Hercules Traffic School

The Census Bureau estimates 26,326 residents in Hercules on July 1, 2025. The city sits on the southeastern shore of San Pablo Bay, and Interstate 80 cuts through it roughly a mile inland. State Route 4 begins here, at San Pablo Avenue just west of the freeway, as part of John Muir Parkway, and runs east toward Martinez.

Tickets in Hercules come from two agencies. The Hercules Police Department patrols city streets, and its motorcycle officers spend much of their time on Sycamore Avenue and San Pablo Avenue. The California Highway Patrol's Contra Costa Area, Dublin Area, Marin Area and Oakland Area serve Contra Costa County, and the Highway Patrol writes tickets on Interstate 80 and State Route 4.

The California Office of Traffic Safety's 2023 rankings count 27 people killed or injured in Hercules crashes, 86th of 93 cities of similar size, where 1st is the worst result. Three of them were pedestrians, 64th in the group, and eight crashes that killed or hurt someone were speed related, 59th.

In April 2024 the City Council adopted a Local Road Safety Plan with a goal of ending preventable traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2050. The plan left out the I-80 and State Route 4 freeways and counted 262 reported collisions on city roads from 2018 through 2022, two of them fatal and 11 with severe injuries. Improper turning and unsafe speed together caused more than 47 percent of those collisions, and 86 percent of the fatal and injury crashes happened at intersections. Sycamore Avenue at Willow Avenue ranks first among the plan's intersections, and San Pablo Avenue, from State Route 4 to the south city limits, is its priority corridor.

A January 2025 engineering survey found that 85 percent of drivers on San Pablo Avenue south of Sycamore Avenue went 50.0 mph or slower where the limit is 40, and it recommended keeping 40 mph because of the bike lanes and sidewalks. Hercules police say traffic is among residents' most common complaints. In November 2025 the council accepted a state Office of Traffic Safety grant for its Selective Traffic Enforcement Program. In June 2026 it voted for stop signs on John Muir Parkway, where a study measured 85th percentile speeds of 34 to 36 mph on a street posted at 25.

Hercules has no courthouse of its own. The court's page for the George D. Carroll Courthouse at 100 37th Street in Richmond names Hercules among the communities it serves. That building holds traffic trials and arraignments under DMV court code 07460, and the court's number is (925) 608-1000. Contra Costa assigns a traffic case by where the citation was written, and the reminder notice the court mails names the courthouse for yours.

You ask the court for traffic school, and your courtesy notice says whether you are eligible. The court collects your fine and its own traffic school fee, and the notice shows the amounts and the due date. Mirai Traffic School's course is a separate $24.99. Contra Costa lets you attend if you hold a valid California license and have not been to traffic school in California in the past 18 months, counted from one violation date to the next. The court makes the final call.

Mirai Traffic School reports your completion to the DMV electronically, and the court retrieves it from there. The court still makes it your job to see that the certificate arrived, so check your Hercules case before the date on your notice. Completing the course keeps one conviction in any 18-month period confidential and off your driving record.