Receiving a traffic ticket in New York has financial consequences beyond the cost of the ticket itself. In addition to the fines, your insurance company can increase your rates and you can be assigned to the New York Driver Responsibility Assessment program which will cost you a minimum of $300. Fortunately, there is a way to reduce both your points and insurance costs by attending an approved Point and Insurance Reduction Program (PIRP) driving safety course but there are some things you need to know about the program before registering.

The consequences of getting a ticket in New York

In New York, a driver who receives six or more points on their driving record within an 18 month period must participate in the Driver Responsibility Assessment program. This assessment will cost a driver $100 per year over a three year period. For every point over six points, an additional $25 will be added. Failure to pay will result in suspension of your driver's license.
Point Reduction


Attending an approved PIRP course will reduce the points on your New York driving record by up to four points. For someone who rarely gets or has never gotten a ticket, reducing those points can help insure that you will not go over that six point assessment limit should you get another ticket within an 18 month period.

There are two important notes to remember when trying to reduce your points:

• The PIRP program is only good to reduce points on tickets received within the 18 month period before you attended the course. You cannot use the course as a “get out of jail free card” to reduce points that you may get in the future and you can only attend the course once in an 18 month period; points for tickets received within 18 months after attending the course will remain on your record.



• If you have already been assigned to the Driver Responsibility Assessment program, you cannot use the PIRP program to reduce the points and get out of paying your annual assessments.

Insurance Cost Reduction


Insurance costs can be reduced by 10% of the base price of your current insurance policy for three years by attending the PIRP course. As with the points however, there are a couple of things you should understand about insurance reduction.

• The Insurance cost reduction only applies if the principal operator of the insured vehicle attends the course. For example; a teenager, whose mother is listed as the principal operator on the policy, borrows her car and gets a ticket; he cannot get an insurance reduction by attending the course.
  


• Your Insurance company can still raise your rates due to a collision that was your fault or when the policy is renewed; the 10% reduction only applies to your current rates.
  

Labels: driver responsibility assessment, insurance reduction, ny pirp, pirp course, point reduction, point reduction course

Labor Day Weekend signifies the end of summer, white clothes, and weekends at the beach. This year, Labor Day Weekend also signifies the end of an 18-day crackdown on impaired driving. Law Enforcement Agencies statewide are participating in the nationwide campaign called “Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” The 18-day initiative began on Friday, August 20 and will culminate on Labor Day (Monday, September 6).

Nationwide this campaign aims to reduce the deaths and injuries associated with impaired driving. Roughly every 40 minutes someone in the United States is killed in an alcohol-related accident. Last year, over one million people were injured in drunk driving accidents. In New York State, there were more than 9,000 alcohol-related accidents in 2008 and almost 400 lives were lost. While these numbers are a significant improvement from years past, New York State Law Enforcement Officials worry the public would become complacent about impaired driving issues without campaigns like this.

Law Enforcement Officials across the state have spoken out in support of the impaired driving crackdown. Personnel from Law Enforcement Agencies across the state are coming together to increase their impaired driving enforcement efforts through September 6. Law Enforcement will be aggressively looking for impaired drives. For those drivers who are found driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) over .08 they will be over the limit and under arrest.

The campaign follow closely behind the new ignition interlock provision that went into effect August 15. The new provision under Leandra’s Law requires anyone convicted of a drunk driving charge to install an ignition interlock device in any vehicle he or she operates. This applies to people who are convicted on both felony and misdemeanor charges. Anyone required to install the ignition interlocking device will do so at his or her own expense.

In New York, the campaign is part of the states STOP-DWI efforts. STOP-DWI is an acronym for “Special Traffic Options Program for Driving While Intoxicated.” According to the New York State STOP-DWI Association, highly visible law enforcement efforts are an effective deterrent against impaired driving. It also serves to remind New Yorkers that DWI is still a top priority to all New York Law Enforcement Agencies.

New York State is recognized across the country as a leader in traffic safety. In particular the State is recognized for its continued progress in reducing the number of alcohol-related accidents and deaths. New York's STOP-DWI program was created in 1981 by the State Legislature. The program is financially elf-sustained and is funded entirely from the fines paid by convicted drunk drivers. The program has office in each of New York’s counties and empowers the counties to coordinate their own local efforts to combat impaired driving.

Labels: blood alcohol level, drunk driving, new york dui laws, ny driving laws

On August 14, 2010 legislation for a new teen driving law went into effect. The new state law was passed to improve driver training and overall highway safety. The new law increases the minimum amount of supervised training required before a new driver can apply for a driver’s license. The law now requires that all driver license applicants under the age of 18 are required to submit proof of having completed the minimum of 50 hours supervised driving. Additionally, 15 of those hours must be nighttime driving. This law now applies to all drivers under 18 whether they have taken a drivers education course or not. Prior to the change, those who took drivers education courses were exempt from the minimum hours of driving requirement.

Additional supervised driver training is necessary because driver education courses usually provide teens with approximately 6 hours of driving time and most of the courses do not provide any nighttime driving. The DMV believed that the young drivers who benefit from driver education could also benefit from the 50 hours of supervised driving.

On September 1, 2010 another new law goes into effect. This law states that all drivers under 18 may not have any more than one non-family member under 21 as a passenger. Under legislation that went into effect February 22, 2010 this rule only applied to drivers who obtained their license on or after February 22. This change subjects all junior license and permit holders to the passenger restrictions regardless of when the license or permit was issued. By subjecting everyone to the restrictions it will help promote highway safety and help diminish the problems the different limitations caused for law enforcement personnel.

In recent years, New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the Governor’s Traffic and Safety Committee have been on the forefront of developing new ways to educate teenage drivers. The DMV Commissioner created the Office of the Young Driver in 2008 to address the issues facing new drivers. In May 2010, New York State launched another important initiative to help address young drivers' issues. The Driver Education Research and Innovation Center (DERIC) is managed by Health Research Inc. The goal of DERIC is to develop, text, and execute a dynamic Driver Education program that will dramatically reduce the number of crashes involving young drivers.

Young drivers represent 12% of all drivers and somehow, are accountable for 20% of drivers involved in crashes. Sixteen and 17-year-olds are three times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers of any other age. In an effort to lower statistics like those, New York Teen Driving Laws are always changing and their driver education programs are evolving.

Labels: driver education, driver training, teen drivers