Can a Broken Tail Light Ticket Get Your DL Suspended in Colorado?
I came across a hotly contested post on social media where someone was complaining their license had been suspended because they got a ticket for having a broken tail light on their car.
My first thought was there was absolutely no way that was possible. The vast majority of commenters agreed with that thought, and without a follow up from the original poster, we couldn't find any proof that it actually happened.
The best hypothesis anyone could come up with, and it was repeated over and over - if in fact it was a ticket for a broken tail light that got their license suspended - was that they likely had other violations on their license and had accumulated too many points before being ticketed for the light, therefore pushing them over the number of allowed points in a 12-month period which triggered the suspension. That's the only likely scenario.
How does Colorado's Traffic Violation Points System work?
Every driver starts out with a clean slate of zero points on their license. Each traffic violation earns you a certain number of points, and if you accrue too many points on your license in too short a period of time, you might have your license suspended or revoked after a hearing.
The number of allowed points - and over what time period - varies by type and age of driver:
- Adult drivers (over 21 years of age): 12 points in one year or 18 points over two years.
- Drivers between 18-20 years old: nine points over one year, 12 points over 24 consecutive months, or 14 points or more accumulated between ages 18 and 21.
- Drivers under 18 years old: six points over one year, or seven points before turning 18.
Colorado laws are a little different for "chauffeurs" - meaning an individual employed as a driver of something like a taxi.
On the plus side, this means you probably drive way more than a typical driver, spending your full workday in the car. So at least you can earn a little more leeway, but you need to prove this is what you do for work.
- 16 or more within any 12 months
- 24 or more within any 24 months
- 28 or more within any 48 months