A traffic citation that can't be read by the court is a citation that doesn't hold. Illegible handwriting on a violation code, a transposed VIN digit, a wrong court date typed on a paper form — any of these creates an administrative record that the defense can challenge on procedural grounds before the underlying violation is even addressed. The citation is a legal document. It needs to be generated with the precision of one.
Vehicle and Violator Identification
TAG#, State, Year, Make, Model, Color, and Type with VIN (through the year field in this context) create the vehicle record that must be accurate for the citation to attach to the correct registered owner. A plate number transposition — one character wrong in an 8-character tag — produces a citation attached to the wrong vehicle registration, which creates a DMV data problem and a court challenge before the first hearing.
Full Name, DL#, DOB, Sex, Race, and Current Address are the violator identification fields. DL# is the field that ties the citation to the licensing record — point accumulation, suspension triggers, habitual offender thresholds all run through the DL number rather than the name. DOB is the identity verification field that distinguishes between individuals with similar names. Current Address is where the court summons and subsequent notices go.
Location Of Violation, Location Description, City, and State. create the geographic record. Location Description is the field that goes beyond the address — "northbound on State Route 41 approximately 0.3 miles north of milepost 27, in the right lane" is the kind of specificity that holds up when the defense challenges whether the stop occurred within the officer's jurisdictional authority.
Speed and Violation Documentation
Speed Calibrated, Legal Speed, Calibrated Speed, and Calibrated With are the speed measurement fields that form the evidentiary basis for speeding violations. Calibrated With identifies the specific device — LIDAR unit, RADAR model, pace clock — and the fact of calibration certification. Most state courts require that speed measurement devices be calibrated within a specific interval before their readings are admissible. This field is the record that demonstrates the admissibility requirement was met.
Violation 1, Fine For Violation 1 through Violation 3, Fine For Violation 3, and Total Fines Applicable handle multi-violation stops. A stop that produces a speeding violation, an expired registration, and a seatbelt infraction is three separate charges with three separate fine structures. The total fine calculation needs to be accurate at the time of citation issuance — not adjusted later — because the amount on the citation is the amount the violator can pay to resolve the matter without a court appearance.
Court and Administrative Record
Court Summons Issued with Available Courts, Court Date & Time, and COURT SCAN create the court appearance record. COURT SCAN attaches a scanned copy of the issued summons — the document that controls what appears in court. Citation status tracks the disposition: paid, appeared, failed to appear, dismissed.
Officer Name and Officer Number are the accountability fields. In jurisdictions where officers are required to testify on contested citations, the officer number is the personnel record identifier that the court uses to schedule and confirm appearances. Officer Notes and Circumstances are the narrative fields — the articulation of reasonable suspicion and the conditions of the stop that become the officer's memory document for a court appearance six to twelve months after the stop occurred.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE ORDERS handles the citations that generate civil rather than criminal enforcement actions — administrative hearings, DMV notifications, agency-level dispositions that run parallel to or instead of court proceedings.