Piedmont Traffic School

The Census Bureau estimates 10,642 residents in Piedmont on July 1, 2025, on 1.7 square miles of land. Oakland surrounds the city on every side. Piedmont's arterials are Oakland Avenue, Grand Avenue, Highland Avenue, Moraga Avenue and part of Park Boulevard, and every traffic signal in the city stands on one of them. The General Plan calls Grand Avenue the busiest street, at about 15,000 cars a day where it leaves the city to the south, and puts Moraga Avenue at about 12,000. Most streets are posted at 25 mph, and a few narrow segments drop to 15 mph.

Tickets in Piedmont come from two agencies. The Piedmont Police Department patrols the city's streets, and its traffic officers usually ride motorcycles. The department also sets out two speed display trailers on streets where residents ask for them. The California Highway Patrol's Oakland Area names Piedmont among the communities it serves, along with Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville. Either way, the ticket goes to Alameda County Superior Court, and its traffic school rules do not depend on which agency wrote it.

The California Office of Traffic Safety ranks Piedmont among 103 cities of 10,001 to 25,000 people, where 1st is the worst result. Its 2023 figures count 10 people killed or injured in Piedmont crashes, 83rd in the group. Speed-related crashes that killed or hurt someone numbered 5, which placed the city 32nd.

The city's Safer Streets plan, adopted in December 2021, found 86 collisions in Piedmont from 2010 through 2019 that injured someone and none that killed anyone. Of the 49 crashes between motor vehicles alone, 36 happened on Grand, Oakland, Highland and Moraga Avenues, and Grand Avenue had the most. Unsafe or improper turning caused 16 of those 49, and speeding caused nine. Drivers hit pedestrians in 16 crashes, and 7 of them came on a short stretch of Oakland Avenue west of Highland Avenue or on Highland between Craig and Vista Avenues.

Curb bulb-outs and flashing beacons went in at two Oakland Avenue intersections in 2022 and two more in 2024, and the same work started at the Linda and Greenbank intersections on Grand Avenue in 2025. A grant covers most of the cost of similar work at four Moraga Avenue intersections.

No courthouse stands inside Piedmont's limits. Its traffic tickets go to Alameda County Superior Court, which hears traffic in Oakland, Fremont and Dublin. The nearest of the three is the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse at 661 Washington Street in downtown Oakland, DMV court code 01440, where the Traffic Division clerk answers at (510) 627-4700. The René C. Davidson Courthouse on Fallon Street is a shorter drive from Piedmont, but it is not one of the court's traffic locations.

Traffic school is something you ask the court for. Alameda County Superior Court asks you to pay the bail and a state-mandated traffic school administrative fee before you sign up with a school. The court sets both amounts, and your courtesy notice shows the bail and the date to finish. Mirai Traffic School's course is a separate $24.99. The court asks for a valid license on the day you were cited, no traffic school for a violation in the 18 months before, counted violation date to violation date, and a moving violation that is not a misdemeanor. The ticket cannot involve alcohol, drugs or a commercial vehicle, or need a court appearance. Speeds 25 mph or more over the limit do not qualify, and on most Piedmont streets that means 50 mph or faster. The court makes the final decision.

After you pass the final exam, Mirai Traffic School reports your completion to the DMV electronically, and the court retrieves it from there. Before the date on your notice, check your case with the court and make sure your name, license number and court code match.