I'd like to get User's opinion on the validity or the practice of points being added to the VA DL record for a traffic offense that occurred in another state.
I do know from long-past experience that if you get a ticket in another state and don't pay it, that when you go to renew your license in your home state your record will be flagged and you may not renew until you have "taken care of business" in the other state. It happened to me, which was my first (and only) run-in with inter-state databases. In that case, however, no points were ever assigned to my driving record for the out-of-state citation.
I'd find it passing strange to know that, having broken no Virginia traffic law that my driving record could be assessed points based on an infraction in another state. This whole idea of "If your home state does not have the same law, they will assess points based on the closest law they have to the one you violated elsewhere," to be unbelievable.
You will want to research -
Driver License Compact(1960)
(Georgia, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Tennessee are not members.)
Driver License Agreement (1995)
Non Resident Violator Compact an interstate compact used by 44 states in the United States to process traffic citations across state borders. Wisconsin, California, Montana, Oregon, and Alaska are not a part of the NRVC.
There's also the
National Driver Register which "keeps tabs on drivers who have had their licenses revoked or suspended, or who have been convicted of serious traffic violations such as driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs."
Re "...I'd find it passing strange to know that, having broken no Virginia traffic law that my driving record could be assessed points based on an infraction in another state..."
The best explanation I can find comes from
Autos.Aol.com
Say you get cited for careless driving in Colorado but your home state has no such violation; in that case, your home state will look for the closest comparable citation it could issue, such as reckless driving, and assess points and penalties based on that. And the AAMVA is working to expand the DLA internationally, not only to Canada and Mexico but to Europe, Australia, and Africa as well. In the future, when you're caught speeding to the airport in Namibia, you'll have a hell of a time trying to renew your license in Pennsylvania.
NB, it's not universal. Not yet, anyway.