The Driver License Compact and Nonresidential Violator Compact are agreements between member states to transmit information regarding driver violations across state lines. The agreements help to promote highway safety across state jurisdictions. States must be members of the various contracts and agreements to share information with the other member states. The agreements do not have consensus among all 50 states.
The Driver License Compact has 45 member states, which share information regarding traffic violations such as DUI, DWI and vehicular manslaughter. Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin are not member states and do not share information under this compact. The Driver License Compact originally dealt with serious driving offenses such as drunk driving but evolved to include any violation, which is reported back to the resident state. Drivers violating speeding laws in one member state can be assessed points in a home state that uses a point system.
The Nonresident Violator Compact holds drivers accountable for citations received in states other than their resident states. For example, a driver who receives a citation for a moving violation in another state but fails to pay the ticket in that state is accountable in the resident state. Penalties can include license suspension and points assessed on a driving record. Not all states are members of the Nonresident Violator Compact. Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon, Wisconsin and Michigan are not members of this reciprocal driving agreement.
The two compacts, the Driver License Compact and the Nonresident Violator Compact, are combined in the latest reciprocal driving law, the Driver License Agreement. As of November 2010, there are only three member states in the Driver License Agreement, which are Connecticut, Massachusetts and Arkansas. With this new agreement, drivers face tougher fines when operating a motor vehicle in states other than the home state. Drivers may be held responsible for laws in another state when the law is not applicable in the home state. For example, window-tinting laws vary from state to state, but drivers will be held responsible when a vehicle does not meet the requirements in the state they are visiting or passing through.