Gardena Traffic School

The Census Bureau estimates 58,460 residents in Gardena on July 1, 2025. State Route 91 crosses the city, Interstate 110 and Interstate 405 pass close by, and Western Avenue runs through town from north to south.

Gardena has had a sister city in Japan, Ichikawa near Tokyo, since 1962, and one in Mexico, Huatabampo in Sonora, since 1973. Drivers who would rather study in Japanese or Spanish can take the whole Mirai Traffic School course, final exam included, in either language.

Tickets in Gardena come from two agencies. The Gardena Police Department patrols city streets such as Western Avenue. The California Highway Patrol's South Los Angeles Area, based in Torrance, names Gardena among the communities it serves, along with Torrance, Carson, Compton and Long Beach. Both send infraction tickets to Los Angeles County Superior Court, which uses one set of traffic school rules across the county.

Gardena's crash data needs a caution. The California Office of Traffic Safety's 2023 table lists only 6 people killed or injured in the city and its 2022 table 11, while the 2021 table lists 446, 10th of 105 cities of similar size, where 1st is the worst result. The later tables look incomplete, so this page quotes 2021. That year 25 pedestrians were killed or injured, 19th in the group, speed-related crashes that killed or hurt someone numbered 65, 12th, and hit-and-run crashes 49, 5th. None of these figures decides fault in any one case.

Gardena Public Works maintains and repairs every traffic signal and illuminated traffic sign in the city, including the controllers and detectors that run each intersection, and keeps pavement markings clear. Its Engineering division runs the Capital Improvement Program for streets, traffic signals and street lighting, and it publishes the city's 2024 traffic counts. A sign, signal or marking that needs attention can be reported to Public Works at (310) 217-9568.

Los Angeles County Superior Court handles infraction tickets written in Gardena, and the Place to appear on your ticket names the courthouse. For help by phone, the court's countywide Traffic Call Center at (213) 633-6300 takes infraction citations issued anywhere in the county. The card on this page shows the Torrance Courthouse at 825 Maple Avenue, whose Traffic Clerk's Office stays open for services other than hearings. In a 2023 release the court announced that infraction arraignments and trials starting in Torrance would be heard at the Inglewood Courthouse, and that each affected driver would get a notice. Whichever courthouse hears your case, the county reports completions under one DMV court code, 19463.

Traffic school is something you ask the court for, and the court says checking eligibility is your job. You pay the bail on your courtesy notice plus a non-refundable traffic school processing fee, and the notice shows the amount due for traffic school if you qualify. Mirai Traffic School's course is a separate $24.99. The court asks for a valid driver's license, no traffic school for a ticket issued within 18 months of this one, a moving violation that carries only one point, no more than 25 mph over the limit, and no commercial vehicle or hazardous material. If you attend without qualifying, the conviction is reported and no fees come back.

Mirai Traffic School reports your completion to the DMV electronically, and the court retrieves it from there. The court sets the due date and allows one extension when your ticket qualifies. It recommends checking that your certificate arrived, because a certificate still missing on the due date closes the case with a conviction on your driving record.