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Traffic School Keeps Points Off Missouri Driving Record

Traffic school keeps points off your Missouri driving record and can prevent your driver’s license from being suspended, but the speeding ticket conviction will still show up on your driving record.

Your Driver’s License Will be Suspended if You Have Too Many Points

If you accumulate too many points on your driving record, your Missouri driver’s license will be suspended or revoked. A speeding ticket is a moving violation that causes 2 points to be added to your driving record if the ticket was issued by a city or county police officer. 3 points are added if the ticket was issued by a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer.

If you accumulate 8 points on your Missouri driving record within 18 months, your driver’s license will be suspended for 30 days, if it’s your first suspension. If it’s your second suspension, then your driving privileges will be suspended for 60 days; for a third suspension, your license will be suspended for 90 days. Your license will be revoked for 1 year if you accumulate 12 points within 12 months, 18 points within 24 months, or 24 points within 36 months.

Out-of-state speeding tickets are also reported to your home state of Missouri and points are added to your driving record, just as if you received those traffic tickets in Missouri. See my previous blog post about how out-of-state speeding tickets affect your Missouri driver’s license.

Traffic School Can Prevent Your Missouri Driver’s License From Being Suspended 

The Missouri Driver Improvement Program (DIP) is a statewide traffic school program, presented in cooperation with the Missouri Division of Highway Safety and the Missouri Department of Transportation, that drivers can attend to reduce the points on their Missouri driver’s licenses. Some people refer to this as “Traffic School,” “Driving School,” or “Defensive Driving Class.” If you search online, you will find many Missouri traffic schools that offer classes, both online and in person.

If your Missouri driver’s license is about to be suspended because of too many points, attending traffic school can prevent the suspension by reducing the amount of points that will be added to your driving record.

Your Speeding Ticket Will Not be Dismissed if You Attend Traffic School, But No Points Will be Added to Your Missouri Driving Record

After successfully completing traffic school, your speeding ticket will not be dismissed (it will still show up on your Missouri driving record), but no points will be added to your driving record. If you are pulled over for a traffic violation, the police officer will see the no-point speeding conviction on your driving record. And an insurance agent will be able to see the speeding ticket when he reviews your driving record before giving you a price quote for car insurance.

What You Need to Know Before Attending a Missouri Traffic School

Before attending a Missouri traffic school or taking an online driving school class, here are a few things you need to know:

  • Prior to attending a Missouri traffic school, you must plead guilty to the moving violation and pay the fine and court costs to the court. The traffic ticket will be reported to the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR), but no points will be added to your driving record at that time.
  • You have 60 days from the date you pleaded guilty to complete driving school. After successful completion of the driving class, the traffic school will send a certificate to the DOR, proving that you completed the class. Then your speeding ticket will be reported on your driving record, but no points will be assessed for it.
  • Traffic school is an 8-hour class and can be taken online or in person. (Many people complete the class in less than 8 hours.)
  • You are allowed to attend traffic school to avoid point assessment only once every 36 months.
  • You must contact the court that issued the speeding ticket to confirm that they will allow you to attend traffic school.
  • Many courts (for example, municipal courts located in St. Louis County) require that you go to court and ask the judge for permission to attend traffic school.
  • Call the DOR to confirm that the court has notified the DOR that the court is allowing you to attend traffic school.
  • Confirm that the traffic school or driving class is approved by the Missouri Safety Center.
  • For violations committed while operating a motorcycle, the driver must attend an approved motorcycle-rider training course.
  • If your driver’s license was issued by a state other than Missouri, attending traffic school in Missouri may not help you. Check with your home state to determine how it will treat a speeding ticket received in Missouri, and find out if you can attend traffic school in your home state.
  • Traffic school is not available for drivers who commit a traffic violation while driving a commercial motor vehicle, or for any driver who has a commercial driver’s license (CDL) from Missouri or any other state.
  • Prices for Missouri traffic school range from $20 to $35, depending on the court and the county. Many websites advertise that they offer online traffic schools.

