Traffic Newsroom

General Information About Traffic Citations

The Superior Courts of "Limited Jurisdiction" handle traffic citations and other infractions. If you have received a traffic citation, local ordinance or animal control violation, you should receive a courtesy notice in the mail within three weeks of the date of your citation. The courtesy notice will be mailed to the address shown on the citation. This notice will contain the bail amount due, the scheduled court appearance date, information regarding traffic school eligibility and any proof of correction requirements needed to clear the citation. If you do not receive a notice within three weeks, it is your responsibility to contact the court shown on your citation. If you fail to respond by the date shown on the bottom of your citation, a warrant may be issued for your arrest or a hold placed against your driver's license.

The courts no longer handle parking violations and cannot answer questions regarding parking matters. You must contact the number indicated on your notice of parking violation. Parking citations issued by most local agencies in Contra Costa County are processed by the County Office of Revenue Collection at (925) 335-8558. Parking citations issued by the Walnut Creek Police Department, BART, East Bay Regional Parks and East Bay Municipal Utility District are processed by a private firm called Enforcement Technology at 1-800-281-PARK.

COURT APPEARANCES

It takes approximately three weeks to receive your courtesy notice in the mail. The court cannot quote bail or give you information regarding your citation until it is received from the police agency. If you have not received your notice one week prior to the court date, please call the traffic phone number listed for that court during normal business hours.

If you wish to plead not guilty on a current citation, staff at the counter may be able to set a trial date without a court appearance at any time during normal business hours. The officer who cited you will subsequently be notified to be present on the trial date.   This must be done prior to the appearance date specified in your courtesy notice.

PAYMENTS AND CORRESPONDENCE

You may handle most transactions through the mail. To pay your bail by mail, send a check or money order made payable to CLERK OF THE SUPERIOR COURT any time prior to your appearance date. Write your docket number and the name of the person who received the citation on the check or money order to insure proper credit. Please be sure that we have your current mailing address so that we can respond to you in a timely manner, if necessary. The mailing address for each branch court is on the Court Locations page..

If you need to make monthly installments on the fine amount that is due, you must appear in court and get approval from the Traffic Commissioner.  Check with the court for their appearance days and times.

PROOF OF CORRECTION

If you have been cited for a mechanical or fix-it violation, you must have the problem corrected. Have a police officer sign off on the back of your citation and return the signed-off copy to the court with the appropriate fees indicated on your courtesy notice. If you no longer own the vehicle, it is still your responsibility to clear the citation by either paying the bail or appearing in court. If you have junked the car, and appear in court, a receipt from the wrecking yard may be acceptable to clear this citation.

If you have been cited for no registration or lack of current tabs, when you pay your fees to DMV you can have DMV staff sign off on the citation. Once it is signed off, you must return it to the court. Do not leave it with DMV. You may also clear your citation by bringing your DMV receipt to the court. With proof of current registration, the citation is generally dismissed upon payment of the fees indicated in the courtesy notice.

DRIVER'S LICENSE HOLDS AND WARRANTS

If you received a notice from the Department of Motor Vehicles indicating a hold on your driver's license or if you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you may clear it by posting and forfeiting the entire bail amount OR by appearing in court.  Check with the court for their appearance days and times.   For cases with warrants - the warrant will be recalled once you pay or appear in court.   For cases with DMV holds - failure to appear releases will be requested once the case has been updated.  Failure to pay releases will be requested once the fine is paid in full.  All DMV releases are processed electronically during a nighttime process and should be updated on the DMV record by the next business day.  DMV is no longer accepting duplicate paper abstracts.   Contact the clerk's office for further clarification.

If you have been arrested on an outstanding warrant and posted bail or were released on your own recognizance by an arresting agency, you must appear on the specified court date. Failure to appear will result in the issuance of a new warrant for your arrest.

TRAFFIC SCHOOL

As a general rule, you are eligible to attend traffic school and have the citation dismissed 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 traffic school. Once you receive your courtesy notice stating that you are eligible for the traffic school program, you may appear in person at the Clerk's Office to pay an administrative fee and receive further instructions.   DMV will only suppress one moving violation from your record within the 18-month period.    The 18-month period is calculated from violation date of the previous citation to violation date of the new citation, and not from the date of traffic school attendance. If you received a speeding citation, you are not eligible for traffic school if you were cited for traveling 21 or more miles per hour over the speed limit. You may sign up for traffic school through the mail. Follow the instructions on your courtesy notice. The administrative fee paid to the court for traffic school is usually the amount of your citation plus $24.   Schools are private businesses and will also charge between $20 and $40.

When your courtesy notice indicates you are NOT eligible for traffic school because you have attended within the last 18 months, you MAY request to attend a second traffic school course within the 18-month period by appearing in court.  If granted, you must attend a 12-hour class and the dismissal WILL appear on your DMV record.  If you fail to submit proof of completion for either traffic school class, a conviction will be reported to DMV and your insurance may be adversely affected.

Effective September 20, 2005, pursuant to Vehicle Code 42005, drivers with a commercial driver’s license or drivers of a commercial vehicle as defined in subdivision b of Vehicle Code section 15210 are prohibited from attending traffic school and having the violation dismissed.