Santa Clara County Traffic School

Santa Clara County runs from the south shore of San Francisco Bay down the Santa Clara Valley past Gilroy, and the Census Bureau estimates 1,914,391 residents in its 15 cities. US 101 carries the length of the valley through Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Interstate 280 runs up the west side toward Los Altos Hills, Interstates 880 and 680 leave San Jose northbound through Milpitas, and State Route 85 curves through Cupertino and Los Gatos. State Route 17 crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains, State Route 152 heads east from Gilroy toward Pacheco Pass, and State Route 130 climbs toward Mount Hamilton.

The California Office of Traffic Safety counted 8,745 people killed or injured in Santa Clara County crashes in 2023, yet ranked the county 44th of 58. Here 1st is the worst, and OTS weighs crash counts against population and vehicle miles traveled, so a big, busy county can post a large total and still rank near the safer end. Bicycle riders are the exception, with 540 killed or injured, 8th in the state, while almost as many pedestrians, 535, rank 25th.

Adult traffic tickets go to two buildings. The Family Justice Center Courthouse at 201 N. First Street in downtown San Jose also houses family law, juvenile dependency and drug court. The South County Morgan Hill Courthouse at 301 Diana Avenue takes criminal and traffic cases. The court set up this split in February 2023, when traffic hearings left the Hall of Justice. The county's DMV court codes name other buildings. Code 43460 is the Palo Alto Courthouse, now listed for criminal cases alone, and 43471 is the Santa Clara Courthouse on Homestead Road, listed as temporarily closed. South County carries 43635, and the Family Justice Center has no code. A code identifies the court for DMV reporting, not the building you visit.

Tickets from city police and from the California Highway Patrol's San Jose, Hollister-Gilroy and Redwood City Areas all land in this one Superior Court, and nothing happens until the citation reaches it. Once the citation is in the court's system, the court mails a courtesy notice listing your options and a due date. Until then you cannot pay or sign up for traffic school. If no notice has come by the date at the bottom of your ticket, the court says you must contact it by phone or in person. Where traffic school is allowed, the court's bail schedule adds traffic school fees to the total bail, and the court sets the due date for your case.

The course is online and self-paced, and we report your completion to the DMV electronically once you pass. The court says the school notifies it when you finish and there is nothing further for you to do. It publishes no time for your completion to show, so check your citation on the court's Case Info website afterward and keep our confirmation. Do not let the due date slip. The court adds a failure to appear violation to a citation not taken care of in time, reports it to the DMV, and the DMV places a hold on your license.