Points, the Driver Safety Program, Insurance, Suspensions, Operating While Intoxicated and Habitual Traffic Violators: Point Values, the Two-Year Point Life, Four-Point Credits, 25/50/25 Liability Insurance, Certificates of Compliance, SR22 and Reinstatement Fees, Failure to Appear, Driving While Suspended, Chemical Test Failures and Refusals, Interlocks and Specialized Driving Privileges, Watercraft, Child Support, Dishonored Payments, Driver Records, and the 10-Year, Lifetime and 5-Year Habitual Violator Suspensions
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Indiana driver's knowledge exam. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.
Source: Indiana Driver's Manual (Indiana BMV, July 2026), Chapter 5 "Points, Suspensions, and Insurance Requirements" (pages 21–26).
Points
The Point Study Committee sets values by severity and history. Speeding 1 to 15 mph over earns 2 points, 16 to 25 over 4, and 26 or more over 6. Failing to use headlights, 2; no brake or signal lights, 2; improper motorcycle headgear or passenger, 4; a hand-held device violation, 4; an unsafe lane movement, 4; disregarding a stop or yield sign, 4; failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, 6; following too closely, 6; driving while suspended, 8; a speed contest on the road, 8. Points stay active for two years from the conviction date.
The Driver Safety Program
A BMV-approved Driver Safety Program is a defensive driving course in classroom, online or DVD form. Any driver may complete one for a four-point credit, once in three years. Drivers 21 and older convicted of two or more traffic offenses in 12 months, and drivers under 21 convicted of two or more offenses, may be required to complete one within 90 days of the mailed notice or be suspended until they do; a court may also order one, but the credit applies only for a BMV-approved course. Allow 7 to 10 business days for processing.
Insurance
Driving without financial responsibility is illegal. The minimum is $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 for two or more, and $25,000 property damage per accident (25/50/25). The BMV may demand proof after an accident, after a pointable violation within a year of two others, after a misdemeanor or felony traffic violation, or after any pointable violation by a driver previously suspended for no insurance; your insurer must file a Certificate of Compliance electronically within 90 days of the request or you are suspended. Employer or rental vehicles use State Form 55434. A court conviction for no insurance requires an SR22 filing to reinstate, kept on file for the requirement period; no-insurance suspensions since the end of 2021 are indefinite, stayed when an SR22 arrives and ended after 180 days of continuous SR22 coverage, and an SR26 cancellation revives the suspension. Reinstatement fees are $250, $500 and $1,000 for first, second and later no-insurance suspensions after January 1, 2015 (older ones $150, $225 and $300), waived by maintaining an SR22 for 180 days.
Suspensions
Courts may order suspensions for traffic violations. Failing to appear or to pay a ticket after judgment can suspend you until the court reports compliance, and an SR22 can stay the suspension. Driving while suspended with a prior offense can be a misdemeanor or felony. Operating while intoxicated or with a BAC over .08 is a crime; BAC depends on the amount consumed, how quickly, and body weight. An officer with probable cause may ask for a chemical test: failing brings a 180-day suspension, refusing one year, and refusing with a prior OWI conviction two years; a conviction adds a court suspension, longer for repeat offenders, possibly with specialized driving privileges and an ignition interlock that tests the driver's breath before the car starts. A juvenile court may also recommend suspension for a driver under 18. Operating a watercraft while intoxicated carries the same penalties and goes on the driver record, as do reckless operation and boating while suspended. A court or child support agency can suspend a parent delinquent on child support until payment or a plan. A dishonored payment to the BMV brings an indefinite suspension until the amount and all fees are paid. Check your record free at myBMV.com; the Official Driver Record costs $4 and can be printed for 30 days; court reinstatements take up to 10 business days to process.
