Pacifica Traffic School

The Census Bureau estimates 36,890 residents in Pacifica on July 1, 2025. Two state routes cross the city. State Route 1 runs north and south through Pacifica, and State Route 35 is Skyline Boulevard. The city's 2020 bicycle and pedestrian plan found the Highway 1 crossings uncomfortable for people on foot and on bikes, and a barrier to crossing at all.

Tickets in Pacifica come from two agencies. The Pacifica Police Department patrols city streets, and it also leads and takes part in traffic safety education programs. On the state highways, the California Highway Patrol's Redwood City Area and Hayward Area serve San Mateo County. Either way the ticket goes to San Mateo County Superior Court, and the court's traffic school rules do not depend on which agency wrote it.

The California Office of Traffic Safety's 2023 rankings count 85 people killed or injured in Pacifica crashes, 57th of 93 cities of similar size, where 1st is the worst result. Motorcyclists killed or injured numbered 8, 9th in the group, and crashes involving alcohol killed or injured 14 people, 39th. The ranks compare Pacifica with similar cities and do not describe any single driver's case.

Pacifica's first Local Roadway Safety Plan counts 414 injury collisions in the city from 2016 to 2020, and 32 of them killed or severely injured someone. Of those 32, 18 happened on city-owned roads and 14 on Caltrans roads. Unsafe speed was the most frequent factor in fatal and severe collisions and the top factor in injury collisions, at 27 percent. The plan's high injury network covers about 24 percent of the city's at-grade roads but 77 percent of its fatal and serious injury collisions. It includes Linda Mar Boulevard, Palmetto Avenue, Sharp Park Road, Manor Drive, Skyline Boulevard and the at-grade part of Highway 1. Per resident, the city's rate of fatal and severe collisions was roughly half the county's.

Pacifica tickets go to the Northern Branch of San Mateo County Superior Court, at 1050 Mission Road in South San Francisco. The court holds every traffic arraignment in the county there, whatever city the citation came from. Its Traffic Division answers at (650) 363-4300. The court mails a Notice of Bail to the address on your citation and asks you to wait for it before you take care of the ticket. If it has not come by the date on your citation, act by that date anyway. When you enroll in traffic school, use the court code printed on the citation.

Traffic school has to be granted by the court. The court needs the total bail on your citation plus a non-refundable administrative fee, and it will not let you enroll until both are paid. It sets those amounts and your due date, and the Notice of Bail shows the bail, the due date and information on traffic school. Mirai Traffic School's $24.99 is paid separately. San Mateo County Superior Court limits traffic school to drivers with a valid California license who have not attended traffic school for a violation in the last 18 months. The speed on the citation must be no more than 25 mph over the limit, the violation must carry no more than one point, and seat belt, equipment and insurance violations are excluded.

Mirai Traffic School reports your completion to the DMV electronically, and the court retrieves it from there. Check the case through the lookup on the court's traffic page before your due date, so a wrong name, license number or court code can be fixed while there is time.