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All New Yorkers know and love the The Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB). Okay, maybe “love” is a strong word. If you love traffic tickets like the millions the TVB issues each year, this article isn’t for you. But if you’re looking to understand what the TVB is, how it affects traffic tickets in NYC, and what you can do about it, you’ve come to the right place.
What Is the TVB?
The TVB is to New York City what the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is to the rest of the state. For the most part, all non-criminal traffic and parking tickets issued in any of the five boroughs will be payable to the TVB—not the DMV.
The TVB’s history dates back to Spring of 1969, when lawmakers identified two key issues: criminal courts were overloaded and traffic tickets were on the rise. To solve the problem, the Traffic Violations Bureau was born.
Since then, the TVB has been tasked with handling the bulk of traffic ticket cases in New York City. It has no authority outside of the city and works side by side with the DMV within the city. That being said, the TVB can issue you a ticket for a violation you committed while in New York City regardless of where you are licensed to drive or where you live.
TVB vs. DMV
“All cookies are biscuits, but not all biscuits are cookies.” This old saying follows the same logic that governs the TVB and the DMV. All duties of the TVB are within the jurisdiction of the DMV, but not all duties of the DMV are within the jurisdiction of the TVB.
The main difference between the TVB and the DMV is that the DMV offers a larger assortment of services. At the DMV, you can renew your license, change your address, and so on. Meanwhile, the only service the TVB offers is related to court procedures.
The TVB is an administrative court under the umbrella of the DMV. It handles non-criminal traffic tickets that the DMV delegates to it. However, the DMV handles all other tickets. Drivers in New York City must deal with both of these organizations, but drivers elsewhere in the state need only deal with the DMV.
Who Do You Pay When You Get a Traffic Ticket in NYC?
In NYC, who you pay depends on the ticket. Most of the time, you will owe two separate payments: one to the TVB and another to the DMV. You will have to make both of those payments, sending each to the proper agency. Failure to pay either of these balances can result in you being charged with Failure to Pay, which is a criminal misdemeanor in New York.
What Are Traffic Tickets?
When we say the phrase, “traffic tickets,” we’re referring to most moving violations and some non-moving violations punishable under the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Laws (VTL). Traffic tickets are citations for violations committed while operating a vehicle (there are exceptions to this loose-fitting definition). Parking tickets are not traffic tickets.
The two kinds of traffic tickets (moving and non-moving violations) are less common than parking tickets in the city. However, they tend to be much more expensive and have far more severe consequences and penalties than parking tickets.
TVB Ticket Costs
Each TVB traffic ticket in New York City comes with a fine. That fine typically sits between $115 and $300. How much you’ll have to pay depends on what violation you committed, how clean your record is, and a few other factors. Courts will also apply any and all applicable fees, like surcharges, after a conviction.
But the worst cost associated with TVB tickets isn’t imposed by the government. After you’ve been convicted of a moving violation in NYC, the TVB will report it to the DMV. The DMV will then add it to both your permanent driving record and your driving record abstract. That abstract is then shown to insurance investigators.
Studies have shown that common traffic ticket convictions tend to cause car insurance premiums to rise by between 3.4% and 82.2%. In New York, insurers can see these convictions for up to four years, meaning you can have to pay this increased cost for up to four years. That can total thousands of dollars in financial liabilities.
Fees
There are many fees that the TVB (and other agencies) can apply after you’ve been convicted of a traffic-related violation in NYC. Here are a few of the most common:
| Title | Cost | Description |
| Appeal Fee | $10.00 | This fee applies every time you appeal a conviction through the TVB. |
| Credit Card Convenience Fee | 2% | This fee applies every time you use a credit card to pay a parking ticket or camera violation. Example: You have to pay a $600 fine, an $88 surcharge, and a $100 DRA fee. The total is $788. You decide to pay with a credit card. The TVB charges a Credit Card Convenience Fee of $15.76. The total amount that you will need to pay is $813.76. |
| Driver Responsibility Assessment (DRA) Fee—Six Points | $300* | This fee applies when you are convicted of one or more violations worth a total of six points within an 18-month period. |
| Driver Responsibility Assessment Fee—Each Point Over Six | $75* | This fee applies once for each and every point you earn after your sixth within an 18-month period. Example: You have six points. You are convicted of another traffic violation. You now have nine points. Points seven, eight, and nine will each cost you $75 ($225). You will also have to pay the DRA fee for the sixth point, which will be $300. The total will be $525. |
| Driver Responsibility Assessment Fee—Alcohol- or Drug-Related Conviction | $750* | This fee applies every time you are convicted of a drunk- or drugged-driving violation. |
| Driver Responsibility Assessment Fee—Refusal to Submit to a Chemical Test | $750* | This fee applies any time you refuse an officer’s request for you to take a chemical test (like a breathalyzer). |
| Suspension Lift Fee | $50 (100†) | This fee applies anytime your driver license is suspended and must be paid before that suspended license can be reinstated. |
*This fee is paid in three separate annual installments. The amount shown here is the total of those three installments.
†This fee typically costs $50 but it can be upped to $100 if the suspension is related to the New York State Zero Tolerance laws for drunk or drugged driving convictions.
Can the TVB Invoke Penalties?
The Traffic Violations Bureau is not a private company. It is an administrative court within the greater Department of Motor Vehicles. As with any government agency (administrative court or otherwise), TVB tickets are real tickets and can carry real penalties. Let’s take a moment to cover some of the most severe penalties that the TVB does (or does not) have the authority to issue.