Habitual traffic violators
Drivers with repeated offenses over 10 years face HTV suspensions. Section A: two judgments in 10 years for offenses causing injury or death (reckless homicide, manslaughter, leaving an injury or fatal crash, OWI or .08 causing death) bring a 10-year suspension, and two judgments for OWI or .08 causing death bring life. Section B: three judgments in 10 years for OWI or .08, reckless driving, felony criminal recklessness with a vehicle, drag racing or a speed contest, leaving a crash scene or failing to report one, resisting law enforcement, any vehicle-related felony, or any Section A offense bring 10 years. Section C: 10 or more traffic violations in 10 years including at least one major offense or driving while suspended for listed offenses or driving without ever being licensed bring five years; nine speeding tickets plus one reckless driving conviction qualifies. Driving while suspended as an HTV can bring further court suspensions. Restriction 5 marks court-granted hardship, probationary, conditional or specialized privileges, whose holders must keep an SR22 on file, carry the court order and a valid credential, and show the order to police on request.
Practise this with Indiana Driver License questions
More of this guide
The three credential types and the Real ID star, residency and the 60-day rule, new residents with expired or foreign licenses, ID cards and the motor driven cycle endorsement at 15, learner's permits at 15 with driver education or 16 without, who may supervise practice, the two-year permit, vision and knowledge exams and the 80 percent rule, the driving skills exam with its deductions, automatic failures and 7-day and 2-month waits, financial liability signers, the 16 and 16 years 270 days license ages, the 180-day permit and 50-hour log, six-, three- and two-year validity, probationary passenger and curfew rules, school suspensions, restriction codes, motorcycle permits, MDC rules, autocycles, the for-hire endorsement, organ donation, military indicators, watercraft, parking placards, and renewing, amending and replacing.
The seven sign colors and seven shapes, warning, construction, railroad and school zone signs, the 25 mph slow-moving emblem, speed advisories, regulatory and guidance signs, plaques such as Cross Traffic Does Not Stop and Stop Here on Red, green, yellow and red lights, green and flashing yellow arrows, right and left turns on red, flashing yellow and red lights and who yields at an all-way flashing red, rapid flashing beacons, bicycle and transit signals, the two-minute rule for bicycles and motorcycles at a stuck red light, stop lines, yield signs, dead signals, alleys and driveways, pedestrian signals and pedestrian hybrid beacons, with pictures of the signs.
Yellow and white line rules, changing one lane at a time, returning 100 feet before oncoming traffic, where passing is prohibited, turning from the correct lane, hand signals, center turn lanes, U-turns and median U-turn intersections, who yields at an all-way stop, roundabout and traffic circle rules including yielding to trucks, the 70, 65, 60, 55, 30 and 15 mph limits, school zone hours, work zone and school bus limits, feet per second at 35, 55 and 70 mph, the two-to-three-second rule, skids and ABS, rollovers, fuel economy, tire pressure and the penny test, winter, rain, fog, wind and flash floods, headlights at sunset and 500 feet, dimming at 500 and 200 feet, drowsy driving and 18 hours awake, the hands-free law, the nine acts of aggressive driving, rural roads and interstate rules.
Arrow boards and flagger signals, zipper merging, vehicles that must stop 15 to 50 feet from the rails, crossbucks as yield signs, the 20-second gate warning and 45-degree escape, tractor-trailer size limits and 400-foot stops, blind spots of 20 and 200 feet, the Move Over law and its Class A and B infractions, school bus amber and red lights, the divided-road exception and felony penalties, motorcycles and the full lane, bicycles and the three-foot rule, bike lane rules, sharrows, slow-moving vehicles and horses, officers and processions, parallel and hill parking, reversing, illegal parking including 15 feet from hydrants, accessible spaces and striped aisles, pedestrians and the white cane, seat belt rules and exemptions, child restraints under 8, air bags and children under 12, truck lighting and warning devices at 100, 200 and 500 feet.
What the law requires after an accident and when not to move the vehicle, reasonable assistance, unattended property, Certificates of Compliance, stopping, turning or speeding up to avoid a crash and what to hit, driving off the pavement, escaping a car in water, BAC factors and the signs of an impaired driver, triangles at 200 and 500 feet, blowouts, brake failure, ignition locking, theft prevention, traffic stop etiquette including signaling right, staying inside and signing the ticket, carbon monoxide symptoms and vents, teen risk factors and passenger doubling, and off-road vehicle helmets.