By Khalida Sarwari
The Santa Clara County Superior Court will offer amnesty to residents with unpaid traffic tickets beginning Jan. 1, the court announced today.
Residents who pay their outstanding tickets during the amnesty period may have their fines slashed by half. The balance due must be paid off in one lump sum by cash, check or credit card.
The amnesty program will run until June 30, 2012.
To qualify for the 50-percent reduction, violators must have an outstanding traffic case that was supposed to be paid before Jan. 1, 2009 for which they either failed to appear in court or did not pay in full.
Violators must not owe restitution to a victim on any case within the county where the traffic case was filed and must have no outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrants within the county.
To determine if they are eligible for the program, residents can contact the traffic court where their case was filed — the Santa Clara Courthouse on Homestead Road, Palo Alto Courthouse on Grant Avenue, or the Morgan Hill Courthouse on Diana Avenue.
Residents can also submit a completed eligibility affidavit form by mail, which is available online at http://www.scscourt.org/self_help/traffic/amnesty_program.shtml.