FCC Speeding Ticket Points Can be Removed From Your Driving Record if You Attend a Missouri Traffic School

If a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer (a state trooper) pulls you over and issues a speeding ticket to you, most likely the ticket will have “FCC” or “Fine Collection Center” written on it, and instead of a court date, it will state, “Due in 30 Days”. That is called an FCC speeding ticket. If you have received an FCC ticket, you may be able to attend a Missouri traffic school to keep the points from being added to your driving record, if the county in which you received the ticket allows it. You will have to plead guilty and pay the fine and court costs to the FCC before taking the traffic school class.

Courts in the following Missouri counties allow drivers who receive FCC speeding tickets to attend traffic school to prevent points from being added to their driving records: Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Audrain, Barton, Bollinger, Boone, Buchanan, Butler, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Cooper, Dade, Daviess, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Grundy, Harrison, Hickory, Holt, Howell, Lewis, Lincoln, Livingston, Macon, Madison, Marion, McDonald, Miller, Nodaway, Oregon, Osage, Pemiscot, Perry, Pike, Platte, Putnam, Reynolds, Ripley, Saline, Schuyler, Scott, Shannon, Shelby, St. Clair, Ste. Genevieve, Sullivan, Vernon, Wayne, Worth, and Wright.  

For All Other Missouri Speeding Tickets, Get Approval From the Court Before You Attend Traffic School

If you receive a regular (non-FCC) speeding ticket in a county not listed above, such as St. Louis City or St. Louis County, you may still be able to attend traffic school to reduce the points on your Missouri driving record, but you will have to get the court’s approval first. Contact the court that issued the ticket and ask how you can request to attend traffic school.

Most of the courts that are not on the above list require that you personally appear in court on your court date to ask the judge for permission to attend traffic school, but you should call the court clerk to confirm this before going to court.

In St. Louis County Circuit Court, you can not appear in court on your own to ask for permission from the judge to attend traffic school; you have to hire an attorney to represent you and you must appear in court with your attorney. If the judge approves your attorney’s request for traffic school, you will have to pay an additional fee that is donated to the School Fund. You can sign up for traffic school that same day while you’re at the courthouse (in the building across the street from the courthouse in Clayton), or you can enroll in a driving class offered by an online traffic school.

St. Charles County Circuit Court allows drivers to appear in court on their own (without hiring an attorney) and ask the judge for permission to attend traffic school.

In St. Louis City Municipal Court, you must come to court on your court date and ask the judge for permission to attend traffic school to keep points off your driver’s license. The judge will review your driving record and decide whether to allow you to attend traffic school. The same procedure applies to most other municipal courts in St. Louis County when requesting permission to attend traffic school. Municipal courts in St. Louis County, such as Kirkwood Municipal Court, Florissant Municipal Court, Pine Lawn Municipal Court, and Chesterfield Municipal Court all require drivers to appear in court on their court date to get approval from the judge to attend traffic school.

Even if the court that issued your speeding ticket is listed in one of the paragraphs above, you should still call the court to ask what their policy is for requesting traffic school to reduce the points on your driving record.

If the Court Does Not Offer Traffic School as an Option, You Can Hire a Lawyer to Get Your Speeding Ticket “Fixed”

If you plead guilty or are convicted of a speeding ticket in Missouri, points are added to your driving record and the speeding ticket conviction appears on your driving record. As noted previously, if you accumulate too many points within a certain period of time, your Missouri driver’s license will be suspended or revoked.

If you don’t want to attend traffic school to remove the points from your driving record, or if traffic school is not allowed in the county in which you received your speeding ticket, you can hire a traffic law attorney to negotiate a plea bargain with the court to have your speeding ticket amended to a non-moving, no-point infraction. (This is sometimes called getting a ticket “fixed.”) You will pay a higher fine after the ticket is amended, plus court costs, but no points will be added to your driving record, and there will be no record of a speeding ticket conviction on your Missouri driver’s license. 

Locations of Missouri Traffic Schools 

Click here for a list of online traffic schools approved by the Missouri Safety Center.

You can go to the Missouri Driver Improvement Program website to find out more about how traffic school can keep points off your Missouri driving record.

