California Traffic Violators School Eligibility - Within 18 Months?

California Traffic Violators School (Traffic School, "TS") is a very good option for California drivers (See post California TS for out of state drivers). Even when convicted, you won't get any points against your driving record and insurance will not see the moving violation when the Judge orders traffic school, and you complete TS within the time provided by the Judge. (See our post regarding judge's discretion to order TS). So Its important to know if you are traffic school eligible.

No Traffic School within 18 months

Completing traffic school on a prior ticket may, or may not, make your current ticket ineligible for Traffic School.  The rule is no traffic school within 18 months. Note that the rule does not say "in the last 18 months."  The relevant 18 month time frame runs from prior ticket date to current ticket date and is not related to conviction date or the date you are standing in court for arraignment or trial.  

The ticket date is near the upper left of the ticket and don't confuse that with the "appear by" date that the officer places in the upper left box of the ticket where the officer also checks the box "appear in court." The "appear by" date is generally 60 to 90 days after the date the ticket was written (the violation date). The 18-month period is counted from the date of your previous traffic ticket to the date of your current ticket. 

That generally works back in time farther than "the last 18 months." Given that with time to appear, at least one extension and maybe two from the clerk of the court, and setting a later arraignment date, the trial may be nine months to a year after the ticket is written. That is a good strategy, by the way, as more time from ticket to trial usually works in your favor (see our other post "ticket to trial"). with more time more things can go wrong with the court and the officer to frustrate prosecution and increase the possibility of a dismissal.

Delaying The Trial Date Does not extend the 18 month time period

However, the 18 month period is locked in notwithstanding the delay created in getting to trial. For exam
ple, if your prior ticket was written January 1, 2024 and you completed TS for that on March 1, 2024 then any ticket written June 1, 2025 and before would be ineligible for traffic school even though you may have a trial date for October 15, 2025. Technically there was no TS within 18 months of the trial date, however, looking ticket date to ticket date that is ineligible. So lesson learned, is drivers can't delay adjudication of the ticket to make a citation eligible for traffic school.  

Good luck and call Us if you have any questions.