Albany Traffic School

The Census Bureau estimates 19,195 residents in Albany on July 1, 2025. The city covers 1.79 square miles of land and more than twice that in bay water, 3.676 square miles. Interstate 80 and Interstate 580 both cross the city, and San Pablo Avenue is State Route 123. Albany's safety plan names San Pablo Avenue, Solano Avenue, Buchanan Street and Marin Avenue as the main streets that link it with its neighbors and with Interstate 580.

Tickets in Albany come from two agencies. The Albany Police Department covers city streets such as Solano Avenue and Marin Avenue, and the California Highway Patrol's Oakland Area serves Albany along with Oakland, Berkeley and other nearby communities, including on Interstate 80. Both send their tickets to Alameda County Superior Court, which uses the same traffic school rules for each.

The California Office of Traffic Safety's 2023 rankings count 44 people killed or injured in Albany crashes, 57th of 103 cities of similar size, where 1st is the worst result. Pedestrians ranked worse, with 7 killed or injured and a rank of 22nd, and speed-related crashes that killed or hurt someone numbered 9, 35th. These are counts of victims and crashes, not of tickets written.

Albany's Local Roadway Safety Plan, finished in March 2023, counted 478 collisions on city streets from 2016 to 2020, and 96 percent of them happened at intersections. Unsafe speed was the most common violation, in 20 percent of collisions, with improper turning close behind at 19 percent. San Pablo Avenue at Garfield Avenue had more severe crashes than any other intersection, and 6 of the plan's 10 high injury intersections sit on San Pablo Avenue.

The Alameda County Transportation Commission says San Pablo Avenue has the third highest rate of injury collisions in the county. Its safety project for Albany and Berkeley north of Heinz Avenue will install high-visibility crosswalks, flashing beacons, pedestrian signals and median refuge islands where people cross. Albany has leaned on street design since the council adopted its first traffic calming policy in 2007, and speed humps and speed tables are the tools the city uses most.

Albany has no courthouse of its own. Alameda County Superior Court hears the city's adult traffic tickets, and the nearest of its three traffic courthouses is the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse at 661 Washington Street in downtown Oakland, DMV court code 01440. The Traffic Division clerk's office there answers at (510) 627-4700. The court's Berkeley Courthouse on Martin Luther King Jr. Way is closer, but it is not one of the court's traffic locations.

Traffic school is a request to the court, not something a school grants. Before you sign up with any school, Alameda County Superior Court wants the bail and a state-mandated traffic school administrative fee paid. The court sets both amounts, and your courtesy notice shows them along with the date to finish. Mirai Traffic School's course costs $24.99 on top of that. To qualify, you need a valid license when cited, no traffic school in the 18 months before, and a moving violation that is not a misdemeanor, involves no alcohol or drugs and needs no court appearance. Speeds of 25 mph or more over the limit are out.

Once the court allows it and you pass the final exam, Mirai Traffic School reports your completion to the DMV electronically, and the court retrieves it from there. The DMV then holds the conviction confidential, so it does not show on your driving record. If proof of completion misses the court's date, the court forfeits the bail, reports a conviction and a point goes on your record, so check your case before the date on your notice.