For more information about Missouri traffic law, points, and Missouri court information, click on the Legal Resources page of my website.

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For a free consultation about your Missouri traffic ticket, contact St. Louis traffic law attorney Andrea Storey Rogers at (314) 724-5059 or [email protected]

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St. Ann, MO Municipal Court to Issue Warrants for Unpaid Red Light Camera Ticket Fines

St. Ann Municipal Court in St. Ann, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis) will soon begin issuing warrants against the license plates of vehicles ticketed for red light camera violations if the vehicle owners fail to pay the fines. The vehicle will be seized and whoever is driving at the time will have to call a friend (or a taxi) to pick them up at the police station. So, before you borrow a car from a friend, you might want to confirm that they have paid any fines for red light camera tickets in St. Ann, Missouri.

Many St. Louis area municipalities have installed red light cameras, but most do not issue arrest warrants for unpaid fines. If you fail to pay the fine for a red light camera ticket in most courts in the St. Louis area, you will probably receive a demand for payment from a debt collection agency or law firm. For now, the laws allowing red light camera tickets have been upheld. See this blog post about the Missouri Court of Appeals’ recent decision to uphold a red light camera ordinance in Creve Coeur, Missouri.

A Missouri red light camera ticket is essentially a very expensive parking ticket because it is a non-moving, no-point infraction. If a vehicle enters an intersection when the traffic light is red, the red light cameras take a photograph of the vehicle and the vehicle’s license plate. Then a ticket for a red light camera violation is issued against the vehicle and is mailed to the owner of the vehicle. The owner of the vehicle is responsible for paying the $100 fine, regardless of who was driving the vehicle at the time the violation occurred.

For more information, see my previous blog post about red light camera tickets in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Some Missouri Courts Dismiss “No Insurance” Traffic Tickets if You Buy Insurance

Most courts in the St. Louis, Missouri area will dismiss a “No Insurance” ticket if you later provide proof that the car you were driving was insured at the time the police officer pulled you over, or that you purchased auto insurance afterward. You may also have to pay court costs, which can range anywhere from $25 to $60, depending on the court. (A ticket for “No Insurance” is the same as a ticket for “Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility.”)

A “No Insurance” Traffic Ticket Causes 4 Points to be Added to Your Missouri Driving Record and It Remains on Your Driving Record Permanently

If you are unable to get a “No Insurance” traffic ticket dismissed or amended to a lesser charge, then you will have to pay the fine for the ticket and 4 points will be added to your Missouri driving record. If you accumulate 12 points within 12 months, your Missouri driver’s license will be revoked for 1 year. If you accumulate 8 points within 18 months, your driver’s license will be suspended for 30 days, if it’s your first suspension.

In addition, a conviction for “No Insurance” will stay on your Missouri driving record forever and will never be eligible for removal. In this previous blog post, I list other types of tickets that remain permanently on your driving record.

You Can Get a “No Insurance” or “Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility” Traffic Ticket Dismissed Without Hiring a Lawyer in Most Courts in the St. Louis, Missouri Area

Some courts in the St. Louis, Missouri area will allow you to bring proof of insurance to the court clerk’s office prior to the court date, so you don’t have to appear in court. Other courts require that you go to court on the court date and show proof of insurance to the judge before the court will dismiss a “No Insurance” or “No Proof of Insurance” traffic ticket.

Whether you had insurance when the police officer pulled you over, or if you purchased insurance after the traffic stop, some Missouri courts will not allow you to request a dismissal of a “No Insurance” ticket on your own, without the assistance of an attorney. (Call the court clerk’s office ahead of time to find out.) If that is the case, you will have to hire an attorney to file a pleading and provide proof of insurance on your behalf before the prosecuting attorney will consider negotiating a plea bargain to have your “No Insurance” ticket amended or dismissed.

Procedures for Handling “No Insurance” Tickets in Some Municipal Courts in the St. Louis, Missouri Area   

In St. Louis County Municipal Court (North Division) in Hazelwood, Missouri, if you receive a traffic ticket for “No Insurance” and you did not have insurance at the time of the traffic stop, you can appear in court and ask the judge to allow you to take a driving class to get rid of the “No Insurance” ticket. You will need to buy car insurance prior to the court date so you can show proof of insurance to the judge.

