CHP, courts begin paperless-ticket pilot program
Waiting several weeks to receive and pay a speeding ticket on a local freeway could soon be a thing of the past.
California Highway Patrol officers would electronically send traffic tickets to local courthouses, as part of a pilot program announced last month.
San Bernardino County Superior Court is one of three in the state that is participating in the program, court officials here said.
The Administrative Office of the Courts, based in San Francisco, said its Information Services Division received a three-year, $1 million grant to develop an electronic traffic citation tracking system where all 58 local CHP offices could interface with the courts.
"It would be so much faster," said Tressa Kentner, court executive officer in San Bernardino.
The county's Superior Court processes about 300,000 traffic tickets each year. They are sent to a contractor in Sacramento to be manually read, input and imaged electronically.
The tickets are also written by hand, which can lead to difficulties understanding the writing, Kentner said. The time, cost savings and workplace efficiency that would come with a electronic system would be "huge," she said.
"We are set up to accept electronic tickets," Kentner said, adding that several cities have contracts. "But it hasn't really caught on yet."
Several factors still need to be worked out.
Program developers and analysts envision CHP officers using a hand-held device with a card reader that allows driver licenses to be swiped. The specifics haven't been completely worked out.
The goal is for the device to wirelessly transmit the citation data for validation before going to the court.
Courts in Orange and San Diego counties are also participating in the pilot program. The first court would come online in late 2009.
"This is very early in the design phases," said Dale Good of the Administrative Office of the Courts Information Services Division.
The pilot program, once it's running, will also speed up reporting to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
mike.cruz@inlandnewspapers.com
The county's Superior Court processes about 300,000 traffic tickets each year. They are sent to a contractor in Sacramento to be manually read, input and imaged electronically.
The tickets are also written by hand, which can lead to difficulties understanding the writing, Kentner said. The time, cost savings and workplace efficiency that would come with a electronic system would be "huge," she said.
"We are set up to accept electronic tickets," Kentner said, adding that several cities have contracts. "But it hasn't really caught on yet."
Several factors still need to be worked out.
Program developers and analysts envision CHP officers using a hand-held device with a card reader that allows driver licenses to be swiped. The specifics haven't been completely worked out.
The goal is for the device to wirelessly transmit the citation data for validation before going to the court.
Courts in Orange and San Diego counties are also participating in the pilot program. The first court would come online in late 2009.
"This is very early in the design phases," said Dale Good of the Administrative Office of the Courts Information Services Division.
The pilot program, once it's running, will also speed up reporting to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
mike.cruz@inlandnewspapers.com
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