Moving Violation vs Non-Moving Traffic Violation

Many people wrongly believe a moving violation occurs while a vehicle is moving and a non-moving violation occurs when it is not moving, or at least that over simplifies the two. Non-moving violations are not assessed Negligent Operator Treatment System (NOTS) points and moving violations are. If someone is talking or texting on their handheld device while they are driving it is still a non-point violation. Just as not wearing a seat belt or having your child in the required child protective seat are not assessed NOTS points.

Cell phone tickets, seat belts, broken taillights or other “fix-it” tickets are not moving violations and going to traffic school for one of these violations will not gain you anything. The purpose of traffic school, besides providing safety tips for drivers and provide a discount on your auto insurance in many cases, is to mask your ticket’s NOTS points from your insurance company or make the points assessed confidential. Therefore, even though your reminder may state that traffic school is authorized for a non-moving violation, it will not make any difference as far as your insurance premium is concerned because your insurance company is not notified of non-moving violations.

Moving violations, infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies are assessed NOTS points, but only minor infractions are eligible to be masked or made confidential by traffic school. However, traffic school in most cases is only allowed to be used for a traffic ticket infraction once every 18 months. Therefore, it is wise to hire a traffic ticket attorney to try and get your major infraction reduced to a minor infraction to save thousands of dollars in fines and raised insurance premiums.

CA Vehicle Code (CVC) 41501

This little-known CVC, which allows a driver who has already attended traffic school for an infraction to attend again if another ticket is received within a twelve-month period, but only with a judge’s permission, so you almost certainly must hire a traffic ticket attorney to approach the prosecutor or judge to authorize a second attendance. This statute was supposedly added because of the lag in court dates for traffic offenses. Ask your traffic ticket attorney if this CVC applies to you.

Traffic School and Moving Violations

Generally, the reminder sent by the court will state whether you can attend traffic school, but there are instances where a court clerk cannot authorize traffic school for a moving violation, such as:

· Speeding 25 mph or more over the limit

· Major traffic infractions with more than one NOTS point, such as speeding over 100 mph

· Misdemeanors and felonies

· Commercial driving violations

· Alcohol and drug offenses

· Failure to Appear (FTA) unless already resolved

In most cases, a traffic ticket attorney can get one or more of these moving violations reduced to a non-moving violation by requesting a judge to authorize traffic school.

Furthermore, a driver cannot be made ineligible to attend traffic school by pleading not guilty or fighting their ticket.

If you attend traffic school, you must first pay the court clerk the added fee, pay the traffic school its fee, and complete the course, either in class or online. If you complete the course online, you must be given an open book test by a proctor, which kind of makes the online course a lot less convenient. But, make sure you complete the course in time to meet the date to report completion to DMV, most schools fill up fast, there were 800,000 attendees in CA last year out of the 3 million people who received traffic tickets. In addition, make sure it is a state-approved course.

Check the CA.gov website for DMV approved courses. Always consult a traffic ticket attorney before deciding on a course of action, what’s more, Bigger & Harman provides a FREE phone consultation.

Hire a Traffic Ticket Defender from Central Valley

I chose Bigger & Harman because of a comment I read on Yelp, “Mark Bigger told me from the very beginning that he would do his best to reduce my moving violation to a non-point violation.” When you need legal representation for traffic court due to a traffic ticket, contact Bigger & Harman, 661-349-9300 or send an email to attorney@markbigger.com.

Bigger & Harman are Central Valley traffic ticket attorneys that represent clients with tickets for moving violations. Whether your traffic court is in Lamont, Hanford, Shafter, Bakersfield, Bishop, or Independence in Inyo, Mono, Kings, Kern, Fresno, or another Central Valley county, or even a few SoCal counties, such as SLO, Riverside, San Bernardino, or LA County, we’ll be there for you.