In St. Louis City Municipal Court, if you receive a “No Insurance” traffic ticket and you purchased car insurance after receiving the ticket, then you can appear in court on the court date and show the judge your proof of insurance, and the judge will dismiss the ticket upon payment of court costs of $50.50. If you actually had insurance at the time of the traffic stop but you didn’t have proof of insurance with you, then bring your current insurance card to court on your court date and show it to the judge, and the judge will probably dismiss the “No Insurance” ticket, sometimes without payment of court costs.

In Ballwin Municipal Court in Ballwin, Missouri, the fine for a “No Insurance” traffic ticket is $175. If you had insurance at the time the police officer pulled you over, and there was no accident involved, then you can bring proof of insurance to the court clerk’s office and they will dismiss your “No Insurance” ticket upon payment of court costs. If you did not have insurance at the time you were pulled over but you purchased insurance afterward, then you can hire an attorney to negotiate a plea bargain with the Court to have your “No Insurance” ticket amended or dismissed. You can not bring proof of insurance to court on your own and expect the judge to dismiss your ticket if you did not have insurance at the time of the traffic stop.

In St. Ann Municipal Court in St. Ann, Missouri, the fine for a “No Insurance” ticket is $151. If you did not have insurance when you received the ticket, but afterward you purchased at least 3 months’ worth of car insurance, then you can show proof of insurance to the court and your “No Insurance” ticket will be dismissed with a fine of $101. If you did have insurance and can provide proof that your car was insured on the date the ticket was issued, then the court will dismiss the ticket upon payment of $26.50 in court costs.

In St. Peters Municipal Court in St. Peters, Missouri, if you buy insurance after you receive a “No Insurance” ticket, your attorney can negotiate a plea bargain with the prosecutor to have your ticket amended or dismissed. The total fine and court costs will be approximately $375 and no points will be added to your driving record. If you did not have insurance at the time of the traffic stop and you are unable to purchase insurance now, then you must appear in court on your court date. At that time, the judge will determine the amount of the fine that you owe plus court costs, and 4 points will be added to your Missouri driving record.

In Florissant Municipal Court in Florissant, Missouri, if you receive a traffic ticket for “No Insurance” but you had insurance on the date you received the ticket, you can bring proof of insurance to court and the judge will dismiss the ticket upon payment of court costs of $26.50. If you did not have insurance when the police officer pulled you over, you can purchase insurance afterward and bring proof to the court clerk’s office prior to the court date and pay a $125 fine. If you did not have insurance when you received a “No Insurance” ticket and you are unable to purchase insurance afterward, then you must appear in court on your court date, at which time the judge will assess your fine, but no points will be reported to the Missouri Department of Revenue. Unlike most municipal courts in the St. Louis area, Florissant Municipal Court does not report points to the Missouri Department of Revenue for “No Insurance” traffic tickets.

In University City Municipal Court in University City, Missouri, the court will not allow you to request a dismissal of a “No Insurance” ticket on your own, without the assistance of an attorney.  Therefore, you must hire an attorney to file a pleading and provide proof of insurance on your behalf before the prosecuting attorney will consider dismissing your “No Insurance” ticket.

Your Driver’s License Will be Suspended if You Cause a Car Accident While Driving Without Insurance

If you cause a car accident while driving a vehicle that is not insured, your driver’s license will be suspended. For more information, see this page of the Missouri Department of Revenue’s website regarding the consequences of a conviction for driving without insurance.

The offense of “No Insurance” or “Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility” is a misdemeanor and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed 15 days and/or a fine not to exceed $300. This link takes you to the Missouri law that prohibits driving without insurance.

