Traffic FAQs

Your citation is usually entered in the court system four to eight weeks after you receive it. Once the citation is in our system, you will receive a Courtesy Notice outlining your options. Check our Traffic Case Info website to find out if your citation is in the Court's system yet. (You can't pay your fine or take care of your citation until it is in the Court's system.)

For more information, see the section on Courtesy Notices on the Traffic Citations and Violations page at this website.

If after eight weeks you are still not able to find the information you need from the Traffic Case Info website, on your copy of your citation there should be a telephone number listed. You can call during normal business hours to obtain more information about your citation.

If you try to pay for your ticket on the Court's e-payment website (https://portal.scscourt.org/traffic), you may see the following message: "This citation is not payable through this system or could not be found." There are a number of possible reasons why you cannot use the e-payment system for your ticket at this time.

One common reason is that it is too soon, and your citation is not yet in the Court's system.

After you are given a traffic citation by a law enforcement officer (police, highway patrol, etc.) you should receive a courtesy notice from the Court by mail in about 45 - 60 days. The courtesy notice indicates the citation has arrived at the Court from the ticketing law enforcement agency, and is in the Court's system. You can not pay the ticket, online or in person, or sign up for Traffic School, until it is in our system.

If you have already received your courtesy notice and still cannot pay online, or it has been longer than the time period listed above, you should contact the Traffic Division in person or by phone using the contact information here, or you can email Traffic Division staff at sstrafficinfo@scscourt.org.

Another common reason that you cannot pay online is that your case may be delinquent and therefore is not eligible for on-line payment. You should immediately contact the Traffic Division in person or by phone using the contact information here, or by emailing Traffic Division staff at sstrafficinfo@scscourt.org.

When contacting the Court about your citation, be sure to provide as much information as possible: your citation number (if you have it), case number (if you have it), your full name, address, and birth date.

Where can I look up the Vehicle Code on my traffic ticket? Specifically VC40508a?

The California Vehicle Code is on the California Legislative website. You can look up certain codes by finding the range they fall in, and clicking on the range.

For example, the page Vehicle Code Section 40500-40522 contains the Vehicle Code VC40508a, which is a failure to appear violation the Court adds when you have not taken care of your citation in a timely manner. The violation is reported to DMV. DMV will place a hold on your driver's license. If you incur multiple VC40508a violations, DMV will suspend your driver's license. Your options are to post bail or schedule a court appearance.

For more on this, see our Failure to Appear/Pay (FTA/FTP) page.

To pay your fine, your citation must have been processed by the Court. If you don't have a courtesy notice yet, check the Traffic Case Info website to learn if your case has been processed.

Then if you are eligible, you can pay your traffic fine online at https://portal.scscourt.org/traffic.

For more payment options, see our Bail Forfeiture/Paying Fines page.

There are many reasons why the actual fine (bail) is higher than you were told. There are fees added by the court (that the ticketing officer is unaware of) that are required by the state government. Also, if you have prior tickets on your record, additional fees are added.

You may be told $20 at the time you get the citation, and the actual fine is $80, or you may be told $100 and end up having to pay $300.

Until you get the fine amount from the court, you won't know the actual amount. For more on fines, see the Bail Forfeiture (Paying Fines) page at this site.

If you do not pay your fine on time, an extra fee may be added to your fine amount and your case may be referred for collection. California law permits the Court to impose a civil assessment fine against any individual:

• who fails, after notice and without good cause, to appear in court for any proceeding, or
• who fails to pay all or any portion of a fine ordered by the Court

The civil assessment amount is imposed in addition to, and separate from, any fine connected with a traffic citation.

For more information, see the Traffic page on Failure to Appear or Pay Violations.

See the Extensions page on this website

Provided that you attended a California DMV approved Traffic School, there is nothing further for you to do. The California DMV approved Traffic School will notify the Court of your completion. (Note: if you did not attend a California DMV approved Traffic School, the Court will not accept your proof of completion.)

You can attend any California DMV approved school. Check the DMV website for listings: go to the DMV Occupational License website , and after clicking the "Start" button and after the disclaimer, select "Traffic School List" from the dropdown. Proceed from there according to the instructions on the site.

For more information, visit the "Traffic School" page on this website.

If you are unable to find the answer to your Traffic Court-related question after reviewing the pages in our Traffic Self-Help section, the Traffic Division pages, and the Frequently Asked Questions above, you can contact our Traffic Department by email at sstrafficinfo@scscourt.org. If your question is not covered on the Court's websites, we will do our best to respond to your question within 48 hours.

We cannot give legal advice, only legal information. Please refer to our Free & Low-Cost Legal Help page, as well as the Judicial Council Self-Help website .