The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) wants to remind customers that a Traffic Amnesty Program, designed to assist drivers with paying unpaid traffic or non-traffic infraction tickets, ends April 3, 2017.

The 18-month long program provides relief for many drivers whose licenses were suspended because they failed to appear in court or have outstanding court debts. The fines can be reduced by 50 to 80 percent depending on income.

Applicants can contact the superior court in the jurisdiction where they received the traffic ticket to determine whether they are eligible to participate in the amnesty program.

Between October 1, 2015, when the program began, through December 31, 2016:

– 205,686 delinquent accounts have been reduced
– 192,452 driver licenses have been reinstated
– $35,530,680 has been collected

This amnesty program does not apply to parking tickets, reckless driving, or DUI offenses.

Courts, counties, and other authorized collection agencies may charge a $50 amnesty program fee. Also, if reinstating your driver license, the DMV will charge a $55 reinstatement fee, which the department charges to have any driver license reinstated.

Anyone who thinks they may qualify for the program may obtain a copy of their Driver Record in order to identify information on Failure-to-Pays or Failure-to-Appears. Customers can obtain a driver record at a DMV field office for $5 or online for $2.

NOTE: The statutory deadline for filing amnesty requests falls on March 31, 2017, which is a judicial holiday. By operation of law (Code of Civil Procedure section 12a.), the deadline becomes the next court day, which is Monday, April 3, 2017.