On the average, a traffic officer can issue 100 to 200 citations each month. When a citation is issued to a driver, the driver usually receives a courtesy notice from the Traffic Court two to four weeks after the date of the violation. The following options are available to the driver to take care of the citation:

1. The driver may pay the fine that is set on the courtesy notice.

2. The driver may pay the fine and attend traffic school. Under most circumstances, a driver is eligible to attend traffic school as long as he or she has not attended traffic school on a violation that occurred within the past 18 months after the date of a previous violation. By attending traffic school, the driver may be able to avoid having the violation appear on their driver license record.

3. The driver can schedule a court date with the Traffic Court. Once the date is set, a subpoena is sent to the traffic officer who issued the citation. The traffic officer and the driver appear on the assigned court date. In court, the Traffic Commissioner presides over the testimony of the traffic officer and the testimony of the driver. The driver has the right to ask questions of the traffic officer regarding the citation and the driver has the option of giving his or her side of the incident. If there are witnesses for either party, they can come to court and give a statement regarding what they saw. When both sides have finished presenting testimony, the Traffic Commissioner may either render a decision at that time or take the matter under submission and notify both parties of the verdict by mail.

Most drivers elect to pay the fine and, if they qualify, attend traffic school to avoid having the traffic infraction affect their driving record, which, in turn, can affect their insurance rates. Most drivers can avoid receiving a traffic citation by simply obeying the traffic regulations.

Now that you know what to do if you receive a citation, you may be wondering how a traffic officer decides where to issue citations. On a daily basis, the Traffic Unit receives calls from citizens wanting to report traffic violations occurring in their neighborhood. Approximately 75% of these citizens are complaining about cars speeding through their neighborhood. The other 25% consist of other violations such as drivers failing to stop for stop signs and drivers failing to stop for red lights.

The complaints are logged in and the Sergeant assigns the complaint area to a traffic officer who is assigned to that specific zone area. Once the traffic officer receives a copy of the complaint form, the traffic officer will assess the area and determine the best way to conduct traffic enforcement. For example, if the complaint area is for speeding vehicles, the officer will conduct radar enforcement in the area during the times the citizen advised the problem occurs. The traffic officer will continue to monitor the area for several months. However, due to the number of complaints and the limited number of traffic officers assigned to the unit, it is unlikely that the officer can monitor the area on a daily basis. The traffic officer keeps a log, which documents the number of vehicles he observed and the number of citations that were issued. The traffic officer assigned to the complaint area is also responsible for contacting the citizen that initially called in the complaint to advise them of what has been done.

Here are some friendly driving tips:
• Always buckle up and wear the seatbelt properly. Do not place the shoulder strap under your arm.
• Remember residential streets have a maximum speed limit of 25 MPH.
• Take a look at your speedometer periodically and make sure you are traveling at or below the posted speed limit. Of the number of people stopped for speeding, 7 out of 10 were not aware of how fast they were traveling.