5.2 At-Fault Crashes, Surchargeable Events & Driver Retraining

Moving violations and at-fault crashes are both surchargeable events. Each one counts toward a possible suspension and affects your auto insurance.

When Is a Crash "At Fault"?

You are more than 50 percent at fault when your insurance company:

1. Finds you at fault under one of the 19 Standards of Fault, and
2. Has paid more than $1,000 for collision, limited collision or damage to someone else's property, or more than $1,000 for bodily injury when no property payment over $1,000 came from the same crash.

The 19 Standards of Fault

All at-fault crashes charged to you appear on your driving record, and they count toward suspensions together with your violations. Most out-of-state traffic convictions count as if they happened in Massachusetts.

Automatic Thresholds

Timing detail the exam likes: for the three-speeding rule, the 12-month period starts when you pay, or are found guilty on, the first citation, not on the date you were stopped.

The Driver Retraining Course

If you have three or more surchargeable events within two years, the RMV sends a letter and an information packet ordering you to complete the Massachusetts Driver Retraining course. You must finish within 90 days, or your license is suspended until you do.

• It is an eight-hour program, usually held as two four-hour sessions. Some areas offer one eight-hour Saturday session.
• Enrollment goes through the National Safety Council.
• It does not teach driving skills. It focuses on changing driving behavior.
• Completing it does not remove offenses or surcharges from your record, and it does not replace other requirements such as an alcohol program after an OUI.

Do not confuse it with the Driver Attitudinal Retraining course and SCARR used for Junior Operators (Section 2.3).

The Safe Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP)

The Merit Rating Board runs the Safe Driver Insurance Plan. Under SDIP your premium depends on your driving record:

• Safe drivers may see their rates go down.
• Rates go up after moving violation convictions or crashes in which you are more than 50 percent at fault.

Your Driving Record

Mail or phone orders may take ten business days. Under Chapter 64 of the Acts of 2016, certain drug-offense, expired-warrant and child-support entries are limited on public driving records.

How Surchargeable Events Affect Junior Operators

Surchargeable events matter even more for teen drivers:

• Any surchargeable event in the six months before the road test (an at-fault crash or a moving violation) blocks the test until six new clean months pass, unless you turn 18 first (Section 1.3).
• A Junior Operator's speeding or drag racing conviction brings its own JOL suspension (Section 2.3) in addition to counting as a surchargeable event.
• Because SDIP premiums depend on driving records, a teen's surchargeable events can raise the cost of the insurance policy that covers them.

Reading a Standard of Fault Question

The exam may describe a crash and ask whether it counts against you. Ask two questions:

1. Does the crash fit a Standard of Fault? Rear-ending another car, backing into something, opening a door into traffic and entering a T intersection from the side road are all on the list.
2. Did the insurer pay more than $1,000?

If both answers are yes, it is a surchargeable at-fault crash.

Scenarios

1. Two speeding tickets and one at-fault crash in 20 months: three surchargeable events in two years. Expect a retraining letter, and finish within 90 days.
2. Third speeding ticket in 11 months, counted from when the first was paid: an automatic 30-day suspension and $100 reinstatement fee.
3. A fender-bender where the insurer pays $800: not at fault for SDIP and record purposes, because payment must exceed $1,000.