We Fix Traffic Tickets!

Arm Signals:
        Senate Bill 533 requires motorists whose vehicles are equipped with turn signal lights to use only those signals and not hand and arm signals to indicate their intent to make a turn. Only drivers whose vehicles do not have turn signals or whose turn signals are inoperable may use hand and arm signals.

Bicycle Signals:
        Motorists and bicycles will soon be seeing new color-lighted bicycle symbols on some traffic lights as a result of Assembly Bill 134. The special signals can now be installed in intersections with unusually high volumes of bicycle traffic as an additional safety measure.

Blood Alcohol Level:
        SB 24 Lowers the Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit warranting immediate suspension of a driver’s license for persons under 21 years of age from .05 to .01.

Car-pool Lanes:
        SB 63 reduces the minimum number of occupants required in vehicles in the carpool lanes of the San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate 10) from three to two.
        AB 71 allows certain low-emission vehicles, such as electric cars, to use carpool lanes regardless of the number of occupants in the vehicle and requires the DMV to develop distinctive decals for use on such vehicles.

Commercial Vehicles:
        Commercial vehicle drivers who drive in excess of 15 mph over the maximum speed limit on a highway will be guilty of a misdemeanor under AB 1650. This action constitutes a "serious traffic violation" and is subject to additional sanctions.

DMV Documents:
        Unless authorized by the licensee, the DMV is prohibited from selling driver’s license photographs or information about a driver’s physical characteristics under AB 771.
        AB 289 authorizes an exemption to the requirement that registration information be maintained in the vehicle by allowing the owner to remove the registration card from an unattended vehicle.

Proof of Insurance:
        The law requiring motorists to provide proof of insurance when they renew their vehicle registration and/or are stopped by a law enforcement officer for a suspected traffic violation is extended under SB 652. The Bill also authorizes electronic reporting of such insurance information by insurers to the DMV. Fines for violating the mandatory insurance law are reduced and courts can order violators to purchase and maintain insurance.

Rail Crossing Violations:
        AB 923 increases the fine for evading a rail-crossing barrier to $100.00 for a first offence, $200.00 for a second offence within the same year and $250.00 for subsequent offenses within the same year. These amounts do not include penalty assessments. A court is also authorized to require attendance at traffic school.

Safety Systems:
        AB 555 requires seat belts in all farm labor vehicles by May 1. School buses manufactured after January 1, 2002 and used in California must be equipped with a "passenger restraint system" unless prohibited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pursuant to AB 15.
        SB 363 requires auto insurance policies to cover replacement of child safety seats that were in use during a collision covered by the policy.

School Bus Stops:
        AB 1573 clarifies the current law that requires motorists to stop for a school bus loading or unloading children. School bus drivers will no longer be required to activate flashing red stop lights if the bus is lawfully parked, when the bus is disabled due to a mechanical breakdown, where pupils require assistance to board or leave a bus, when the roadway is covered with ice and stopping would create a hazard, and on a highway posted at 55 mph or higher and the bus is out of the travel lanes.
        Additionally, motorists traveling the opposite way on a divided or multilane (two lanes in either direction) highway need not stop for a school bus on the other roadway.

Traffic Collisions:
        SB 681 allows drivers involved in property damage only collisions to move their vehicles off the main lanes of the highway to a nearby safe location unless doing so would cause a traffic hazard or injury.

Transit Buses:
        Motorists driving in Orange County will be part of a pilot program established under AB 1218, which requires other drivers to yield to a transit bus trying to re-enter the traffic lane after loading or unloading passengers if the bus is equipped with a special yield sign and has directional signals flashing. The fine for violating this provision is $35.00 plus penalty assessments.