Not being able to keep your foot off the gas can have some serious consequences in Alabama they you may not be aware of. Everybody has done it at one time or another; I don’t think there is a single person out there who has not caught themselves speeding at one time or another.

If you live anywhere in the state of Alabama and get stopped for speeding you are going to receive a speeding ticket, plain and simple. Let’s say that you were 45 mph in a 35 mph zone and got stopped by an Alabama state Trooper, you are going to receive a speeding ticket for doing 45 in a 35 zone which is 10 mph over the posted limit. A 10 mph over ticket is going to result in 2 points being assessed to your Alabama driver’s license plus a fine.

Now let’s say you were stopped for doing 71 mph in a 45 mph zone. The fine is without a doubt going to be much greater, but so are the points the officer is going to assess. A 71 in a 45 is 26 mph over the posted speed limit which will result in 5 points being assessed to your driver’s license. Understandable most people are going to be more upset about the fine amount than being worried about the points assessed to their Alabama driver’s license.

Something that most people in Alabama are not aware of is that if they accumulate a certain amount of points against their driver’s license in a 2-year period is that the Alabama Department of Public Safety is going to suspend their license to drive in Alabama for a certain period of time.

Alabama Point System

The following suspension periods are based on a 2-year point accumulation period.

• 12 to 14 points = 60 day suspension

• 15 to 17 points = 90 day suspension

• 18 to 20 points = 120 day suspension

• 21 to 23 points = 180 day suspension

• 24 or more points = 1-year suspension

There is no doubt that not being able to legal drive in Alabama if your license gets suspended can be a major burden on anyone, but the one thing that most people are not aware of is that if their license was suspended, the Alabama DPS is going to require them to file an SR22 with them for a specific period of time in order to reinstate their driver’s license.

An SR22 is basically a rider that an insurance company submits to the DPS to show proof of financial responsibility. Most people refer to this as Alabama SR22 insurance. An SR22 insurance policy in Alabama is going to cost you roughly two times more than your current insurance costs. If you were paying $50 a month for a liability only policy, you can expect your SR22 insurance rate to be roughly $150 per month. This of course is just an example; your rates may be less or more depending on your situation.