The length of time the Washington Department of Licensing retains your ticket information depends on the type of information (i.e. committed ticket, bail forfeiture, etc…).

• Convictions for DUI, Physical Control, alcohol-related offenses, Deferred Prosecutions, Vehicular Assaults and Vehicular Homicide Convictions remain on your driving abstract for 99 years.
• Convictions, bail forfeitures and committed findings for traffic tickets and other driving related offenses are kept for five years from the date of conviction/adjudication.
• DOL suspensions, revocations and disqualification records are maintained for 5 years from the end of the suspension.
• Failure to respond or pay to a traffic infraction (FTA) is reported for at least ten years (FTA expires after 10 years, but the court has the option to renew) or until the outstanding balance is paid.
• Commercial motor vehicle convictions, forfeitures of bail, or court findings that an infraction was committed appear on your driving abstract for 55 years from the date of conviction or adjudication.
• Collision reports, including involvement, fault, number of vehicles involved, whether they were legally parked or moving, whether the vehicles were occupied at the time of the collision, and whether the collision resulted in any injury or fatality are kept for 5 years from collision date for non-commercial vehicles and 10 years if a commercial vehicle was involved.

Washington statute controls who can access your information and what information is available to that person or agency.

• A complete driving record, including all of the information above, can be obtained by the person named on the driving record, attorneys, law enforcement and government agencies and includes all convictions, violations, collisions, suspensions, revocations, and disqualifications, deferred prosecutions and failures to appear (FTA)
• Your insurance company can access your “3-year noncommercial insurance abstract” which includes all non-commercial convictions, violations, collisions and FTAs from the previous 3 years.
• For commercial driving insurance policies DOL will report to the insurance company (and their agents) the past 3 years’ commercial driving convictions, violations, collisions and FTAs.
• Your life-insurance company is entitled to all the information regarding the past 3 years of commercial and noncommercial driving listed above
• Employers and potential employers, considering hiring you for a driving position, can access all of the information maintained by DOL, including ALL convictions, violations, collisions, license suspensions, deferred prosecutions and FTAs.
• If you are, or are attempting to be, a school bus driver or volunteer vanpool driver (or if you are under 18 or over 65, and driving as a volunteer for an organization) the employer or organization, like above, is entitled to your entire driving abstract from DOL.

The scope of information maintained and reported demonstrates how important it is to address every DUI, speeding ticket or driving related incident head on. Beyond the obvious consequences of jail time and fines, DUIs and traffic infractions can have consequences that go far beyond the conviction. These negative effects can haunt one for years (or even a lifetime). If you are charged with a DUI or traffic infraction get legal help today.