Traffic Citations & Fees

Important: A traffic payment is due in the Clerk's office by the compliance date (within 30 days of receipt of the citation). Payments received, regardless of postmark, or made after the compliance date will incur an additional $19.00 late fee.

The Clerk of the Court collects all traffic fines and distributes the proceeds according to law. The total amount of a traffic fine is made up of amounts required to be paid by Florida Law as well as County and City ordinances.

View the Traffic Citation Handout.

Alachua County Court Civil Division Traffic Court Organization and Procedure

Your Options

Upon receipt of a traffic ticket for any violation where points may be assessed, you have 30 days from the date of issuance of the ticket to exercise any of one of three options:

[Pay Online or by Phone]1. Pay the Ticket:

[Printable Driver Improvement Course Affidavit Form]2. Go to Driver's Improvement School:

[Printable Court Election on Traffic Citation Form]3. Contest the ticket in court:

Option 1: Pay the Ticket

If you choose to pay the ticket, points are assessed against your Driver's License.

Option 2: Go to Driver's Improvement School

If you choose to go to school, you must sign the Driver Improvement Course (DDC) Affidavit Form and file it with the Clerk's office and pay the reduced fine (see # 1 above for DDC reduced fine amount due) within 30 days of the date you received the ticket (See # 2 above). Upon receipt of your DDC affidavit and payment you will be granted an extra 60 days to attend a driver improvement school in the State of Florida.  Failure to attend the school or pay the fine will result in suspension of your license or late fees being assessed.

However, no points are assessed against your Driver's license if you attend a driver improvement school and the state fee may be reduced.  Be aware that often the reduced fine plus the school's fee will equal an amount greater than the original fine.

State of Florida approved list of Driving and Education Course Schools

Option 3: Contest the ticket in court

If you choose to contest the ticket, you must make your request for a hearing in writing to the Clerk (see #3 above) within 30 days of the date of the citation.   You will be notified of your court date.

You may write the Clerk's Office at:

Clerk of Court
Traffic Bureau
P.O. Box 600
Gainesville, FL 32602