In California, there are several traffic violations for which you can receive traffic tickets. The following is the three general types of citations:
After you pay the fine, points may show up on your DMV record unless you can go to traffic school. If the court allows you to attend a traffic school and receives your completion of the class before the deadline, the points should not show up on your record.
Parking Ticket: If you received a parking ticket, this is not filed with the court. Any fines you may have that relate to damaged vehicle equipment may be listed on this ticket. You must pay this ticket or the fines will increase and you may not be able to renew your vehicle registration. Contact the parking ticket agency on the ticket for information about what to do.
Infraction Traffic Ticket: This ticket may have been issued to you for breaking speed laws, traffic laws, running red lights, etc. If a police officer pulls you over for breaking California Traffic Law they can charge you with an infraction. You may also be asked to sign the ticket, which is also called the “Notice to Appear”. In addition, if you do not have proof of car insurance, you can be charged with an infraction for operating a motor vehicle without proof of insurance.
Misdemeanor Traffic Ticket: If you are charged with a misdemeanor traffic ticket this is a more serious offense. You can be charged with a misdemeanor for driving without a license, or on a suspended license. If these charges do not involve alcohol or drugs, you may be asked to sign the ticket or the “Notice to Appear”.
You may have to sign a “Notice to Appear”, by signing the ticket. This does not mean you are guilty. It simply means you promise to go to court or pay the fine.
If you don’t want to go to court you can:
Pay the fine by mail
Pay to go to traffic school or
Have a trial by mail
If you plead guilty and pay the fine, you will get points on your driving record and your car insurance premiums may increase.
However, if you don’t go to court or pay the fine, your license can be suspended and the court can charge you with a misdemeanor and issue a warrant for your arrest.
The Notice to Appear, or act of signing the infraction or misdemeanor traffic ticket, is not the same thing as admitting you are guilty. The Notice to Appear is simply a promise to appear in court or pay the fine.
The fine for infractions can be $370 or more.
You may still receive points on your record unless the court allows you to take traffic school. In this instance, if you turn in your proof of completion of the licensed traffic school before the deadline, you should not receive any points.
Remember, points on your driving record can increase your insurance premiums or, your policy could be cancelled all together.
The court should be able to tell you whether or not traffic school is an option and what schools are licensed. You should not get any points on your record if:
this is your first ticket
the court allows you to go to traffic school
The link below provides online access to the California Driver’s Manual, Vehicle Code book and a list of all of the traffic laws and driving rules in California.
http://traffic.findlaw.com/traffic-tickets/california-traffic-laws.html
If you would like to contact your court for questions about your ticket or taking traffic school, the link below will provide you a detailed list by county.
Once you pass the final exam, you will be able to instantly download your certificate. Because this course is DMV licensed, we automatically report your completion to the DMV who reports it to the court. All course completions are reported to the DMV after finishing the course.
In California, all licensed Traffic Violator Schools are required to electronically submit the certificate within three (3) days after completion of the course. They must put the date of the completion on the certificate. Since the certificate is submitted electronically to the court; as long as the school has correctly put the completion date on or before the due date for the certificate, then the court will accept it. That being said, there is no need for any options for delivery of your certificate to the court.
You are eligible for a refund as long as you have not completed 50% or more of the course.
Traffic School FAQ’s
After you pay the fine, points may show up on your DMV record unless you can go to traffic school. If the court allows you to attend a traffic school and receives your completion of the class before the deadline, the points should not show up on your record.
Your traffic citation will be extended for 90 days to allow attendance and completion of the traffic school. Once completed, the citation is considered a confidential conviction only and is masked by DMV so it cannot be seen by anyone other then the DMV or the court.
If you received a ticket for an infraction, you can most likely do everything you need to do by mail. It is required that you go to court for a misdemeanor, however. If you don’t want to go to court, ask the court if you can plead guilty and pay the fine by mail, pay to go to traffic school, or have a trial by mail (also called a “trial by written declaration”). If you plead guilty and pay the fine, you will get points on your driving record and your car insurance payment will go up. If you don’t go to court or pay the fine, your license will be suspended and the court can charge you with a misdemeanor and issue a warrant for your arrest.
If you are elligible for traffic school, you may get your penalty reduced and just have to pay a court fee and traffic school fee.
The Superior Court Traffic Services allows you to pay for a traffic ticket, request traffic school, request a 60-day extension from the court appearance date on the ticket or a 30-day extension to complete traffic school, request a court date, check on the status of a traffic ticket by the citation number or by a California driver’s license number, or request a Trial by Written Declaration.
