California Speeding Ticket

In California when you get pulled over for a traffic ticket violation by a police officer you may end up with a warning or a traffic ticket. However, the amount of the traffic ticket fine is not indicated anywhere on the traffic ticket itself. Therefore, most people do not know the amount of the traffic ticket fine for a specific traffic ticket violation code or the California DMV points until 2 or 3 weeks later when the traffic court sends out a courtesy notice to the defendant. The courtesy notice provides information such as the traffic ticket violation fine amount for the specific violation code(s), the date of the traffic ticket violation, the appearance date to address the traffic ticket and other instructions such as where to send in the traffic ticket fine or how to request traffic school?

Unfortunately, it is not mandatory for the traffic court to send out a courtesy notice for traffic tickets. Therefore, it is likely that a defendant may not receive a courtesy notice from the traffic court after receiving a traffic ticket. It is important to note that it is the responsibility of the traffic ticket defendant to contact the designated traffic court prior to the date indicated by the officer on the traffic ticket to inquire about the amount of the fine for the traffic ticket violation or how the individual plans to address the traffic ticket.

If you do not receive a courtesy notice for your traffic ticket from the traffic court make sure to contact the designated traffic court prior to the appearance date. If you miss your appearance date most likely you will be assessed an additional fine (currently as of early 2011, $300).

In some traffic ticket cases you may contact the traffic court and find out that the court clerk cannot find your traffic ticket in the system. The reason for this is that it takes the traffic officers approximately 2 to 3 weeks to submit a copy of the traffic ticket to the traffic court. If the Officer does not submit a copy of your traffic ticket to the court for a longer period, then your traffic ticket will not be in the system. Even if you decide to pay for the traffic ticket, the court clerk will inform you that they cannot process your fine for the traffic ticket until the Officer files it with the traffic court. In this situation it is always a good idea to go to the traffic court prior to your appearance date and have the court clerk stamp your traffic ticket as proof that you did comply with your promise to appear.

Also, the "appearance date" as it is written on the traffic ticket is a date by which you promise to contact the designated traffic court. In most traffic ticket cases, you may be able to do that by phone or online to take care of your traffic ticket. Therefore, the word "Appearance" may be a little misleading. Unless, you have a "Mandatory Appearance" which means you must appear in traffic court. A Mandatory Appearance is mostly for more serious traffic ticket offenses and normally is not required for the more common traffic ticket infractions such as a red light violation, or rolling a stop sign or speeding ticket for driving 20 miles over the speed limit. However, to be certain you should check the courtesy notice (if you get one) or contact the court clerk.

Below we have listed the most common traffic ticket violation codes in California and the amount of the traffic ticket fine and the DMV points according to Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules (January 2009 edition) to help answer the questions like how much is traffic fine? And how many DMV points for a specific traffic ticket violation?

PLEASE NOTE: THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE AND THE RATES MAY HAVE CHANGED SINCE OUR POSTING ON THIS PAGE. YOU MUST CONTACT THE TRAFFIC COURT TO VERIFY YOUR ACTUAL TRAFFIC TICKET FINE & OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION. For an updated list of California traffic ticket fines for 2012 click the highlighted link.

Please note that a traffic court security fee of $20 & a conviction assessment of $35 are charged in addition to the total Bail for each traffic ticket offense.

For a complete list of violation codes, traffic ticket offenses, traffic ticket fine amounts and DMV points click on the highlighted text to see a copy of the Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules (January 2009 edition)