Mississppi Traffic Violations

If you commit a traffic violation in Mississippi, the city and county where you received your citation will oversee your traffic violation. Mississippi county clerk offices manage payment of traffic ticket fines, so if you receive a traffic ticket in Mississippi you will have to contact the local county clerk's office in the county or city where you incurred the moving violation.

Traffic violations can take time to process, so you will need to wait a week or two before contacting the Mississippi county clerk's office handling your citation in order to find out the fine associated with the traffic ticket and exactly where and how you can pay the fine. The citation itself will provide you with the needed contact information for each individual Mississippi county clerk's office. Each office will be able to explain to you how to pay your fee in the mail, online, or in person.

Though you may need to wait up to two weeks before your citation is processed, the local Mississippi county clerk's office will provide you with a mailed ten-day notice of when your payment is due. You will need to pay by a cashier's check or money order, so you should plan accordingly to make sure you obtain the proper payment method and mail in or hand deliver the payment to the local Mississippi county clerk office on time. It is very important that you pay your fine within 30 days of s the traffic violation.

Points System and License Suspension

The reason it is important to pay your traffic violation fine on time is that failure to meet Mississippi timing deadlines will result in automatic suspension of your Mississippi driving privileges. In addition to having your Mississippi driving privileges suspended merely for paying your initial fine late, you will need to pay an additional $310 to have your Mississippi driving privileges reinstated. Because all communication from Mississippi courts and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety is directed to the address on your driver's license, you must make sure that information is up to date or contact the local Mississippi county clerk's office handling your traffic violation to make sure you receive these communications.

The state of Mississippi does not invoke a "points" system against your Mississippi driving record, meaning no statutory requirement exists for Mississippi to automatically revoke or suspend your license based on multiple traffic violations within a given amount of time. However, the severity of your traffic violation penalty is under the discretion of the local Mississippi court where you received your moving violation. Thus, if you fail to consistently observe safe standards of driving, a Mississippi court could choose to suspend your restrict your Mississippi driving privileges.

Attending Mississippi Traffic School and Defensive Driving Programs

Thankfully, the Mississippi legislature passed a law several years ago allowing all Mississippi drivers the opportunity to have a single traffic violation erased from their Mississippi driving record if they attend traffic school, including a Mississippi online traffic school, also known as an online defensive driving program. In addition, many Mississippi courts will consider reducing or dismissing your traffic violation for attending an online Mississippi traffic school or defensive driving program, depending on your Mississippi driving record and the severity of the current traffic violation. Because the local Mississippi court handling your traffic violation has discretion over your ticket, you should either contact the local Mississippi county clerk's office overseeing your moving violation prior to your court date to see if this is a possibility, or appear in court to make such a request.

In addition to possibly being required by a local Mississippi court to attend an online traffic school or online Mississippi defensive driving program either as part of you traffic violation penalty or in order to have a traffic violation reduced or dismissed, some Mississippi courts will consider reducing your traffic violation penalty if you have already participated in an online Mississippi traffic school program prior to incurring the violation.

The Benefits of Keeping Your Mississippi Driving Record Clear

Overall, Mississippi online traffic school and online Mississippi driver improvement programs are designed to teach you defensive driving habits and improve your driving ability so that you can help keep yourself and other Mississippi drivers safe. In doing so, you can also stay free of traffic violations keep your Mississippi driving record as clear as possible.

Keeping your Mississippi driving record clear is a good idea for several important reasons. In addition to preventing burdensome fines, your clean Mississippi driving record makes it much less likely that a Mississippi court will suspend or revoke your Mississippi driving privileges should you be negligently involved in a serious and avoidable traffic accident or other traffic violation.

You also keep you auto insurance rates low by keeping your Mississippi driving record free of traffic offenses, and by participating in Mississippi online Mississippi driver improvement programs. Car insurance companies are much less likely to raise your insurance premiums if your driving record is pristine than if it is laden with traffic offenses and no defensive driving classes.

Mature Driver Insurance Discounts

Mississippi auto insurance companies may also provide insurance discounts for Mature Drivers, those drivers over the age of 50. If you are a Mississippi mature driver and have been involved in a traffic accident or obtained a Mississippi traffic citation, you should contact your auto insurance carrier and ask if an online traffic school or online Mississippi Mississippi driver improvement program will help lower your insurance charges.

Juvenile Driver Insurance Discounts

Similar to mature driver discounts, Juvenile Drivers who are under the age of 18 often qualify for similar insurance discounts. A Mississippi online traffic school or Mississippi driver improvement program can help keep your insurance rates from staying high as is common with young drivers. If you are a juvenile driver or have a juvenile driver in your household and are paying for their auto insurance, you may want to find out if a Mississippi online traffic school or Mississippi driver improvement program will lower the insurance premiums you pay and prevent them from rising should a juvenile driver be obtain in a traffic violation.

Mississippi Classroom Traffic Schools

If you decide that an online traffic school or defensive driving program is not for you, you may also consider attending a traffic school program in a traditional classroom setting. To find out if the brick and mortar traffic school you are interested in will qualify, you should simply contact your local Mississippi county clerk's office, or call the local Department of Public Safety office for a list of pre-approved Mississippi traffic schools and defensive driving programs.