Generally, you are eligible to attend a traffic school and have the citation masked from your record upon completion of the class if you have not attended traffic school in the state of California in the past 18 months. Your courtesy notice will indicate whether or not you are eligible for the traffic school program.
The California Vehicle Code Section 1808.7 mandates that only one citation in an 18 month period be masked from public view on a driving record. The 18 month period is calculated from the citation/violation date, not the class attendance date.
Yes. A summons is an order to appear and your signature is a “promise to appear.” You have two options: sign the ticket and go on your way, or not sign and go to jail for refusing to promise to appear. California Vehicle Code 40302 section (b) states: Whenever any person is arrested for any violation of this code, not declared to be a felony, the arrested person shall be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate within the county in which the offense charged is alleged to have been committed and who has jurisdiction of the offense and is nearest or most accessible with reference to the place where the arrest is made.
It would depend on how many points were assessed for the particular violation. In the state of California, you are eligible to attend traffic school once every 18 months for a vehicle violation of one point.
The DMV will check when it is time to renew the registration on your vehicle to see if there are any outstanding issues. If a failure to pay or a failure to appear is found, the DMV can refuse to renew your vehicle registration. Those who do not pay the traffic fine within the authorized time period may have their driver’s license suspended and usually will not be able to renew their vehicle registration until they have paid all outstanding parking tickets and administrative fees in full.
You may enter one of the following pleas:
Guilty: You admit to the violation(s). You may still explain the circumstances to the judicial officer. Your appearance is necessary and will result in a conviction once you enter your plea.
Not Guilty: You deny the violation(s) and want to appear with the citing officer present.
No Contest: You neither admit nor deny the violation(s). This plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.
No, parking tickets are not filed with the court. Don’t go to or call the court unless the parking agency has decided on your case and you want to appeal the agency’s decision.
If you get a traffic ticket and you think that you are not guilty, go to court on the date and time listed on your ticket or on the notice the court mailed to you. In court, the judge or judicial officer will ask what you plea, guilty or not guilty. If you say that you are not guilty, the judge will give you a date for a trial. The judicial officer may also ask you to pay the fine. If you have a misdemeanor or felony case, the judicial officer will ask you if you have enough money to pay for a lawyer. If you do not, the court will give you a lawyer for your case. If the judge finds that you are, in fact, guilty, then he MAY give you the option of attending a traffic school. Otherwise, if you are found not guilty, your case will be dismissed and the court will return your fine with no points assessed.
Read your “Notice to Appear”. There you will find the name of the court that will decide your case, the deadline to pay the ticket or go to court, and what you must do to respond to the ticket. If you were under the age of 18 when you received the ticket, this information may be sent to you later by the court.
Yes! Approval of online traffic school varies from county to county but the majority of California jurisdictions will allow you to take online traffic school to keep one ticket off your record every 18 months.
In California, all licensed Traffic Violator Schools are required to electronically submit the certificate withing three (3) days after completion of the course.
100% yes!!! Our website uses SSL encryption to safeguard your personal information. When registering for any of our California online traffic school or California online defensive driving courses you don’t need to worry about your personal or credit card information being compromised. The security of your information is our number one priority.
The DMV website list of licensed Traffic Violator Schools, will verify that OneClickTrafficSchool is licensed to offer a Traffic School course. You may also go to DMV.ca.gov and check on the the occupational license search to see that a particular school has a valid license to offer Traffic School courses.
Don’t be fooled by courses that claim they are the cheapest on the internet. Most claim lowest price and charge for certificate delivery and testing fees. We have included all fees in the total cost. Some courts will require an ID verification through a third party company or Notary Public. This can range from $5-$15 and is not dictated by our company. If your court requires this it is a mandatory step and we have no way of dictating price.
You may enroll in our online traffic violator’s school to mask one ticket conviction from your record every 18 months. Our course is a work at your own pace course and can be taken at your convenience. You can log in and out as many times as needed and the site will hold your place and track your progress. You can log in and out from any computer with an internet connection. You can use a desk top or a lap top computer. The course is broken into chapters and you will be required to complete a practice exam with a score of 80% at the end of each one.
This will depend on your California auto insurance policy. You can contact your insurance company to see if they in fact honor discounts for policy holders that complete a traffic safety course.
If you take an online defensive driving course for a state or country other than the state or country in which you received your citation, the California court may reject your certificate and you may not get credit for the course.
No. Just about all courts and insurance companies only allow you to take traffic school to remove a ticket from your record once in an 18 month period.
No, if you have received two tickets or two violations only one can be removed by taking an approved traffic school course.
