2005 Minnesota Statutes

     169.99 Uniform traffic ticket. 

    Subdivision 1.    Form.  (a) Except as provided in 
 subdivision 3, there shall be a uniform ticket issued throughout 
 the state by the police and peace officers or by any other 
 person for violations of this chapter and ordinances in 
 conformity thereto.  Such uniform traffic ticket shall be in the 
 form and have the effect of a summons and complaint.  Except as 
 provided in paragraph (b), the uniform ticket shall state that 
 if the defendant fails to appear in court in response to the 
 ticket, an arrest warrant may be issued.  The uniform traffic 
 ticket shall consist of four parts, on paper sensitized so that 
 copies may be made without the use of carbon paper, as follows: 

    (1) the complaint, with reverse side for officer's notes 
 for testifying in court, driver's past record, and court's 
 action, printed on white paper; 

    (2) the abstract of court record for the Department of 
 Public Safety, which shall be a copy of the complaint with the 
 certificate of conviction on the reverse side, printed on yellow 
 paper; 

    (3) the police record, which shall be a copy of the 
 complaint and of the reverse side of copy (1), printed on pink 
 paper; 

    (4) the summons, with, on the reverse side, such 
 information as the court may wish to give concerning the Traffic 
 Violations Bureau, and a plea of guilty and waiver, printed on 
 off-white tag stock.  

    (b) If the offense is a petty misdemeanor, the uniform 
 ticket must state that a failure to appear will be considered a 
 plea of guilty and waiver of the right to trial, unless the 
 failure to appear is due to circumstances beyond the person's 
 control. 

    Subd. 1a.    Endangerment.  In every charge of a 
 violation of any provision of this chapter, the uniform traffic 
 ticket shall contain a blank or space wherein the officer shall 
 specify the officer's opinion as to whether or not an offense 
 which is otherwise a petty misdemeanor was committed in a manner 
 or under circumstances so as to endanger or be likely to 
 endanger any person or property.  

    Subd. 1b.    Speed.  The uniform traffic ticket must 
 provide a blank or space wherein an officer who issues a 
 citation for a violation of a speed limit of 55 or 60 miles per 
 hour must specify whether the speed was greater than ten miles 
 per hour in excess of a 55 miles per hour speed limit, or more 
 than five miles per hour in excess of a 60 miles per hour speed 
 limit. 

    Subd. 2.    Commissioner prescribes form.  The 
 commissioner of public safety shall prescribe the detailed form 
 of the uniform traffic ticket, and shall revise the uniform 
 ticket on such subsequent occasions as necessary and proper to 
 keep the uniform ticket in conformity with state and federal law.

    Subd. 3.    Alteration by local government.  Any city of 
 the first class, through its governing body, may alter by 
 deletion or addition the uniform traffic ticket in such manner 
 as it deems advisable for use in such city, provided that it 
 includes the notice required by subdivision 1, paragraph (b).  
 In respect to any public corporation organized and existing 
 pursuant to sections 473.601 to 473.679, whose ordinances and 
 regulations for the control of traffic are enforced through 
 prosecution in the district court having jurisdiction in one or 
 the other of the cities of the first class included within such 
 public corporation, the traffic ticket used in such enforcement 
 shall conform to that used by the city of the first class in the 
 district court having jurisdiction where its ordinances and 
 regulations are enforced, except as to color and as to 
 information uniquely applying to such public corporation and to 
 its ordinances and regulations. 

    HIST: Ex1961 c 19 s 1-3; 1963 c 3 s 1; 1971 c 491 s 37; Ex1971 
 c 27 s 21; 1980 c 509 s 60; 1983 c 216 art 1 s 31; 1985 c 248 s 
 70; 1986 c 444; 1986 c 454 s 20; 1988 c 681 s 12,13; 1989 c 333 
 s 2,3; 1996 c 455 art 1 s 8; 1997 c 187 art 2 s 8; 1998 c 254 
 art 2 s 20; 1Sp2005 c 6 art 3 s 53