An Attorney May be Able to Withdraw Your Guilty Plea for a “No Insurance” Ticket and Cancel the Suspension of Your Driver’s License

If you have already pleaded guilty to a “No Insurance” traffic ticket in Missouri, it is possible to hire an attorney to withdraw your guilty plea and negotiate a plea bargain with the prosecuting attorney to have your ticket dismissed or amended. If the “No Insurance” ticket is dismissed or amended to a no-point infraction, then those 4 points that were added to your driving record for the “No Insurance” ticket will be removed. If your driver’s license was suspended because of too many points, then the removal of those 4 points may be enough to cause the suspension to be cancelled or “lifted.”

You will have to provide your attorney with proof that you have purchased auto insurance, and you must act quickly; most courts will not allow the withdrawal of a guilty plea if too much time has passed since your guilty plea, or if you were represented by an attorney when you pleaded guilty.

For more information regarding Missouri traffic law, see my traffic law resources page for links to information regarding Missouri speeding tickets, points, Missouri driver’s licenses, courts, and other traffic-related issues.

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Missouri Court of Appeals Upholds St. Louis Red-Light Camera Law

Last week, the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a St. Louis County red-light camera law, stating that the red-light camera law in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur, Missouri does not violate the due process rights of vehicle owners and does not contradict state law.

A St. Louis County vehicle owner challenged the municipal ordinance after she received a red-light camera ticket in Creve Coeur in 2009. 

Missouri red-light camera tickets are issued to vehicle owners when a camera mounted in a traffic intersection captures a photograph of a vehicle that is present in an intersection when the traffic light turns red. The vehicle owner then receives a red-light camera ticket in the mail and is fined $100, regardless of whether or not he was the person driving the car at the time. A red-light camera ticket is essentially a very expensive parking ticket, because it is a non-moving violation which does not cause points to be added to the vehicle owner’s driving record.

The attorney for the St. Louis County vehicle owner who challenged the red-light camera law argued that the Creve Coeur municipal ordinance contradicts a Missouri law that requires points to be added to a person’s driving record when he is convicted of a moving violation. 

However, a violation of the Creve Coeur red-light camera law is not a moving violation, and no points are assessed against the vehicle owner’s driving record. The Creve Coeur municipal ordinance does not prohibit running a red light, which is a moving violation; instead, it prohibits a vehicle being in an intersection when the traffic light is red.  

In its 14-page opinion, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that the Creve Coeur red-light camera law does not contradict state law because the language of the ordinance indicates that the city of Creve Coeur intended that a violation of the ordinance be classified as a non-moving violation and that the liability for a violation should be imposed on the vehicle owner, not the driver. 

The vehicle owner also challenged the red-light camera law on the grounds that it violated her constitutional right to procedural due process, arguing that due process requires that a police officer must have probable cause to believe that the person to whom he issues a traffic ticket is the driver of the vehicle and not just the owner of the vehicle.

But the Court stated, “Missouri law provides that a municipal ordinance can impose liability on a vehicle owner if another person parks or operates the vehicle in violation of the ordinance.” 

The Court ruled that the red-light camera law does not violate the vehicle owner’s right to due process because it is a civil ordinance, not a criminal law, and civil ordinances  “need not provide the heightened procedural protections required by the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.”

The attorney for the St. Louis County vehicle owner who challenged the red-light camera law says he intends to appeal the Missouri Court of Appeals’ decision.

Read the Missouri Court of Appeals’ full opinion here: //www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2011/mo-creve.pdf 

To learn more about Missouri traffic law, go to our traffic law resources page for links to information regarding Missouri speeding tickets, points, Missouri driver’s licenses, courts, and other traffic-related issues.

 

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Unsigned Missouri Speeding Ticket Might Not Be an Issue

If the police officer didn’t sign your speeding ticket, do you still have to pay it?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the short answer is yes.  If a police officer pulls you over and gives you a Missouri speeding ticket but doesn’t sign the ticket, it is possible that the ticket is not valid at the time because it is not signed, but this may not matter later at trial if the police officer: 1) signs the ticket sometime before the beginning of the trial, and 2) appears in court to testify about what he observed (you driving like a bat out of hell on the wrong side of the road, for example). Continue reading “Unsigned Missouri Speeding Ticket Might Not Be an Issue”