Traffic Division

Please be patient. It can take up to a few weeks for the court to receive citations from issuing agencies, and another couple weeks to process those citations into our case management system. If more than 6 weeks have passed from the date you received your citation, you may call the Clerk's  Office to confirm a Courtesy Notice was sent to the address shown on your citation. Clerks cannot tell you what your bail amount will be until your citation is entered into the system. Keep your copy of your citation in a safe place in the meantime. 

The officer or deputy who issued your citation will use your driver's license to take down any relevant  information needed to fill out the ticket. If you have recently moved, are going to be moving, or the physical address listed on your license is not a good mailing address, contact the Clerk's Office. Please give the clerk a correct current mailing address, your citation number, and your name as it is shown on the citation so that your Courtesy Notice has the best chance  of reaching you. 

Court clerks are authorized to grant one three week extension. Your request may be in writing, in person at the clerk's office, or you may call the clerk's office. You will be given a new appearance date on a Monday three weeks from  your original appearance date.

Should you need further time, you may make your request to the Judge on your appearance date.

You cannot ask for an extension on the day of your appearance date. The request must be received no later than ten days prior to your initial appearance date. 

A Minute Order will be mailed to you to confirm your new due date. It is your responsibility to follow up and  resolve your traffic case before your extended due date. 

If you are an out of state driver who has been cited for a traffic violation in Alpine County, please contact your state's Department of Motor Vehicles before requesting traffic school for your citation.

As a Superior Court of California, the  court reports all traffic violations to California Department of Motor Vehicles. We will only accept certificates of completion for traffic violator schools that are licensed by CA DMV.

Violations that are eligible for traffic school, the penalties associated with them, and reporting on a driver abstract differ from state to state. It is your responsibility to know if completing a California Traffic Violator School for a California Vehicle Code infraction will positively impact your driving record in your home state. 

When your citation is processed by the court, a case number is generated and the applicable base fine for the violation is applied to the case with penalties and assessments. The total amount is your "bail" or fine amount.

Your bail amount is shown below your appearance  date on your Courtesy Notice. 

If more than 4-6 weeks have elapsed since the day you were cited, please call the Clerk's Office to confirm a good and current mailing address to receive your Courtesy Notice. Please have your citation in front of you to give your citation number (starting with any letters or numbers in the top right hand corner of your citation) to the clerk. 

Alpine County Superior Court does not have an online search engine that allows public access to the court’s case management system to look up your case. You must call the Clerk's Office and provide your citation number so that a clerk may provide you your case number. When you call the clerk's office, please have your citation in front of you to give your citation number ( in the top right  hand corner of your citation with any letters or numbers) to the clerk. 

If you fail to appear or pay by your appearance date, you will be deemed to have elected to have a Trial by Declaration pursuant to Vehicle Code §40903.  If you are found guilty, you will be charged the bail amount shown on your courtesy notice.

The court will send a Traffic Trial by Declaration Decision, Notice of Decision and Notice of Civil Assessment to the address on file with the court. On the Notice, you will be given 30 days from the date of your appearance date to resolve the case. 

You must either appear in court and show good cause for failing to appear OR pay the sum of the initial fine. The court will vacate the civil assessment, and if the fine is paid in full the case will be closed. 

Prior to 2023, defendants who failed to appear or pay by their appearance date, and then failed to appear or pay by the 30 days after the Notice of Decision was mailed to them, were referred to collections and DMV was instructed to place a hold on their license for a Failure to Appear charge. 

If you wish to clear the hold on your license for the traffic case from this Court, you must pay your account in full with the Court.

Alpine County Superior Court Collections: 

Phone: (530) 694-2113, extension 324
Fax: (530) 694-2119
Email: ap@alpine.courts.ca.gov 

Juvenile Traffic cases, if they are an infraction of the CA Vehicle Code, are heard confidentially before Adult Traffic Infractions during the Traffic Calendar. 

If you are under the age of eighteen and were cited by an officer, your appearance on the date listed on the ticket is mandatory. A parent or guardian is required to accompany you to your arraignment. You cannot post bail and not appear. 

Just like all other traffic matters, Juvenile Traffic Infraction matters are being heard remotely. You or a  parent must contact the Clerk's Office the week preceding your arraignment and provide a clerk with a good and current email address to receive an invite to the Traffic Calendar.