California No Front Plate Ticket

[mjben]

My question involves vehicle maintenance laws for the State of: California

This is my first ticket. Officer gave me a correctable 5200(a) cvc front plate infraction ticket. He gave me 3 copies of it: Defendant Copy, Court Copy, File Copy. Did he give me the copies he should be keeping?

I have not received any letter from the traffic court yet (it has been 3 weeks). I am not sure what to do, and how much this would cost me. Any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

[That Guy]

As far as I know, and depending on which agency issued the citation, there maybe a 4th copy that the officer kept (some, like the CHP, use a 3 copy duplicate form; others use 4).

As for your not receiving a courtesy notice, it typically can take a minimum of 21 days (3 weeks or so) for the citation to be filed in court, the courtesy notice issued and mailed to the address on the citation.

Keep checking with the court (either online or through the phone automated system) for a status of the citation. Maybe you got lucky, maybe not... No one here can tell you for sure!

The bail amount for this violation is approximately $174. However, if the officer marked the violation as correctable the you can install your plate(s), get the citation signed off by law enforcement, show proof of correction to the court, pay a $25 administrative fee, and the citation will be dismissed.

[mjben]

Appreciate your reply. I fixed the front plate already, but I haven't had the ticked signed off yet.

I guess I will wait for the courtesy notice for some more time and if it doesn't show up, I will just go to the court to with the correction proof. Thanks a lot!