{"id":119661,"date":"2026-02-02T07:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T07:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/119661\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T07:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T07:20:22","slug":"li-drivers-battling-some-of-nations-most-dangerous-roads-warn-about-states-new-license-point-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/119661\/","title":{"rendered":"LI drivers battling some of nation’s most dangerous roads warn about state’s new license ‘point’ system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Island drivers already navigating <\/a>some of the nation\u2019s most dangerous roads warn Albany\u2019s stricter new traffic laws will only likely <\/a>dump more unlicensed motorists on the streets.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s new \u201cpoint\u201d system, which takes effect Feb. 16, moves the current license-losing threshold of 11 points in 18 months to 10 points in two years while boosting penalties for common violations<\/a> such as speeding, tailgating, cellphone use and school-bus passing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween Nassau and Suffolk counties, there were a total of roughly 50,000 speeding tickets [in 2024] \u2014 there is no question in my mind that this is going to lead to a massive number of license suspensions,\u201d said Adam Rosenblum, a prominent traffic lawyer, told The Post, citing state DMV data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AdamAdam Rosenblum, a prominent traffic lawyer, told The Post, \u201cThere is no question in my mind that this is going to lead to a massive number of license suspensions.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rosenblum warned that the crackdown could have the opposite of the state\u2019s intended safety impacts<\/a> by actually pushing more drivers off the books and onto the roads illegally, while also piling new financial burdens onto working-class Long Islanders who rely on their cars daily.<\/p>\n

That assessment has left some drivers in the region worried about their continued safety,<\/a> while others are panicked for other reasons \u2014 concerned about the points they already accrued \u2014 noting that one more single ticket in the next two years could temporarily invalidate their license.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are already people that drive with suspended licenses or even no licenses, and now that problem is just going to get worse, they\u2019re still going to drive \u2014 this is Long Island \u2014 there is no other way to really get around since our public transit system sucks,\u201d motorist Larissa Bars told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The worrisome situation comes as it was revealed last year that a serious car crash occurs every 7 minutes on Long Island\u2019s 118 miles of roadway \u2014 averaging roughly 210 deaths a year and seriously injuring about 1,600 annually.<\/p>\n

Bars called the state\u2019s new changes a \u201ccash grab,\u201d pointing to the newly added \u201cdriver responsibility assessment,\u201d an additional state-imposed financial penalty that kicks in when a driver racks up points<\/a> on their license on top of any ticket fines or court fees.<\/p>\n

Under the new system, the state slaps a $300 charge once a driver hits six points, plus an extra $75 for every additional point after that, with no cap on how high the assessment can go, meaning the more points a driver accumulates, the more money they owe the state, separate from whatever they already paid for the ticket itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TrafficNew York\u2019s new point system takes effect Feb. 26. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The expanded two-year lookback window also means drivers who thought they were almost in the clear may soon find themselves back in danger of suspension, as older tickets from before the changes take effect will continue to count toward the state\u2019s point total extended to 24 months after the date the ticket was issued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A driver who already has accumulated a few points for speeding told The Post he\u2019s worried that one more unintentional slip up will temporarily cost him his license, $300 and possibly even upend his life under the new system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll they do is try to make things harder for people,\u201d said the driver, who asked not to be identified.<\/p>\n

\u201cUbers are ridiculously priced, there\u2019s really no trains, and I would still have bills to pay \u2014 if they suspended my license I\u2019d have no choice but to do what I have to do in order to keep feeding my family,\u201d he said, alluding that he would continue driving with a suspended license to get to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Island drivers already navigating some of the nation\u2019s most dangerous roads warn Albany\u2019s stricter new traffic laws…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3409,426,776,57,774,9,11,10,8018,773],"class_list":{"0":"post-119661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-drivers-license","9":"tag-kathy-hochul","10":"tag-long-island","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-nassau-county","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-roads","17":"tag-suffolk-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}