San Joaquin County Traffic School

San Joaquin County sits at the north end of the San Joaquin Valley. Interstate 5 passes west of Lodi, crosses Stockton and continues past Lathrop, while State Route 99 strings together Lodi, Stockton, Manteca and Ripon. In the west, Interstate 580 comes down from the Altamont Pass and Interstate 205 splits off it to run past Mountain House and Tracy. State Route 120 heads east through Manteca toward Escalon, and State Routes 4, 12, 26 and 88 fan out from Stockton and Lodi toward the Delta and the foothills. The Census Bureau counts 823,815 residents in eight cities, among them Mountain House, which became a city on July 1, 2024.

The California Office of Traffic Safety counted 6,095 people killed or injured in San Joaquin County crashes in 2023, which ranks the county 15th of 58. OTS gives rank 1 to the worst result, and the county holds rank 1 for hit-and-run crashes, with 628 that killed or hurt someone. Speed-related crashes with a death or injury reached 1,280, ranked 12th. Speed matters for traffic school too, because the court turns away a speeding charge above 100 mph or more than 25 mph over the posted limit.

When the court allows traffic school, it charges an administrative fee on top of the bail shown on your courtesy notice, and the school you choose collects its own fee separately. The court sets the date by which you must finish, so work from the due date on your notice or in your case record. If you never finish, the court keeps the fines and fees you posted. The California Highway Patrol's Stockton and Tracy Areas both patrol the county, so a ticket from a CHP officer lands in the same Superior Court as one from a city police officer.

Adult traffic cases go to three courthouses. The Stockton Courthouse has its traffic office on the second floor at 180 E. Weber Avenue. The court also lists traffic counters at the Manteca Courthouse on East Center Street and at the Lodi Courthouse, which occupies two buildings on West Elm Street with one traffic phone and one mailing address. The DMV's list of court codes does not match this layout. Code 39460 belongs to Stockton, and 39100 is listed for French Camp, where the court's one building is the Juvenile Justice Center, which is not on the court's list of traffic locations. Manteca and Lodi have no code of their own, and the court does not say which code their cases carry. If your case is in Manteca or Lodi, call that office to confirm the code before you enroll.

For drivers under 18, the court's juvenile citation line is (209) 992-5698. The court may mail a courtesy notice to the address on the citation, so a driver who has moved may never get one. If none arrives, the court says following up is your job, and the case search on its traffic page shows whether your citation has reached the court. After you pass the final exam, we report your completion to the DMV electronically, so keep your confirmation until your case shows as closed.