Los Gatos Traffic School

The Census Bureau estimates 32,576 residents in Los Gatos on July 1, 2025. The town covers 12 square miles on the lower slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains near San Jose, and State Routes 9, 17 and 85 all pass through it.

Tickets in Los Gatos come from two agencies. The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, a joint department that also serves Monte Sereno under a long-term contract, patrols town streets and sends its motor officers out for directed traffic enforcement, and residents can ask for that enforcement where they see a problem. On the freeways the California Highway Patrol writes the tickets, and its Redwood City, San Jose and Hollister-Gilroy Areas serve Santa Clara County. Tickets from either agency land in Santa Clara County Superior Court under one set of traffic school rules.

The Office of Traffic Safety's 2023 rankings put Los Gatos 49th of 93 cities of similar size for people killed or injured, with 104, where 1st is the worst result. Its bicycling numbers are far worse. The 23 bicyclists killed or injured rank 3rd, and 7 of them were under 15, which ranks 2nd. On foot, 13 pedestrians were killed or injured, 22nd, including 5 aged 65 or older, 4th in the group. Speed-related injury collisions numbered 14, ranked 53rd. The figures describe the town, not the facts of one driver's case.

The Town Council adopted a Local Roadway Safety Plan on April 19, 2022, and the town says it is fully committed to ending traffic deaths and injuries on its streets. The plan's review of 2015 to 2019 collisions found that bicycle crashes made up 26 percent of injury collisions but 35 percent of fatal ones, and pedestrian crashes 8 percent of injury collisions but 12 percent of fatal ones, shares the plan calls disproportionately high. Broadside, rear-end and hit-object crashes were the most common injury collisions in town.

Santa Clara County Superior Court handles Los Gatos tickets at its two traffic courthouses, and you may use whichever suits you. The Family Justice Center Courthouse is at 201 North First Street in San Jose and the South County Morgan Hill Courthouse at 301 Diana Avenue in Morgan Hill, and both take traffic calls at (408) 556-3000. A ticket written in Los Gatos stays with this court even if you live in another county, because the court says traffic cases must be heard in the county where you got the citation.

The court, not the school, decides whether you can take traffic school. It mails a courtesy notice with your options and a due date once the citation is entered in its computer system, and its traffic page points to the Case Info website for checking whether that has happened. Nothing can be paid or requested before then. Offenses the bail schedule marks as eligible can go to traffic school, which adds a court fee for monitoring schools that your notice lists. Mirai Traffic School's $24.99 is a separate charge. The first traffic school conviction in any 18-month period stays confidential under state law.

Mirai Traffic School reports your completion to the DMV electronically, and the court retrieves it from there. Once the school has reported it, the court says there is nothing further for you to do, and it does not accept completions from schools the DMV has not licensed. Hold on to Mirai Traffic School's confirmation and your Los Gatos citation number in case the court asks.