New Jersey Tickets and the Traffic School Question

Before you pay: there is no dismissal class

Many states use traffic school to mean a class that makes a ticket disappear. New Jersey has nothing like that. No judge lets you take a course in exchange for a dismissal or a hidden record. The MVC's defensive driving program only trims points after you have been convicted.

Be wary of online ads promising that a course will wipe out a New Jersey ticket. Before paying any provider, confirm the MVC lists it as a state-approved defensive driving course.

Your choices in municipal court

The case is heard in the municipal court of the town where the stop happened. Pay it and you have pleaded guilty. Plead not guilty and you get a hearing, and before the court date the prosecutor may offer a plea agreement.

Plea deals often mean pleading guilty to a different charge. Drivers often ask about unsafe driving, N.J.S.A. 39:4-97.2, because the MVC schedule assigns it no points the first and second time within five years. Still, the prosecutor and judge decide what is on offer, and unsafe driving has its own fines and court costs.

An example: a driver charged with going 20 over, a 4 point offense, pleads not guilty. The prosecutor might propose an amended charge; whether that happens, and to what, is not something a course can promise.

If you decide to pay online

NJMCDirect is the Judiciary's lookup and payment site. Type in the court ID, the prefix and number from the ticket, and either your license or plate number; card payments carry a convenience fee.

A payment there is a guilty plea that closes the case, after which the points land on your MVC record. If the ticket is marked court appearance required, online payment is not an option. Misplaced the ticket? Phone the court and give your name along with your plate and license numbers.

If you cannot make the date, or cannot pay all at once

Courts usually grant a reasonable postponement, but you have to ask early by calling the clerk, not just stay home. Missing the date risks a bench warrant, a suspended license and a failure to appear notice.

If paying the fine in full is not possible, ask the judge about installments on the court date. Courts can issue time payment orders, and missing those payments carries penalties of its own.

If you are found guilty: the appeal

Appeals from municipal court go to the Law Division of the Superior Court. Count 20 days from the guilty finding, weekends and holidays included; your appeal notice must reach the municipal court by then.

The filing fee is $100, payable to the Criminal Division Manager, and the transcript of your municipal hearing is extra, priced by that court. Both are paid up front and are not refunded. Because the appeal mostly rests on the existing record, evidence you never offered at the first hearing usually cannot come in now.

After the conviction: the 2 point course

Once points have posted, finishing an approved defensive driving course, in a classroom or online, removes 2. The credit applies once every 5 years and needs points to be on the record at completion.

Expect 7 to 10 business days for the provider's report to reach the MVC; certificates you send yourself are refused. Insurers, for their part, are legally bound to offer a discount once you complete an approved course.

If you hold a CDL

Under 49 CFR 384.226, states may not mask, defer or divert a CDL holder's traffic conviction, whatever vehicle was involved. A plea deal still leaves you convicted of the charge you plead to.

And 49 CFR 383.31 gives you 30 days to inform your employer of a moving violation conviction, including one picked up in your own car. Facing a serious violation? Speak with a lawyer before entering any plea.