If you’ve recently been cited for breaking the speed limit, you may be wondering whether the infraction could have an impact on your job prospects. Will the average pre-employment background check find your speeding ticket? Do you need to disclose the ticket if asked about criminal history on a job application?
A simple traffic ticket is not a criminal citation. Minor traffic offenses are civil citations, which means they are not considered misdemeanors (or felonies) and are not a part of your criminal record. As a result, a speeding ticket will not show up on a background check if the check focuses on criminal history.
However, criminal background searches are not the only types of background checks employers might run on you. A prospective employer may wish to look at other parts of your background, including your motor vehicle history. A driving record check will likely show your recent traffic violation. If you are applying for a job that involves driving, assume the employer will look at your driving record and see your speeding ticket—as well as any other traffic violations from the recent past (usually seven years).
The nature of the ticket may impact whether it is an issue. If you received your first-ever speeding ticket and were only driving five miles per hour over the speed limit, that is viewed differently than being ticketed for speeding three times in the past six months or driving 30 miles per hour faster than the posted limit. More severe traffic offenses, such as reckless driving or being a habitual traffic offender, can result in a misdemeanor conviction. Those infractions will show up on a criminal background check.
Are you curious to know what your record looks like? Run criminal or driving record checks on yourself using backgroundchecks.com’s personal tools. These self-checks can give you a better sense of what employers might be seeing (and assuming) based on your record.