Handling a Montana Traffic Ticket When There Is No Traffic School

First, why there is no traffic school option

No Montana statute offers drivers a class in exchange for a dismissal, and no state office operates a course that masks tickets. On its driving record page, the MVD is explicit that finishing a defensive driving class leaves your points untouched.

So in Montana, a course matters to a ticket only if a judge writes it into a sentence. For most drivers the real questions are pay or fight, and whether to ask about a deferral.

Next: find your court

Traffic cases are heard in Montana's limited jurisdiction courts, meaning justice, city and municipal courts. Procedures differ from one to the next, so follow the court name and date on your citation.

A lot of them accept card payments online. Start from the Judicial Branch's page for courts of limited jurisdiction, which links to the payment service, and have your citation or case number and birth date handy. Some charges cannot be paid that way and need you in the courtroom, typically ones tied to a crash, a possible jail sentence or a suspended license.

Before you pay: what paying means

Sending payment is the same as pleading guilty. There will be no trial, the MVD receives the conviction, and the habitual offender schedule adds points: speeding scores 3 and most other moving violations score 2.

Tickets you pick up in other states land on your Montana record as well, and visitors convicted here have the conviction forwarded to whatever state licensed them.

Before you pay: asking for a deferral

On a misdemeanor, a Montana judge has the power to defer imposing the sentence. If you get through the deferral period cleanly, Section 46-18-204 allows the court to let you pull back your plea of guilty or no contest (or to set aside a guilty verdict) and then dismiss the charge. The Department of Justice receives a copy of that order.

Each court decides for itself whether to offer this on traffic charges and what you must do in return, for example finish a course, pay a fine, or stay ticket free for a stated time. Raise it with the clerk first, because once you pay, the chance is usually gone.

If you want to fight it

Go to the court by the date on your citation for the arraignment and enter a not guilty plea. You will get a pretrial date, which is your chance to discuss a deal with the prosecutor, and a trial date if no deal comes together.

Skipping the date or the payment gets reported, and the MVD responds with a suspension that has no end date; it lifts only when you have done everything the court required. Need a different date? Phone the court before the one you have.

Knowing the cost: speeding fines

Under Section 61-8-725, going over a highway speed limit costs $40 for up to 10 mph over. From 11 to 20 over the fine is $70; from 21 to 30 it is $120; at 31 or more it is $200. Certain other kinds of limits carry smaller fines.

There is a safety valve for small overages on a basic limit: 10 mph or less in daylight, 5 mph or less at night. Those are not crimes, never appear on your record, and your insurer is barred from using them to raise your rate. For example, 8 mph over a basic limit at noon is covered, while the same 8 mph over at 10 p.m. is not. You lose that protection over 90 mph, inside special speed zones, on a ticket a Montana driver gets out of state, and whenever the driver holds a CDL.

When a course is still worth taking

At 55 and older, finishing an approved highway traffic safety program entitles you to a premium cut on liability, bodily injury and collision coverage, and the cut lasts three years. Check with your insurer about which programs count before you sign up.

A judge may also order a course as part of a sentence or deferral. If that happens, get the requirements in writing, including whether online is acceptable and how to file proof.

If you hold a CDL

Under federal rules, no state may mask, defer or divert a traffic conviction for a CDL holder, whatever vehicle they were driving, and the Montana small speeding exception does not cover CDL holders either. Holders of a CDL or a commercial learner's permit also have 30 days to tell their employer about any traffic conviction except parking.