What ticket types are not eligible for traffic school?

Traffic school is built for routine mistakes, not behavior that endangers others. The most common universally-excluded categories include driving under the influence (alcohol or drugs), reckless driving, speed contests or exhibitions, leaving the scene of a collision, driving on a suspended or revoked license, and any offense that carries jail time or felony classification. Many states also exclude tickets above a certain speed threshold — commonly 25 mph over the posted limit — and equipment violations that aren't moving violations in the first place don't qualify because they don't add points.

Commercial-license holders are usually blocked from using traffic school for ticket dismissal even when the violation occurred in their personal vehicle, because federal CDL rules apply stricter standards. Anyone with a recent traffic-school completion inside the state's lookback window (typically 12 to 18 months) also can't elect the option a second time on overlapping cases. A few states distinguish between "school for points" and "school for fine reduction" and treat them as separate entitlements with separate cooldowns, so check both if you've used the option before.

The exclusion list is published on every court's website and printed on the citation in most states. If your ticket isn't on the list and the citation doesn't mandate a court appearance, you almost certainly qualify. Edge cases — borderline speeds, mixed citations with both moving and non-moving counts, out-of-state drivers with multiple jurisdictions involved — are worth a clarifying call to the clerk before paying for the course. The 60-second confirmation prevents a wasted enrollment that the court can't accept.