Traffic School in Kansas: Your Real Options After a Ticket

Before anything else: what Kansas does not offer

Many drivers expect a simple trade: take a class, lose the ticket. Kansas law has no such trade. No statute lets a court dismiss a citation because you finished an online course, and KDOR does not approve dismissal courses. If a website says it can get a Kansas ticket dropped with a class alone, check with the court named on your citation before you pay.

Kansas does have two other things. Diversion is a deal with the prosecutor. And there is an insurance discount, set by state law, for completing an accident avoidance course. A prosecutor might add a class to a diversion as one of the terms, but the dismissal comes from the agreement, not the class.

How diversion works under Kansas law

County and district attorneys get their authority to offer diversion from K.S.A. 22-2907, and city attorneys from K.S.A. 12-4416. By signing, you give up your rights to a lawyer, a speedy trial and a jury. Complete every term and the prosecutor asks the court to dismiss the charge with prejudice, so it can never be refiled.

Because each office writes its own rules, two drivers with identical speeding tickets in neighboring counties can face different prices, terms and cutoffs.

Comparing two actual policies

In Johnson County, the District Attorney's traffic diversion lasts 3 months, or 6 for formal diversion. Several cases are not eligible: speeding 21 or more over in a 10 to 60 mph zone, going 100 or faster in a 65 to 75 mph zone, moving violations in school or work zones, crashes involving a red light, overweight vehicles, ignition interlock violations, and anyone with a CDL. You are also out if a county traffic diversion of yours ended in the past 6 months.

Johnson County collects its diversion fee and $109.50 of court costs on the day you sign. Lindsborg Municipal Court works differently: a $30 application fee, an application due within 30 days of the citation, and a one year term. Ask your own court for its policy before you choose.

So if you were caught at 22 over in a 45 zone in Johnson County, diversion is off the table there and your choices narrow to paying or contesting.

If you drive commercially

K.S.A. 8-2,150 keeps every CDL and commercial learner's permit holder out of any diversion that would hide a traffic conviction, apart from parking, whatever you were driving. At the federal level, 49 CFR 384.226 bars any state from hiding such convictions.

Your practical choices narrow to paying and accepting the conviction or contesting the ticket. Consider a consultation with a local traffic attorney about whether the ticket can be beaten.

If you decide to contest

To fight the ticket, show up on the date printed on the citation and plead not guilty; the court then schedules a trial. You can represent yourself or hire a lawyer. Whether the court will appoint a lawyer depends on the charge; the clerk can tell you.

Do not let the date pass. Under K.S.A. 8-2110, a no-show or nonpayment gets you a mailed warning with 30 days to fix it, then license consequences, and it is a misdemeanor on top of the ticket.

After the ticket: the course that does pay off

Under K.S.A. 40-1112a, insurers owe a principal operator a three year premium reduction after an accident avoidance course of four hours or more that uses a nationally recognized curriculum or one a state or federal agency approved. Before signing up for an online version, ask your insurer whether it will accept it.

The reduction does not cover a course a court or the director of vehicles ordered because of a moving violation. Your completion certificate goes to the insurer, not to the court.