License Suspension
A license suspension is when the TVB (or other agency) takes away your driving privileges with the intention of one day giving them back. How long it takes to get them back depends on the kind of suspension, of which there are two: definite and indefinite.
Definite suspensions last for a definite period of time. If the judge in a TVB hearing finds that your license will be suspended for one year, that’s a definite period of time. Therefore, it’s a definite suspension. Unless you’re able to convince the TVB to offer an early lift of that suspension, you will have to wait until the suspension period is over and pay the Suspension Lift Fee before you can legally drive again.
Indefinite suspensions last forever or until you fulfill a set of court-ordered requirements. Convictions for driving without car insurance often result in indefinite suspensions. Suspensions under such circumstances tend to last until you obtain valid car insurance. If you fail to obtain valid car insurance, you will likely never be able to drive again.
License Revocation
A license revocation is a more severe form of suspension. When your license is suspended, it is invalidated with the intention of one day validating it again. However, that is not the case with revocations. When the TVB revokes your driver license, you cannot get that driver license back.
Revocations often include definite time periods similar to those issued with definite suspensions. During that time period, you will not be able to use the license whatsoever. After that time period, you will still not be able to use that license but you will be able to apply to get a new one.
If you want to be able to drive again after your revocation period is up, you will need to go through the process of getting a brand new driver license all the way from the beginning.
Collections
Suspensions and revocations, depending on what caused them and your personal circumstances, tend to be more of an annoyance than a financial concern. Debt collectors on the other hand, are almost always a major problem. Fail to pay your TVB tickets on time and the TVB might send them to a debt collector.
If the TVB sends your balance to a debt collector, you will still be liable for paying it. On top of that liability, you risk your credit score taking a serious plunge into the lower hundreds. There have been cases where a single unpaid parking or traffic ticket has lowered the defendant’s credit score by over 100 points.
Jail
Tired of hearing about awful penalties the TVB can impose? Well, we’ve saved the best news for last: The TVB cannot send you to jail. If you have a TVB ticket and your case is being handled in the TVB’s traffic court system, you do not have to worry about facing jail time. The TVB does not process cases for criminal violations.
TVB Locations
Despite handling millions of tickets every year and servicing a population of almost 10 million people, there are only eight TVB locations:
| Branch | Location |
| Brooklyn South (Coney Island) | 2875 West 8th Street Brooklyn, NY 11224 |
| Brooklyn North | Atlantic Center Mall 2nd Floor 625 Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11217 |
| Bronx | 696 East Fordham Road Bronx, NY 10458 |
| Manhattan North | 159 East 125 Street 3rd Floor New York, NY 10035 |
| Manhattan South | 17 Battery Place 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 |
| Richmond (Staten Island) | West Shore Plaza 1775 South Avenue Suite 2 Staten Island, NY 10314 |
| Queens North | 30-56 Whitestone Expy 2nd Floor Flushing, NY 11354 |
| Queens South | 168-35 Rockaway Blvd 2nd Floor Jamaica, NY 11434 |
What To Expect in TVB Court
TVB traffic court works similarly to most other civil traffic courts in the country. You go to court, you plead your case, you argue a little bit, and you win or you lose. Just like with those other courts, your odds of winning and losing can change greatly if you hire a lawyer.
The first thing you’ll do is get to court on the court date listed on the ticket (that’s your appearance date). The address of the particular court you need to go to will also be on the ticket. You do not need to go to court if you hire a lawyer, but you’re more than welcome to tag along. If you do not hire a lawyer, you will have no choice but to attend your hearing.
Once you’re at the court, you’ll be asked to wait until your case is called. This can take a while, depending on how busy the judge who’s assigned your case is.
Then comes the most stressful and most important part: the hearing. It starts with opening arguments on each side and then the prosecution will lay out the evidence against you. Your lawyer (or you, if you didn’t hire one) will then examine and cross-examine any evidence or witnesses the prosecution brings up. You’ll also be able to submit your own evidence.
At the end of all of that comes closing arguments. This whole process takes about two to four hours, after which the judge will make a decision: guilty or not guilty. Either you’ll be sentenced and ordered to pay the price or your ticket will be dismissed and you’ll get off scot free.
How To Pay a TVB Ticket
If you’re found guilty, you’ll need to pay your ticket. There are three options for doing so, listed below in order from most stressful to most enjoyable.
Travel to the Address on the Ticket
At the tip of the stress iceberg is personal travel. You can pay your TVB ticket in person by physically going to the address on the ticket and paying in cash. If you live out of state, you should strongly consider using one of the other two options listed in this section or else you’ll be spending even more money on travel expenses.
Mail It to the TVB
Next up on our list is snail mail, which is slightly less stressful than having to take off work and make travel arrangements. The problem is that physical mail is called “snail mail” for a reason: it’s slow. And, if the mail gets lost or doesn’t get to the TVB in time, you risk the TVB charging you additional late fees—or worse. Here’s the address in case you decide to go this route:
Traffic Violations Plea Unit
P.O. Box 2950 – ESP
Albany, NY 12220-0950
Pay Online With WinIt
The most enjoyable payment option for TVB traffic tickets is WinIt’s online payment portal. WinIt puts the power of paying tickets right in the palm of your hands. Pay from your smartphone with the WinIt app or from any Internet-connected device online at www.appwinit.com. Quick, convenient, and cost-effective, this option saves you time and effort and reduces the risk of your hard-earned cash getting lost in the mail.
