Reasearch Notes-Summer 1997
Debbie McKenzie
During 1995, 951,456 drivers attended traffic violator school (TVS) in lieu of a standard court adjudication. This volume, representing 21.3% of all court abstracts (traffic citations), is a slight reduction over 1994 totals of 994,669 and 22.6%. Drivers cited for traffic violations in California may be offered, once every 18 months, by the courts the opportunity to attend TVS. Those who return to the court proof of course completion have their citations dismissed and "masked" from public access. None of the dismissals receive negligent-operator points. Every year DMV counts the number of reported TVS dismissals and publishes a report. The most recent one is entitled "Summary of Traffic Violator School Counts by Court and County During 1995."
The number of court abstracts, TVS dismissals, and percent of court abstracts that were TVS dismissals during 1987 through 1995 are shown in the table below. As can be seen from 1987 to 1991 the TVS dismissals rose from approximately 925,500 to 1,437,900, (55% increase) only to drop 51% over the next four years, 1991-1995. The decline is attributable, in part, to a 1991 amendment to California Vehicle Code (CVC) Section 42007 requiring TVS students to pay a fee in an amount equal to the total bail set for the offense, in addition to a $24 court processing fee and the cost of TVS enrollment. Through this amendment, the total amount paid by offenders increased, making the TVS option less attractive than it was formerly. Another important cause of the decline in TVS volumes is the 31% reduction in total court abstract volumes between 1991 and 1995.
Court Abstracts, TVS Dismissals, and the Percent of Court Abstracts that were TVS Dismissals for the Years 1987 to 1995 (Statewide)
|
Year |
Court abstracts |
TVS dismissals |
Percent of court abstracts that were TVS dismissals |
|
1987 |
5,173,221 |
925,479 |
17.89 |
|
1988 |
6,140,863 |
979,659 |
15.95 |
|
1989 |
5,987,946 |
1,172,855 |
19.59 |
|
1990 |
6,200,574 |
1,283,072 |
20.69 |
|
1991 |
6,454,361 |
1,437,889 |
22.28 |
|
1992 |
5,463,927 |
1,024,114 |
18.74 |
|
1993 |
4,684,060 |
907,705 |
19.38 |
|
1994 |
4,392,608 |
994,669 |
22.64 |
|
1995 |
4,463,878 |
951,456 |
21.31 |
The figure below shows the percentage of TVS dismissals during 1995 by county. Five counties, Santa Clara, San Diego, Alameda, Orange, and Los Angeles, accounted for 60.5% of California's TVS dismissal volume. Also calculated for the five counties, but not shown, were percentage of their abstracts which were TVS dismissals. San Diego and Orange ranked highest with 27.3% and 26.0% of their respective abstract volumes being TVS referrals.
