Alaska Traffic School: Your Options After a Ticket

Before you search for a class: why dismissal is off the table

The typical Alaska ticket is a minor offense under the court system's Minor Offense Rules. On its help page the court asks itself whether finishing a defensive driving class dismisses a citation, and answers no. It sends drivers to DMV to ask about points instead.

The court adds that it cannot change the number of points on a license, since the law has DMV apply them automatically. So in Alaska a course matters to DMV, to your insurer or to a city program, but not to a judge's ruling on the ticket.

If Fairbanks police wrote your ticket

Fairbanks runs the only dismissal program covered here, for open citations from city police. According to its FAQ, you still owe the fine; what goes away is the violation and its points, and your record lists the citation as dismissed, not as a conviction.

You must satisfy four tests at once. The citation is worth four points or fewer. You hold no CDL. You have had no moving violation in the past two years. And you have not taken any defensive driving course in that time either. Apply in person at 800 Cushman Street (the City Clerk's Office) ahead of your court date, without paying the citation.

• Apply with the Clerk and sign the warning notice waiver
• Complete a defensive driving course the State of Alaska approves
• Obtain a driving record covering the last two years
• Give the City Attorney your citation, request form, record and certificate
• Bring back the request form once the City Attorney and you have both signed
• Pay the fine and surcharge

Fairbanks deadlines and backing out

Every step must be done within 60 days of applying. Run past the deadline and a default guilty judgment is entered, $70 in court and collection fees is added, and a collection agency takes over.

You may withdraw whenever you like and pay at the Clerk's Office, but then the citation and its points go on your record. If you have held an Alaska license for less than two full years, you need records from every state that licensed you in that period. One more trap: Fairbanks' 2023 list of approved courses stated that a certificate used for DMV point credit will not be accepted for dismissal. Use exactly the course the city names.

A worked example: you apply on April 1. Your course, record request and City Attorney paperwork all have to be finished by around May 31. Order the driving record the same week you enroll, because it is the step most likely to lag.

If the fine itself is the problem

When paying is the obstacle, Form TR-405 lets you ask the judge to credit part of the fine for a defensive driving course or community work service.

If granted, the order sets the credit and a deadline. File written proof of completion by then, or the full fine and a surcharge come due, and unpaid sums may be collected by taking your Permanent Fund Dividend, plus $35.

If you have not answered the ticket yet

An optional appearance citation gives you 30 days to respond. Ignore it and the court mails a warning notice allowing 15 more days. Then the court enters a default judgment: fine, surcharge if any, $70 for court and collection costs, and moving violation points.

You pay nothing to file a contest of a minor offense, and if the courthouse is far away you can ask on Form TR-525 to appear by phone. Every court appearance by a driver under 18 requires a parent, legal custodian or guardian alongside.

If you drive commercially

CDL holders have the fewest choices. Under federal rules, no state may mask, defer or divert a commercial driver's traffic conviction, whatever vehicle was involved, and Fairbanks keeps current CDL holders out of its program.

If driving is your living, assume any moving violation will stay on your commercial record and talk with the court or a lawyer before entering a plea.