Michigan CDL Traffic Tickets: Rules for Commercial Drivers

Commercial driver’s license holders in Michigan answer to two rulebooks. The ordinary rules on Michigan traffic tickets, points, and court apply to every driver, and a stricter federal-state layer applies to the CDL on top of them. The practical result is that a ticket a regular driver absorbs with a few points can disqualify a commercial driver from the license their job depends on. This article explains which violations count, how long a disqualification lasts, why convictions in a personal car still reach the CDL, and why the plea options open to other drivers are closed to CDL holders.

Two systems, two sets of consequences

Michigan issues points and license sanctions to all drivers under the Vehicle Code. Separately, the Secretary of State must disqualify the commercial vehicle group designation on a CDL when it receives notice of certain convictions, bond forfeitures, or civil infraction determinations. That duty is set by MCL 257.319b, which tracks the national commercial driver standards in 49 CFR 383.51.

The disqualification is not a point total, and it cannot be reduced by paying a larger fine or taking a class. It follows automatically from the conviction. A commercial driver can keep an ordinary driving privilege while losing the commercial designation, because the two are governed by different parts of the statute. Only violations that occurred after January 1, 1990 count toward the disqualification periods below, under MCL 257.319b.

Serious traffic violations and the 60- and 120-day rules

A “serious traffic violation” is a defined category, not a catch-all. Under MCL 257.319b and 49 CFR 383.5, it includes reckless driving, excessive speeding, improper lane use, following too closely, a traffic violation connected to a fatal accident, driving a commercial vehicle without the correct license or endorsement, and texting or using a hand-held phone while driving a commercial vehicle. As of 2026, federal rules define excessive speeding as 15 mph or more over the posted limit, under 49 CFR 383.5. A routine Michigan speeding ticket below that threshold is not a serious traffic violation, though it still carries ordinary points.

One serious traffic violation does not disqualify a CDL. The counts and periods are set by MCL 257.319b:

• Two serious traffic violations in a commercial vehicle, arising from separate incidents within 36 months, bring a 60-day disqualification.
• Three serious traffic violations from separate incidents within 36 months bring a 120-day disqualification, served consecutively after the 60-day period.

The 36-month window is measured from incident date to incident date, not conviction date.

Major offenses: one-year and lifetime disqualifications

A single major offense carries a one-year disqualification. Under MCL 257.319b, the major offenses include operating while intoxicated or visibly impaired, refusing a lawful chemical test, leaving the scene of an accident, using a vehicle to commit a felony, driving a commercial vehicle while already disqualified, and causing a fatality through negligent or criminal operation of a commercial vehicle. The one-year period becomes three years when the offense happens in a commercial vehicle carrying placarded hazardous material. While a driver operates a commercial vehicle, the disqualifying alcohol level is a 0.04 blood alcohol concentration, half the 0.08 that defines the offense for other drivers, under 49 CFR 383.51.

A first-offense OWI in Michigan that a non-commercial driver might resolve with probation still triggers the full one-year CDL disqualification.

A second major offense is far more serious. Two major offenses from separate incidents, in any combination, bring a lifetime CDL revocation under MCL 257.319b, with eligibility to apply for reissue after at least 10 years. A felony involving the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance in which a commercial vehicle was used brings a lifetime revocation with no path to reissue. Because a felony conviction can itself be a trigger, when an OWI becomes a felony in Michigan matters for anyone holding a CDL.

A conviction in your personal car still counts

The rule that surprises commercial drivers most is this: major offenses committed while driving a personal, non-commercial vehicle count against the CDL exactly as if the driver had been in a commercial vehicle. MCL 257.319b applies this to operating while intoxicated, refusing a chemical test, leaving the scene of an accident, and using a vehicle to commit a felony.

A CDL holder arrested for drunk driving in a personal pickup on a weekend faces the same one-year commercial disqualification as one arrested behind the wheel of a rig. The commercial standard does not switch off when the driver clocks out. 49 CFR 383.51 sets the same reach in the federal rules.

No masking: why the usual plea options are closed

Drivers without a CDL sometimes keep a conviction off their record through a plea to a lesser non-moving violation, a deferral, or a delayed or suspended sentence. Federal law forbids that route for CDL holders. 49 CFR 384.226 prohibits a state from masking, deferring, or diverting a CDL holder’s conviction, and bars any procedure that would keep the conviction from appearing on the driving record. Michigan courts follow that prohibition, so the diversion and deferral tools available to other drivers are not available to commercial drivers for offenses committed in any vehicle.

The effect on plea negotiation is direct. A CDL holder cannot bargain a qualifying conviction down to a form that hides it from the licensing record, and a court cannot offer that outcome even when both sides want it.

Reporting a conviction to your employer

A CDL holder who is convicted of a traffic violation in any state, other than a parking violation, must notify their employer in writing within 30 days of the conviction. That duty comes from 49 CFR 383.31 and applies regardless of which vehicle the driver was operating. A driver convicted in a state other than the one that issued the license must also notify the licensing state’s agency within the same 30 days.

Michigan’s Secretary of State receives conviction notices directly from courts and acts on the disqualification without waiting for the driver’s report, as reflected in the Michigan Department of State CDL services. A separate federal system, the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, requires the state to downgrade a CDL after a reported drug or alcohol testing violation until the driver completes the return-to-duty process.