Kentucky’s speeding ticket deferral program, run county by county under the name County Attorney Traffic Safety, or CATS, lets eligible drivers get a ticket dismissed by paying fees and completing a short traffic safety course. Finish the program and the citation never becomes a conviction, so no points hit your license and no surcharge hits your insurance. More than 100 counties operate a version of it, and each county attorney sets its own rules.
Who Qualifies
The county attorney where you were cited decides who gets in, so eligibility varies. A few filters show up almost everywhere.
Speed is the first one. Most counties cap eligibility at 25 mph over the posted limit. Going 26 or more over is treated as a serious violation under Kentucky’s point rules and can trigger a 90-day suspension on its own, which is a different track from the ordinary ticket CATS is designed to resolve.1Justia Law. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13-025
Recent history matters too. If you completed CATS in the past year, many counties will decline you.2Hopkins County Attorney. CATS Program A ticket tied to a traffic collision often disqualifies you as well.
Commercial Drivers Are Not Eligible
If you hold a CDL, you cannot use CATS, and it doesn’t matter what vehicle you were driving when you were stopped. Federal regulation requires every state to keep CDL holders out of deferral programs that would mask a traffic conviction on their commercial record.3eCFR. 49 CFR 384.226 – Prohibition on Masking Convictions If you’re offered enrollment anyway, the dismissal may not hold and the conviction can still land on your record.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. County Attorney Traffic Safety Programs Research Report No. 473
What It Costs
Kentucky law sets two fixed fees: $25 to the circuit court clerk and $30 in lieu of court costs to the Finance and Administration Cabinet.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. County Attorney Traffic Safety Programs Research Report No. 473 The county attorney adds a separate administrative fee described in the statute only as “reasonable,” so the amount depends on the office. You also pay the course vendor.
Louisville’s Drive Safe program charges $179.5LouisvilleKY.gov. Drive Safe Louisville Program Lexington’s standard administrative fee is $200, and some offenses push it to $400.6Drive Safe Lexington. Drive Safe Lexington – Welcome In most counties, plan on $175 to $250 all in. That’s still cheaper than the fine, court costs, and insurance surcharge that come with a conviction.
How to Enroll
Call or write the county attorney’s office in the county where the citation was issued, and do it before your scheduled court date. Some offices pre-screen eligible drivers and mail an enrollment letter. Others require you to apply online or ask to be considered.2Hopkins County Attorney. CATS Program If your court date has already passed, you’ll have to work through the circuit court clerk or the judge, and CATS may no longer be available.
Once you’re accepted, the office sends instructions for registering with the course provider and paying the fees. The course usually runs about an hour and is completed online.7Boyd County, Kentucky. CATS – Traffic Program Send the completion certificate to whichever office told you to (county attorney or court clerk) by the deadline they gave you. Missing that deadline can void the whole arrangement.
If You Complete the Program
Finish the course, pay every fee, and stay out of trouble during your deferral period (usually six to twelve months) and the county attorney moves to dismiss the ticket. No points, no conviction on the driving record insurers pull.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. County Attorney Traffic Safety Programs Research Report No. 473 Because the citation never becomes a conviction, it also stays out of the five-year window the Transportation Cabinet keeps for conviction records.8Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Kentucky Point System
The insurance side is where the money is. A speeding conviction in Kentucky raises the average annual premium by several hundred dollars, and that surcharge lasts three to five years.
If You Fail the Program
Skip the course, miss a fee, or pick up another moving violation during the deferral period and the original charge goes through as a conviction. You’ll get points on your license, the violation on your record, and you’ll still owe the original fine on top of what you already paid the program. Kentucky’s statutory speeding fines run from $1 per mile over at the low end to $55 for 25 over, then $60 to $100 for anything above 25.9Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.394 – Fines for Speeding The fine is the smallest part of the bill. Court costs and the insurance increase are where the real cost sits.
The Points You Avoid
Kentucky’s point system scales with how far over the limit you were:
- 15 mph or less over: 3 points
- 16 to 25 mph over: 6 points
- 26 mph or more over: serious violation, possible 90-day suspension, separate from the point system
Twelve points within two years exposes you to suspension: 90 days to six months on a first occurrence, one year on a second, two years after that.1Justia Law. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 601 KAR 13-025 Points expire two years after the conviction, but the conviction itself stays on your record for five years.8Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Kentucky Point System A single 6-point ticket puts you halfway to suspension, which is the whole reason the program exists for tickets under the 26-over cutoff.
If You Live Out of State
Kentucky belongs to the Driver License Compact and the Nonresident Violator Compact. A Kentucky conviction gets reported to your home state’s licensing authority, which can then assign its own points or take its own action. Fail a CATS program you were enrolled in and the resulting conviction goes home with you the same way; your home state can suspend your license for failing to satisfy the terms of a Kentucky citation. Kentucky has up to six months from the citation date to transmit that report.
Whether CATS is even open to non-residents depends on the county attorney. Some offices accept out-of-state drivers, some don’t. Ask before you assume you qualify. If you’re accepted, the online course works from anywhere.