All new Michigan drivers, regardless of age, are placed on probation for a minimum of three years if they have not been previously licensed.  To successfully complete your probationary period, you must drive the last ten months of probation without a ticket, an at-fault crash, or a suspension of your driving privileges.  If one of these events is entered on your driver record in the last ten months of probation, your probationary period will be extended until you can complete ten consecutive months of driving without an incident.

Extension of your probationary period is only one consequence of driving unsafely while on probation.  Because probationary drivers who receive tickets are at a high risk of having a crash, the Secretary of State’s probationary program administers a series of progressively more severe interventions to respond to continued unsafe driving.  The first steps of intervention include correspondence materials that warn of consequences of continued unsafe driving.  If you continue to receive tickets, you will be required to attend a driver assessment reexamination.  At a driver assessment reexamination, a combination of restrictions and suspension may be imposed on your license.  The purpose of these contacts is to focus your attention on safer driving and reduce your risk of a traffic crash.

After you successfully complete probation, the Secretary of State will continue to monitor you closely for two more years.  This period of time is called post probation, and you will be subject to a driver assessment reexamination if you have nine or more points and an alcohol-related ticket or crash, or other at-fault crash. 

Another important point to consider is that points placed on your driver record during probation or post probation are not automatically erased when probation and post probation end.  Points remain on your driving record for two years from the conviction date.