At the beginning of 2006 Massachusetts changed from a Step system for insurance surcharges to a points system.

With the new points system the more points you accumulate, the higher your premium. Points can accumulate quickly and each new incident increases the number of points on your record. Each point increases the premium paid for 4 coverages in your policy: Compulsory Bodily Injury (part 1), Personal Injury Protection (part 2), Damage to Someone Else's Property (part 4), and Collision (part 7).

The new Safe Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP) system has built-in discounts to reward drivers with consistently clean driving records. Even if your driving record contains surcharge points, the new system has built-in incentives for improving your driving.

If you have no more than 3 surchargeable incidents over the last 5 years, the point value of each of those incidents will go down by 1 when you have 3 years of incident free driving. For many drivers, three years of clean driving could lead to significant reductions in surcharges.

Minor traffic violations, such as speeding, is normally 2 surcharge points in this new system. To find out if your citation for failing to slow for a pedestrian is counted as a minor traffic violation according to the SDIP, check with the MA Division of Insurance. If it is then you will have the 2 surcharge points placed against you according to the new points listing.