Overview

Traffic School is a program that allows persons cited for certain moving violations to receive instruction in driving and traffic safety.

Your courtesy bail notice will indicate if the violation you were cited for is traffic school eligible for dismissal. You must meet eligibility requirements noted below. If you do not meet the requirements, your request must be approved by a judicial officer.

General

How soon can you deal with my ticket?

It generally takes a week to ten days for the court to receive a ticket and another 5-10 business days to enter and process it. Once entered into the court's system, a Courtesy Notice is mailed to the address listed on the citation.

The Court can quote bail and give you information regarding your citation after the citation has been filed by the issuing agency and entered into the court's computers.

Your Rights

As a defendant you have the following constitutional and statutory rights:

• To be informed of the charges against you in open court.
• To be represented by a lawyer.

(a) In infraction matters, you are not entitled to a court appointed lawyer, however you may hire your own lawyer.

How do I set a court date?

If you wish to appear before a judge or court commissioner, you must check in with the clerk in the Traffic Department at the branch court location indicated on your citation, no later than the appearance date stated, to be placed on the court calendar.

Your appearance date, place, and time are indicated on your copy of the citation, and on your courtesy bail notice. (The officer who issued your citation will not be present.)

Taking care of traffic tickets.

Understanding Your Courtesy Bail Notice

The Courtesy Bail Notice is sent by the Court and includes the following information:

The Traffic department handles infractions only - misdemeanors are handled by our Criminal department.

Parking Citations

Parking citations are generally processed by each issuing city or law enforcement agency, and may not go through the court at all.

Follow the instructions on your citation. Contact the city or agency that issued the parking citation for information.

Traffic Processing Center - Mailing Address

The Traffic Department processes Vehicle Code violations and some city and county ordinance violations issued by law enforcement agencies in San Luis Obispo County.