A speeding ticket in a commercial vehicle: what it does to your CDL
The fine is the cheapest part of a truck speeding ticket. What matters is how far over the limit you were, whether it ends in a conviction, and how many serious convictions you already have.
Written by Rigo Diaz
Speeding and your CDL in numbers
A speeding ticket in a commercial vehicle starts two records: the roadside violation counts against the carrier's CSA scores for 24 months, and a conviction goes on the driver's license record. At 15 mph or more over the limit it is a serious traffic violation, and a second one within three years disqualifies the driver for 60 days.
A speeding stop feels like a driver's problem, settled with a fine. I read it as a risk to the license and to the company, because the conviction and the inspection report each follow someone for years after the fine is paid.
I spent more than six years in risk management before I founded Simplex, and I have led it for more than 25 years since. This guide covers what changes at each speed over the limit, when a ticket can take a CDL off the road, and what the driver and the carrier should do in the days after the stop.
The full briefing, read aloud
8 chapters. Select one to jump to it.
Generated with AI text-to-speech from this article's key insights, in order, rather than reading it word for word. Chapter times come from a transcript of the audio. The article itself was written and reviewed by Rigo Diaz.
Key takeaways
Fifteen over is the line
Speeding 15 mph or more over the limit is a serious traffic violation for CDL holders and carries FMCSA's top severity weight of 10.
Paying the fine is a conviction
Federal rules count paying the fine or court costs, a guilty or no-contest plea, and forfeited bail as a conviction.
Two serious convictions cost 60 days
A second serious traffic conviction from a separate incident within three years disqualifies the driver for 60 days. A third means 120 days.
Your own car counts too
Convictions in a personal vehicle count toward the total, and states may not hide a CDL holder's conviction through traffic school or diversion.
Winning in court is only half the fix
A dismissed ticket leaves the CSA record only after certified court papers are filed through FMCSA's DataQs system.
In this articleContents
What happens when you get a speeding ticket in a commercial vehicle?
Two separate records start. The violation the officer writes on a roadside inspection report goes to the carrier's FMCSA safety record, and the citation goes to court, where a conviction lands on the driver's license record.
The inspection side moves first. FMCSA's Safety Measurement System uses a violation from an inspection report whether or not the officer also wrote a ticket. It counts in the carrier's Unsafe Driving BASIC for 24 months, at three times its weight for the first six months and twice for the next six.
The same inspection also shows on the driver's Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) report, which future employers use and which covers three years of roadside inspections. So a speeding violation can outlast its 24 months in CSA by a year on the driver's own screening record.
The court side depends on how the ticket ends. Under 49 CFR 383.5, a conviction includes a guilty finding, a guilty or no-contest plea, forfeited bail, and simply paying the fine or court costs. Mailing in the payment is not a way to make the ticket go away. It is a conviction.
Our guide to unsafe driving violations and CSA scores walks through the full score calculation, and our guide to how CSA scores affect truck insurance covers what underwriters look at.
How many mph over makes a speeding ticket serious?
Fifteen. Speeding 15 mph or more above the posted or regulated limit is a serious traffic violation under 49 CFR 383.51, and FMCSA gives the same band its top severity weight in CSA. Below 15, a ticket still counts, but it weighs less and does not move the driver toward disqualification.
| Speed over the limit | SMS severity weight | Serious traffic violation? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 mph | Not used | No |
| 6 to 10 mph | 4 | No |
| 11 to 14 mph | 7 | No |
| 15 mph or more | 10 | Yes |
| Speeding in a work or construction zone | 10 | Only at 15 mph or more over |
| Too fast for conditions | 5 | No |
The 1 to 5 mph band is left out of CSA because the speedometer rule, 49 CFR 393.82, only requires accuracy within 5 mph at 50 mph. A conviction for it still goes on the driver's record like any other.
When does a speeding ticket disqualify a CDL?
On the second serious conviction within three years. The serious list includes speeding 15 mph or more over, reckless driving, improper lane changes, following too closely, texting, and hand-held phone use, and any combination counts as long as each comes from a separate incident.
- Second serious conviction in three years: 60 days without driving a commercial vehicle
- Third or later: 120 days
- Stacked, not overlapped: each period is added to any earlier disqualification
A following-too-closely conviction last spring plus a 15-over speeding conviction this fall is a second serious violation. During the disqualification, the driver may not drive a commercial vehicle, and the carrier may not knowingly let them. Our guide to truck driver qualifications has the full disqualification table, including the major offenses.
Does a speeding ticket in your own car count against your CDL?
Yes. Under 383.51, convictions from a separate incident count toward the total whether the driver was in a commercial vehicle or a personal one, and a CDL holder must report a conviction in any type of vehicle to the employer.
The difference is in what triggers the disqualification. When the newest serious conviction happens in a commercial vehicle, the conviction alone is enough. When it happens in a personal vehicle, it disqualifies only if the conviction also leads to the suspension, revocation, or cancellation of the license or the driver's non-commercial driving privileges.
Can traffic school keep it off your record?
Not for a CDL holder. Under 49 CFR 384.226, a state may not mask a conviction, defer judgment, or offer a diversion program that keeps a CDL or permit holder's traffic conviction off the national CDL driver record. It applies in any vehicle, in the home state or another state, to everything except parking, weight, and vehicle defect violations.
