Copyright (c) 2010 James Parrish

Suppose you drove down to Florida for a vacation and received a speeding ticket while you had been there. Does the ticket have any impact on your license at home?

The quick and dirty answer is a resounding YES. You can usually hope for a bureaucratic error, or some kind of technical problem in the database sharing, but it positive is not likely.

When it comes to drivers licensing, there are 3 principal databases that track your info: the National Driver Register, the Driver License Compact, and the Non-Resident Violator Compact. There is also the Driver License Agreement, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Start off with the basics.

The National Driver Register The NDR was produced about 10 years ago, and is what most individuals are thinking of when they hear some thing along the lines of “national dmv database.”

Even though it is accurate that licensing is something that’s left up to each individual state (and thus every state will have vastly various laws), each state and the District of Columbia submits any details to the NDR, and are in turn needed to check a person’s information via the NDR before granting a license.

Suppose, for example. you hold a Virginia license which is up for renewal. The Virginia department of transportation will most likely check the NDR three months just before you are up for renewal. If they locate any sort of violation that requirements to be attended to (say you got a DUI or ticket whilst on vacation in an additional state) they will notify you. Then, you would will need to resolve the problem prior to you could renew your Virginia license.

While only certain groups can access your NDR records (which consist of your name, gender, DOB, license number, and state of offense—note this does not consist of the kind of offense), you have each and every correct to request a copy of your file by contacting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at 202-366-4800.

The Driver License Compact and the Non-Resident Violator Compact These agreements between states are the reason tickets truly follow you. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administration came up with these compacts to regulate offenses nationwide. Of course, licensing is still a states’ right—think of these as treaties that most states have opted into.

While the NDR simply notifies a state that you have a violation elsewhere, the DLC fundamentally equivocates violations across states.

Back to the Virginia-Florida example. If you received a speeding ticket although on vacation in Florida, Virginia will actually be able to assess points to your Virginia license. If your Florida violation was sufficient to suspend your license there, Virginia would suspend your license (supplied the offense would be worthy of suspension if committed in Virginia).

The DLC is a lot a lot more intensive than either the NRVC or the NDR. Whilst the NRVC works the very same way, your residence state doesn’t issue penalties and points on your license.

So who opts in? Properly, all are in the NDR, and most of the states have opted into the DLC and NVRC. Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Massachusetts are not members of the DLC. Wisconsin, California, Michigan, Montana, Oregon and Alaska are not members of the NVRC.

And of course, the information states record and submit varies.

The Driver License Agreement Oh yeah, that one. The DLA was drafted in 2004 (full text available here) to close some of the loopholes of the prior two compacts. Any state that agrees to the DLA is saying that DLA regulations supersede state laws.

Suppose you had been cited in yet another state for reckless driving, but your state does not have such violation. Under the DLA, your home state would be needed to find a comparable citation to problem you. The DLA would also need states to make information such as the nature of the offense and your Social Security number obtainable to member AND non-member states.

The AAMVA is working to get the DLA passed in all US states, as nicely as internationally. So even though your out-of-state ticket might have been lost in the system just before, you will need to be far much more careful in the future.

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