After a Georgia Ticket: Traffic School, Nolo Pleas and Your Options

Before you buy a course: how Georgia differs

In some states, finishing a course gets a ticket dismissed or kept off your record. Not in Georgia. DDS lists the reasons to take Driver Improvement as a court order, points reduction, reinstatement, an insurance discount or personal education, and none of them erases the ticket.

Whether a course changes the outcome of your case is a local matter. Some judges take completion into account at sentencing or as part of a plea, and some cities and counties run diversion programs. The court named on your citation, not a website selling courses, is the place to ask.

Example: you are cited in a city court for 17 mph over. That is a 2-point ticket. Before paying for any class, you call the clerk and learn what the judge will and will not consider, then decide whether a nolo plea, a course or simply paying makes most sense.

At court: what nolo contendere does

A nolo contendere plea means you do not fight the charge, but you do not admit guilt either. A DDS regulation (rule 375-3-3-.01 in the Georgia administrative code) says points are not assessed when the court takes a nolo plea or instructs DDS to avoid them, and every driver can use that once every 5 years.

It is up to the judge whether to accept it. One court, Athens-Clarke County Municipal, spells out that DDS is still told about the plea and it still shows on your driving record, and a second nolo inside 5 years is handled like a guilty plea. If you are under 21, DDS treats a nolo as a conviction for the under-21 suspension rules.

If the judge orders Driver Improvement

A court can make a Driver Improvement course part of your sentence. It has to be the 6-hour DDS-approved course from a certified clinic. DDS says programs it has not approved, AARP's among them, are no good for license matters, and a court requirement cannot be met at an uncertified school.

As of October 2026, clinics have to charge $95 when the course is for a court, points reduction or reinstatement. Clinics may turn away latecomers and make them pay a second time, so know the attendance policy before booking.

• Format: 6 classroom hours, no driving
• Price: $95 when it is for court, points or reinstatement
• Online versions: not accepted by DDS
• Certificate: keep the original; a replacement costs up to $5

If you ignore the ticket, or were going very fast

Each court sets its own deadline and payment methods. If you neither show up nor respond, the court reports you to DDS. Four weeks (28 calendar days) after that report arrives, your license is suspended for failure to appear. Settle the case before then and you avoid both the suspension and the DDS fees.

Very fast tickets come with a second bill. A conviction for 85 mph or more on any road, or for 75 or above where the road has only two lanes, brings a $200 Super Speeder fee from DDS, payable within 120 days of the notice.

If you drive commercially, or you are under 21

CDL holders have more at stake. The offenses in O.C.G.A. 40-5-151 cost you commercial privileges, and a serious violation committed in your personal car can count if they lead to a suspension or revocation. Taking Driver Improvement does not change any of that.

Drivers under 21 should think hard before any plea. Under 21, a reckless driving conviction means suspension. Georgia residents under 21 face the same for aggressive driving, illegally passing a school bus, or 24-plus mph over the limit. For those suspensions, a nolo plea counts as a conviction.

After the case: using the course for points

A conviction does not end the usefulness of the course. O.C.G.A. 40-5-86 allows a licensed Georgia resident to submit the original certificate and have DDS remove as many as 7 points, with 5 years between uses. Mail it to DDS at P.O. Box 80447, Conyers, GA 30013, or drop it at a Customer Service Center.

Keep in mind that plenty of minor speeding tickets carry no Georgia points at all. Under 15 mph over, and too fast for conditions, both score zero, and there are no points for a course to remove.