Lost Traffic Ticket in Idaho

Online Traffic Ticket Search

Currently, Idaho doesn’t offer the option to search for lost traffic tickets online. Drivers must contact the courts handling their traffic citations.

Determine Where You Got Your ID Traffic Ticket

The first step to locating your lost traffic ticket is to remember where you received the ticket. Even if you’re not sure about whether it’s the kind of citation handled by the magistrate or district court, as long as you know where you got it, you have a starting point.

Visit the County Website

Once you remember (or have an idea of) where you received the ticket, you can visit the court website for that area, retrieve the court’s contact information, and contact the court to have a clerk look up your ticket information.

Understand that even if you contact the wrong court, you’re still on the right path to finding your ticket. For example, if you contact the district court in the county you know you were ticketed in and the clerk tells you there’s no record of the ticket, you can then try the magistrate court. Likewise, if you contact the district court in the county you think you were ticketed in, you can then contact the magistrate court or the district court in the neighboring county.

NOTE: You want to retrieve your missing citation information as soon as possible, in order to prevent missing your deadline to respond; however, it can take officers a few days to report tickets to the courts. So, just because a certain court doesn’t have your ticket on file at the time you call doesn’t necessarily mean your ticket is being handled by another court. Just to be safe, wait a day or two and contact the court again.

Determine How You Will Plead

You can plead to your ID traffic ticket in one of two ways:

• Guilty.
• Not guilty.

Pleading guilty means admitting you committed the violation or offense. You’ll pay the traffic ticket fine, court costs, and any other related fees, and incur any applicable penalties (such as point accumulation and increased auto insurance rates).

Pleading not guilty means you contest the charges; you do not admit to committing the violation or offense and will fight the ticket in court. You’ll gather testimonies, witnesses, and evidence (perhaps with the assistance of a traffic ticket lawyer) and make your case before a magistrate or district court judge.

Learn more about both options in our Paying Your Traffic Ticket and Fighting Your Traffic Ticket sections.