Leaving the state does not help either. When a CDL holder is convicted in another state, that state must report it to the home state within 10 days through the national CDL system, under 49 CFR 384.209.
Can you fight a speeding ticket in a commercial vehicle?
Yes, and the outcome changes both records. Decide before you pay, because paying is a conviction. Here is how each court result plays out in CSA, under FMCSA's adjudicated citations policy:
- Dismissed or not guilty: no conviction, and the violation is removed from SMS
- Convicted of a different charge: the new conviction goes on the license record, and the violation stays in SMS at a severity weight of 1
- Convicted as charged: it stays on both records at full weight
The court result does not reach FMCSA by itself. The driver or carrier must file a Request for Data Review in DataQs with certified court documents, and the policy covers inspections on or after August 23, 2014. Our guide to recovering from a DOT violation walks through the DataQs request.
What to do after a speeding ticket in a commercial vehicle
The first four steps belong to the driver and the last two to the carrier. Each has a deadline or a record behind it.
Step 1: Get both papers to the office
Send the citation and the inspection report, if the officer wrote one, the same day. The report is what reaches CSA; the citation is what reaches court.
Step 2: Decide before you pay
Check the speed charged against the table above. At 15 mph or more over, or with an earlier serious conviction in the last three years, treat the court date as a decision about the license, not the fine.
Step 3: Report a conviction within 30 days
Under 49 CFR 383.31, a CDL driver convicted of any traffic violation other than parking must tell the current employer in writing within 30 days: full name, license number, date of conviction, the offense, whether it was in a commercial vehicle, the location, and a signature.
Drivers no longer have to self-report out-of-state convictions to their home state. FMCSA removed that duty effective July 22, 2026, because states now exchange convictions electronically. The employer notice still applies.
Step 4: Report a suspension by the next business day
If a conviction leads to a suspension, revocation, or disqualification, 49 CFR 383.33 gives the driver until the end of the business day after receiving the notice to tell the employer.
Step 5: Count serious convictions per driver
Log every conviction notice and keep a rolling three-year count of serious ones, so a second conviction is never a surprise at dispatch. At least once every 12 months, 49 CFR 391.25 requires you to pull and review each driver's motor vehicle record, giving great weight to speeding, and to keep the record and a note of the review in the driver qualification file.
Step 6: Check the schedule, not just the driver
Under 49 CFR 392.6, a carrier may not schedule a run that can only be made by speeding, and CSA weighs that violation at 5, the same as a radar detector. If the same lane keeps producing speeding tickets, look at the delivery window before you coach the driver.
How Simplex helps you manage speeding risk
The stop happens on the road. Keeping one ticket from becoming a lost driver or a high score happens in the office.
Help with a high CSA score
Our CSA program monitors driver performance and designs and implements the policies and training behind a better safety record.
Driver files that keep count
Our driver qualification file team keeps each driver's file complete and up to date, including the yearly driving record review.
Insurance that reads your record fairly
As a broker, we quote and place commercial truck insurance, and a licensed agent can talk through how your record is likely to be read.
Frequently asked questions
Is 15 mph over a serious violation for a CDL driver?+
Does a speeding ticket in my personal car affect my CDL?+
Can a CDL driver take traffic school to keep a speeding ticket off their record?+
How long does a speeding ticket affect a CDL driver?+
Do I still have to report an out-of-state ticket to my home state?+
Do trucks have to have speed limiters?+
Where this information comes from
The rules below come from federal regulation and FMCSA's own systems, checked on October 20, 2026.
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1
eCFR — 49 CFR 383.51
Serious traffic violations, the 15 mph threshold, and the 60- and 120-day disqualifications.
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2
eCFR — 49 CFR 383.5
The definition of conviction, including paying a fine or court costs.
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3
eCFR — 49 CFR 384.226
The ban on masking, deferring, or diverting CDL holders' convictions.
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4
eCFR — 49 CFR 383.31
The driver's 30-day written notice of a conviction to the employer.
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5
Federal Register — Removal of Self-Reporting Requirement
Ends drivers' self-reporting to the home state, effective July 22, 2026.
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6
FMCSA — SMS Methodology (PDF)
Ticket or not, time weights, the 24-month window, and adjudicated citations.
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7
FMCSA — SMS Appendix A (spreadsheet)
Severity weights for each speeding violation code.
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8
FMCSA — Pre-Employment Screening Program
The PSP report's 5-year crash and 3-year inspection history.
Written by
Rigo Diaz
Founder & CEO, Simplex Group
Founder and CEO of Simplex Group, with more than 25 years leading the company and helping trucking entrepreneurs navigate compliance, insurance, and the day-to-day demands of running a carrier. Before founding Simplex, he spent more than six years in risk management, experience that continues to shape how he approaches insurance, compliance, and carrier risk today.
Published · Updated
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The fine is paid in a day. The record lasts three years.
Most speeding tickets never come near a disqualification. The ones that do are usually the second serious conviction nobody was counting, so the count is the control.
If you want help setting up conviction tracking, reviewing driving records, or checking what is already on your CSA profile, talk to our team.