Help with Washington state ticket in CA

I just got back from a two week tour (San Mateo -> Victoria -> Vancouver
-> Edmonton -> Calgary -> Yellowstone -> Reno -> San Mateo) and got a
speeding ticket in Washington state.

The officer clocked me at 67 (and I had already bled a fair bit of speed
off by then) in a 55 zone. He was nice enough about it, and only wrote
me up for 60. The fine is $71.

So far, so good. I'm happy to pay the fine.

The problem is what will happen to my insurance rates? It used to be
that States didn't report tickets to each other, but Googling suggests
that now they appear to. I would like to do CA traffic school, but I
cannot figure out if that is possible. My impression is it is not. Does
anyone know differently?

Does anyone have any advice? Or am I basically going to get a ticket on
my record and have my insurance rates skyrocket?

John

1999 Honca VFR
2003 KTM 640 Adventure

 

You may not see it, but (at least the last time I had to look) traffic
school eligibility is a function of the California county in which the
infraction occured. Washington is not yet a California county.

-r

 

You want to communicate with the clerk of the court (the Washington
court) pronto. They can give you a difinitive answer to your
questions.

1st question: In Washington, can I deal with this by going to traffic
school.

If the answer to that is "yes" then you get the second question:
"Since I'm in California, can I do my traffic school down here?"

The reason to get started promptly is that it may take some time for
them to satisfy themselves that your proposed traffic school is legit.

Al Moore
DoD 734

 

Check out your ticket: was it on indian land? If so, it may not be
reported.

mb

 

Hey, I should have thought of that!

Of course, there wasn't much of an "online" last time I got a traffic
ticket...

Al Moore
DoD 734

 

It's still best to take care of it now. You may find yourself chatting
with a cop in Washington someday...

Al Moore
DoD 734

 

Thanks for all the advice, the best of which was 'Phone them and ask.'

Duh! Don't know why I didn't think of doing that, but there you go.

Anyway, the story is there is no such thing as traffic school in WA, but
there is such a thing as a 'deferment'. Apparently you mail in your
check, your CA driving record (which has to be clean for 3 years:
luckily mine is) and an explanation of why you were speeding (the lady
at the court basically said 'I wasn't paying attention' counts) and they
wait a year. If you don't get another ticket for that year, they flush
the ticket.

John

 

Sounds like traffic school without the middleman's fees. Can you stay
out of Washington for a year?

Rich, Urban Biker

 

Basically that sounds right. I mean, how hard can it be to avoid a
ticket for a year in a state I don't live in?

John