About the Driver License Agreement

The Driver License Agreement (DLA) has been written by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators AAMVA as a direct replacement of the Driver License Compact (DLC) and the Non-Resident Violator Compact (NRVC).

The DLA document is found here.

The DLA is much more draconian than both the DLC and NRVC. A few differences is the NRVC prevents license suspensions for certain violations like registration, weight, and parking. The DLA has no limitations. The DLA also requires that all violations both moving and non-moving must be placed on a driver's record regardless if the given state has a statute or not. A good example is an Indiana driver gets convicted of a Radar Detector violation in Virginia. Under DLC rules, no action by Indiana is taken where as under DLA rules, Indiana must put the violation on record with possible points.

The DLA will be liberally interpreted to where the driver gets the full force and effect for committing a violation in a different state even if the driver's state has no statute. An example is an Indiana driver gets convicted for "careless driving" in Michigan. Indiana has no such offense. Under DLC rules, no action is taken, under DLA rules, Indiana must take action such as treating the "careless driving" conviction as "reckless driving" with points assessed accordingly.

Any state that joins the DLA will be required to treat any traffic offense reported to that state even if the state is not a member of the DLA as if the ticket was from a DLA member state.

With the DLA, member states are required to have their driver's license databases open to other member and non-member states. All personal information is accessible including personal information such as Social Security Numbers. This will lead to more identity theft.

Lastly, the DLA expands who can be members. The Provinces of Canada and the States of Mexico are included in the DLA. What this means that a driver from a DLA state will be punished for any traffic violation from anywhere within North America whether it is in Cancun, Mexico or Whitehorse, Yukon or St. Johns, Newfoundland when the driver gets home. There are no due process rights in Mexico.

There is a possibility that other countries can get in on this. The AAMVA is working on licensing reciprocal agreements with the EU countries. Right now, traffic violations are not mentioned but would follow. A ticket in France can cause you problems when you get home to a state like Ohio with points if they are invited to participate one day and it will come sooner than you think.

The DLA is very harsh compared to the DLC/NRVC. There has been legislation sponsored in a few states to join the DLA such as Kentucky, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition, a few memberof Congress have legislation to force states to join the DLA through Federal Law. HR418 - The Real ID Act of 2005 by F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.

Member States : Arkansas (2005), Connecticut (2001)
Exceptions & Notes:
  • According to the DLA document, no exceptions will not be allowed except for extrenous circumstances. The maximum that exceptions are allowed for are 5 years and they require executve board approval each time.
  • If an exception is rejected by the executive board, then the state will be required to comply fully
  • The DLA will supercede any state law that is contrary to it
  • Connecticut includes recognizing vehicle registration suspension/revokation from other jurisdictions which could be used to cover out of state parking ticket scofflaws.
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    Last Updated : Sep 7, 2005
    Standard Disclaimer: The author is not responsible for any mistakes in this document but the document is here for your information. Please check with local authorities to get clarification.