Kern County, California Traffic School and Traffic Ticket Guide

GoToTrafficSchool.com offers a 100% online, self-paced California traffic school course intended to satisfy the state's Traffic Violator School (TVS) requirement. Whether it can be used for a specific Kern County citation depends on the Kern County Superior Court's approval of your request and the type of violation — online completion is not automatic and must be confirmed with the court branch listed on your citation before you enroll.

Kern County Superior Court explains that, since a 2011 change in state law (AB 2499), effective July 1, 2011, the courts will no longer be allowed to dismiss infractions after a driver completes traffic school, and AB2499 requires all such infractions be recorded as a conviction with the DMV. The driver's first conviction in an 18-month period will be confidential and will not reflect negative marks on his/her driving record. In practice, this means traffic school does not erase your citation — it results in a confidential conviction that is masked from public view and from insurers, not a dismissal.

The court also confirms a specific commercial-license carve-out: effective January 1, 2013, Class A, B or Commercial Class C licensed drivers cited while driving a non-commercial vehicle are eligible to attend traffic school based on existing eligibility requirements, but the conviction will not be masked on the driver's record — though no points will be assessed.

Kern County Superior Court states that when a Courtesy Notice does not require mandatory appearance, your options are: pay the traffic ticket, which leaves it on your driving record; if eligible, attend Traffic School; or appear in court. Course enrollment does not replace responding to your citation by its due date — each of these is a distinct path, and doing nothing risks the consequences described under Failure to Appear or Pay on the court's site.

Kern County Superior Court's financial-hardship tool is separate from traffic school. The MyCitations online tool allows you to enter a plea and make an ability-to-pay request on eligible infractions without going to court, including requesting a payment plan, more time to pay, or community service instead of paying fines and fees. However, the court cautions: do not use the online tool if you want to contest the citation, attend traffic school, or get a dismissal or reduction of charges with proof of correction — these are separate processes with separate steps.

Kern County's only currently documented automated-enforcement program is Bakersfield's red light camera system. Bakersfield implemented the photo-enforced red light in March 2003; cameras are used to enforce red light violations by taking photographs of the intersection when the light turns red, and photo-enforced red light citations are issued by the Bakersfield City Police Department to the registered owner of the vehicle on file with the DMV. The court treats these the same as any other red light citation: the Superior Court processes photo-enforced red light violations the same as any other red light violation. If you were not the driver, you must follow the instructions on the citation or notice of violation and complete the accompanying form to identify the driver who committed the violation; failure to respond may result in further penalties.

No other Kern County jurisdiction's automated speed or red-light camera program was confirmed in this research pass; a missing listing does not mean no other camera program exists locally — check the citing agency's own materials if your notice references a camera.

Kern County's traffic safety profile is a genuine local concern, not decoration. Personal-injury counsel summarizing recent local crash trends note that in 2024, 55 pedestrians were fatally struck by cars in Kern County — up from 54 in 2023, and that Kern County's rate of fatal hit-and-runs is among the highest in the nation. Separately, comparative analysis of federal and state crash data finds that California's fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled is almost identical to the national rate, but Kern County's fatality rate per 100,000 residents is nearly double the national rate and more than double California's rate, with higher-than-average traffic-related deaths tied to alcohol-involved crashes, speeding, and seat belt non-use. The California Office of Traffic Safety's most recently available county collision ranking data accessed for this page (2019) recorded 5,904 total fatal-and-injury crash victims countywide, ranked 31st of 58 counties, with 1,062 speed-related fatal-and-injury collisions (ranked 50th of 58, meaning comparatively fewer relative to county size) and 471 hit-and-run collisions (ranked 12th of 58, indicating a comparatively higher rate). These OTS rankings cover countywide crashes across all incorporated and unincorporated areas and are not city-specific.

California's statewide handheld-phone restriction applies throughout Kern County. Under California Vehicle Code §23123, a person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone unless that telephone is specifically designed and configured to allow hands-free use. A related section, §23123.5, separately addresses handheld use more broadly, including texting. These are statewide rules, not Kern-specific ordinances, and apply on every Kern County road.