(a) Purpose; Fee.
(1) The purpose of authorizing and conducting a traffic school is to allow first time individuals who have been cited for minor moving traffic violations within the Town the opportunity, in lieu of facing and experiencing prosecution, to be educated and become better aware of traffic safety and the proper being of all persons traveling the roadways of the Town. The traffic school program hereby authorized shall be under the administrative control of the Municipal Court and under the operational supervision of the Chief of Police.
(2) Any individual who wishes to attend the traffic school shall first pay to the Town an administrative fee of fifty dollars ($50.00). No one may attend the traffic school who has not paid such administrative fee in advance. There may be an additional fee required to be paid to the instructor of the traffic school, which said fee shall be paid in accordance with the instructor’s requirements.
(b) Guidelines. Any person charged with a minor traffic offense (defined below) may: plead guilty, plead not guilty, plead nolo contendre (with the consent of the Municipal Judge); or attend traffic school. Any individual who elects to attend traffic school must pay the administrative fee for the school, in full, prior to attending the school. Upon the individual’s satisfactory completion of the traffic school, the charge will be placed on the open docket of the Municipal Court and allowed to expire without prosecution. Thus, a person who satisfactorily completes the traffic school will not incur any DMV points against their operator’s license and will not have a record of the citation or charge with DMV.
(1) The traffic school’s curriculum will include instruction in basic traffic laws and rules of the road, defensive driving, hazard recognition and avoidance, driver reaction, general traffic safety and courteous operation of motor vehicles.
(2) Persons attending the Town’s traffic school are required to attend a session which will not have duration of more than two hours. At the completion of traffic school the instructor will provide each satisfactory attendee with evidence of satisfactory completion of the course. Each attendee must then provide the Municipal Judge or Municipal Court Clerk with a copy of such evidence of satisfactory completion in order to have original charge/citation placed on the Court’s open docket for expiration without prosecution. The citation or charge against any attendee who fails to satisfactorily complete traffic school will be immediately placed upon the Municipal Court’s Docket for further action.
(3) Traffic school must be satisfactorily completed within sixty days of the attendee’s election to attend, unless otherwise approved for special circumstances by the Municipal Judge. The place, date and times for traffic school will be posted in a conspicuous location at Town Hall and at the Police Department.
(4) Minor traffic offenses for which a person may elect to attend traffic school in lieu of prosecution generally include any traffic offenses for which a conviction would result in the assessment of up to three points of the individual’s driving record with DMV, i.e., certain speeding violations, failure to obey a traffic signal/sign, or similar minor offenses. Traffic school shall not be an option for offenders charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving while license suspended/revoked, vehicular homicide, citations involving a traffic accident, or such other offenses as deemed necessary by the Municipal Judge.
(Ord. 1999-00-10. Passed 2-8-00.)