2006 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.
History: 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