Paying or Contesting a Traffic Ticket in Ohio

Each Ohio court has a traffic violations bureau run by its clerk. For offenses the bureau can handle, you can, before arraignment (or later with the court's permission), appear in person at the bureau, sign the guilty plea and waiver of trial on the ticket, and pay the fine and costs or set up an installment plan with the clerk named on the ticket; or sign the plea and waiver and mail the ticket with a check or money order to the clerk named on the ticket. Courts may also accept pleas and payments by phone or other electronic means. Paying by any means other than appearing in person counts as a guilty plea and waiver of trial. Serious offenses such as OVI, leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing police, drag racing, and passing a stopped school bus cannot be handled by the bureau.

A driver with at least 2 but fewer than 12 points may take a state-approved remedial driving course and apply to the BMV for a 2-point credit. Only one credit is allowed in any three-year period and no more than five in a lifetime. No credit is given if the course was ordered by a judge. The course does not dismiss the ticket.

Grounds include 12 or more points in two years (six-month class D suspension), an OVI conviction (court suspension of one to three years for a first offense), and refusing or failing a chemical test (administrative suspension). Driving during a 12-point suspension is a first-degree misdemeanor with a minimum of three days in jail. After a suspension ends, the BMV returns or reissues the license once the driver meets the reinstatement requirements in Ohio Rev. Code § 4510.038.