Got a ticket filed at San Bernardino County's Needles District courthouse — the desert court on the Colorado River? Here's the court's fee, how to request traffic school and finish the course online.
Serves: The Needles District is San Bernardino County's traffic-filing court for the far-eastern desert along the Colorado River — including Needles, Big River, Earp, Essex, Goffs, Vidal Junction, Havasu Landing, and Nipton, plus the unincorporated desert east of Kelbaker Road. Your filing location is the one on your citation or courtesy notice — confirm it before you start.
1111 Bailey Ave
Needles, CA 92363
Mon–Fri 8:00am–4:00pm
$55 — paid to the court (bail + $55)
Nonrefundable; separate from any course payment when you pass
Online at cap.sb-court.org, by phone (909) 481-4228, or in person
Note: the court’s separate MyCitations / Ability-to-Pay tool can’t sign you up for traffic school
Set on your reminder/courtesy notice — confirm your date via the Case Access Portal or the clerk
The Needles District courthouse sits at the far-eastern tip of San Bernardino County, a few miles from where California, Arizona, and Nevada meet on the Colorado River — the last California courthouse before Interstate 40 crosses into Arizona toward Kingman and Lake Havasu City. It's the smallest and most remote traffic court in the county's system, and its docket shows it: a heavy share of citations here go to travelers rather than local residents — Arizona and Nevada drivers crossing the river on I-40, visitors headed to or from Lake Havasu, and truckers running the interstate through some of the emptiest stretches of the Mojave. The district's own filing territory is enormous and sparsely populated — Needles, Big River, Earp, Essex, Goffs, Vidal Junction, Havasu Landing, and Nipton, plus everything east of Kelbaker Road — but its year-round population is a few thousand people spread across hundreds of square miles. San Bernardino, the county seat, is roughly 200 miles and a three-hour drive away, and even the next-closest traffic courthouse is well over an hour off; for most people cited here, a special trip to the counter at 1111 Bailey Avenue just isn't realistic, which is exactly why San Bernardino lets you request traffic school by mail or phone instead of showing up in person.
You generally qualify if the ticket is a moving violation, you haven't done traffic school in the past 18 months, you weren't more than 25 mph over, it wasn't in a commercial vehicle, and it isn't an alcohol/drug or mandatory-appearance offense. The out-of-state-license rule matters more here than almost anywhere else in the county: Needles sits right where Arizona and Nevada drivers cross the Colorado River on I-40, so a large share of the citations this court handles go to people with no California license at all — the court can authorize those drivers to attend, so it's worth confirming with the clerk rather than assuming it's automatic. A commercial license doesn't disqualify you either, as long as you weren't driving a commercial vehicle when you were cited — worth knowing given how much truck traffic runs this stretch of I-40 around the clock. Look up your citation on the Case Access Portal or call the court to confirm.
You can request traffic school and pay the county's $55 fee online at cap.sb-court.org, by phone at (909) 481-4228, or in person — the only thing you can't use is the court's separate MyCitations / Ability-to-Pay fine-reduction tool, which can't sign you up for traffic school. Mail works too — if you send a check, write "traffic school" and your citation number on it. That $55 is paid to San Bernardino Superior Court and is separate from your course payment. Verify the current fee with the court — it can change.
Click "Start Free" above. There's no upfront course payment — give your school your name, date of birth, driver license number, and case/citation number so completion posts to the right case. Immediate access, self-paced lessons in English or Spanish, unlimited retries, pay only when you pass.
Pass the final and your completion is reported electronically to the court — you don't mail a certificate. Leave enough time before your due date for the court record to update.
Traffic-school completion is reported electronically, so you don't need a DMV trip just to report the course. If you do need DMV services for another reason, Needles has its own small field office — the Needles Field Office, 1040 E Broadway St, Needles, CA 92363 — but it's only open three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), not the usual five, so confirm the current open days and hours on the official DMV location finder before making the drive in from Big River, Earp, or across the river from Arizona or Nevada. Check your citation first; the court listed there controls where the case is handled.
Ready to clear your Needles ticket? Start free, use unlimited retries, and pay only when you pass. No hidden fees.
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