Traffic Court
The intent of the Student Traffic Court is to allow students who have been cited for minor traffic infractions, such as speeding, to take responsibility for their actions while keeping their relatively new driving records clean. Qualified Liberty High School students are allowed to appear before the Student Court (if it’s a court LHS participates with) and receive a penalty of community service hours to be performed. If these hours are performed successfully, the infraction will be dismissed.
How Traffic Court Works
When an individual is cited for a traffic infraction, the citation is filed with the Court. The student cited becomes the “Defendant.” Once the Defendant receives a copy of the citation, they are asked to follow the instructions printed on the back. The Defendant must indicate whether they wish a hearing to either “contest” or “mitigate” (admit but explain) the infraction.
The Defendant always has the option of admitting the infraction and paying the fine, in which case, the Student Court would not be involved.
If the Defendant should choose to appear before the Student Court, the Court that issued the ticket may refer the case to the Student Court and take no immediate action on the citation. However, in the request for referral, the Defendant must understand that the Student Court will not be entitled to find the infraction “not committed.” A request to transfer the citation may be done in one of three ways:
- Phone the Court that issued the ticket and request transfer of the citation to Liberty High School Student Court.
- Write a letter to the District Court requesting that the citation be transferred to the Liberty High School Student Court.
- Request a hearing before the District Court, as explained on the citation, and at that time request that the judge transfer the citation to the Liberty High School Student Court.
Students may only take advantage of the Student Court opportunity once. However, if a student Defendant has prior traffic violations but has never been to the Student Court, they may have the new offense referred there.
If you have any questions, call the Liberty receptionist at 425-837-4906, and you will be transferred to the appropriate administrator.