the time you are deemed guilty of the offense. The violation itself, however, stays on your Vermont record permanently. While a couple points hanging around on your Vermont driving record sounds trivial, if you are not careful, those points will add up to a suspension of your Vermont driving privileges.

Suspension of Your Vermont Driving Privileges

If 10 points end up on your record in a two-year timeframe, the Vermont DMV will mail you a notification that your driving privileges in Vermont have been suspended. The length of your suspension will depend not only on the severity of certain traffic violations you've committed, but on the total number of points on your record as well. Once your Vermont driving privileges are suspended, you will have to put in significant effort in getting them reinstated, including large fees and anywhere from months to more than a year of waiting. If you would like to know more about your current Vermont driving record and possible repercussions of additional traffic violations on your Vermont driving privileges, a representative at the Vermont DMV will be able to speak with you about those issues, or mail you more details on your particular Vermont driving record.

Attending Traffic School in Vermont

The Vermont DMV does not provide Vermont drivers with a chance to remove points and traffic violations from your record by enrolling in a Vermont traffic school, defensive driving class or driver improvement program. However, enrolling in a Vermont traffic school course may help prevent your auto insurance from exploding upon notification from the Vermont DMV that you were recently convicted of speeding, failure to use a turn signal and improper lane usage.

Further, you may be able to prevent a traffic violation from showing up on your Vermont driving record at all. Though rare, a Vermont court may consider allowing you to enroll in a Vermont online or traditional traffic school or online driver improvement program as a form of service in exchange for reducing or dismissing the charges against you. If you would like to request such an opportunity, you will need to contact the local Vermont court handling your violation, or more likely appear before the local Vermont court to plead your case and request a reduction or dismissal of your violation. Depending on the nature of the offense, as well as your previous Vermont driving record, a judge may consider allowing you to enroll in a Vermont online traffic school to improve your defensive driving techniques and help prevent you from committing a similar violation in the future.

The Benefits of a Clean Vermont Driving Record

In addition to the prospect of reducing the charges against you, a Vermont online traffic school or online driver improvement program will teach you safe driving habits that will keep you out of court in the first place, and possibly help prevent you from getting in an avoidable and serious accident. The skills you learn in a Vermont online driver improvement program or online traffic school will help you keep your Vermont driving record clean. A clean Vermont driving record not only means less fines and court fees, but it also helps ensure your license is not suspended or revoked, and can help you keep those costly car insurance premiums to a minimum.

Vermont Mature Driver and Juvenile Driver Insurance Discounts

Vermont online traffic school can even help you earn an insurance discount, particularly if you fall into an age group that are typically charged higher rates by auto insurance carriers. Because Vermont online traffic schools and online driver improvement programs focus on instilling safe and defensive driving habits in drivers who are either inexperienced or have difficulty with certain aspects of driving due to older age, insurance companies often encourage mature and juvenile drivers to participate in courses offered by Vermont online traffic schools.

If you are a Vermont Mature Driver, one over the age of 55, or a Vermont Juvenile Driver, one under the age of 18, you should contact your auto insurance carrier to discuss the possibility of earning an insurance discount by enrolling in a Vermont online traffic school or driver improvement program.

Vermont Classroom Traffic Schools

The Vermont DMV does not have a list of pre-approved traditional classroom settings for you to enroll in because it does not authorize removing points and traffic violations from your driving record in exchange for enrollment in brick-and-mortar traffic schools. However, if you are interested in participating in a Vermont traffic school in a traditional setting to reduce your insurance premiums or in response to a local Vermont court or Vermont DMV order, you can contact your local Vermont court or local Vermont DMV office to see if they have a list of formerly approved brick-and-mortar classes.