If you live in the Newport Beach area of Orange County, you have various options when it comes time to pay your traffic ticket. Included among the choices you have:
- By mail: P.O Box 6040 Newport Beach, CA 92658-6040
- Superior Court
- By drop box outside the court facility
- Harbor Justice Center- Newport Beach Facility 4601 Jamboree Rd. Newport Beach, CA 92660-2595
- And if you need to see a judge, night court is held the first Tuesday of every month from 4:00 – 6:00PM.
These are in addition to the primary court date that was scheduled on your citation. However, if for any reason you forgot about your ticket, were somehow never aware of it in the first place or decided you were unable or unwilling to contest it and don’t show up in court, you face the very real possibility of the loss of your driver’s license.
Delinquency Notice
The initial consequence of failing to appear may come from the California Penal Code, Section 1214.1. (a), which states, “In addition to any other penalty in infraction, misdemeanor, or felony cases, the court may impose a civil assessment of up to three hundred dollars ($300) against a defendant who fails, after notice and without good cause, to appear in court for a proceeding authorized by law or who fails to pay all or any portion of a fine ordered by the court or to pay an installment of bail as agreed to under Section 40510.5 of the Vehicle Code.”
This $300 assessment, as well as a possible suspension, may occur within 20 days of the date of the Notice.
VC 40509.5
Under 40509.5, the traffic court may notify the Department of Motor Vehicles to place a hold on your license if you have failed to appear on your citation. Subsequently, the DMV will mail you a notice indicating the hold has been placed, and that if you don’t get in to court to address the matter, the hold will turn into a license suspension. As you can clearly see, although a traffic infraction may seem to be a minor problem, it can soon snowball into bigger and more complicated issues.
Set a Court Date
You or your Newport Beach traffic attorney need to set a date to appear before a judge to see what can be done to minimize the damage. A recent California Rules of Court change has enabled some alleged offenders to set a court date without paying the underlying bail amount, which had previously been a major stumbling block for most people trying to resolve their problems.
