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PTIT Safe Driving and Awareness Course: What It Is in Atlanta
What Is the PTIT Safe Driving and Awareness Course?
PTIT stands for Pre-Trial Intervention Program for Traffic Offenses. The City of Atlanta Office of the City Solicitor runs it, and it is also published as the Pre-Trial Intervention Traffic Program. It handles qualifying traffic citations in Atlanta Municipal Court, and it gives traffic offenders an alternative to prosecution and possible conviction. The PTIT Safe Driving and Awareness Course is the safe-driving part of that program.
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That makes PTIT different from a driving school. You do not shop for this course and sign up on your own. You enroll in the program through the Solicitor's office, and that office decides whether your citation qualifies.
It is also a City of Atlanta program, so it reaches cases in Atlanta Municipal Court. If you were cited in another city or county, your case goes to that court instead. Ask that court what diversion options it offers.
Who Qualifies for PTIT in Atlanta Municipal Court?
The Solicitor's office lists two basic requirements. You must have a valid license or form of identification. Your citation must be a qualifying violation.
The office names these examples of qualifying violations:
- Running a stop sign
- Expired tag registration
- Speeding less than 34 miles per hour over the speed limit
- Improper lane change
That list is not a ruling on your own ticket. The Solicitor's office decides eligibility, so ask whether your citation is one it accepts. A charge that is not on the accepted list stays on the normal path through the court.
What the Program Asks You to Do
Two points come straight from the Solicitor's own description. You pay a participation fee, and the office describes that fee as generally less than the initial fine. It publishes no dollar figure, so ask what your fee would be before you decide.
The safe-driving requirement is the part most people ask about. Descriptions of the PTIT participation agreement say a participant may complete the PTIT Safe Driving and Awareness Course, or may complete a certified safe driving course instead. The Solicitor's own program page does not list the course options, the length of its course, or a price for it. Confirm what your agreement requires with the Office of the City Solicitor before you pay for anything.
Be careful with numbers you find online. Sample participation agreements and secondhand summaries circulate with hours and dollar amounts attached to them. Those are not the Solicitor's published terms, and they can be out of date.
What Completing PTIT Does to Your Citation
The Solicitor's office describes three results of finishing the program. Your charges are dismissed. You avoid points on your license. You pay no fines or surcharges, because the participation fee is the only payment.
Dismissal matters more than it sounds. Points land on your record through a conviction, so a dismissed charge never puts points there at all. There is nothing to take off later, because nothing was ever added.
The flip side is that the program only helps if you finish it. The prosecutor dismisses the case upon successful completion, so the benefit depends on doing what the agreement says, on time. Miss a deadline and your case returns to the normal track in Atlanta Municipal Court.
How PTIT Differs From a Georgia Defensive Driving Course
A Georgia defensive driving course is a different thing, run under a different set of rules. State law sets the standards for approved driver improvement clinics. Those standards require clinics to be composed of uniform education and training programs. These programs consist of six hours of instruction. They are designed for the rehabilitation of problem drivers.
State law also sets what an approved clinic may charge. The fee is $95.00 for a defensive driving course when the person enrolls because of a court order or a department requirement. Clinics may charge a fee of their own choosing when neither of those applies.
Finishing a state-approved course carries its own separate benefit. It reduces your accumulated point total by seven points, and never below zero. The reduction applies when you complete the course and submit your certificate to the Department of Driver Services. It is available one time only in any five-year period.
So these are two different paths. PTIT keeps points off a pending citation by ending the case. The state point reduction takes points off a record that already carries them. If the second one is what you want, confirm with DDS that the course you plan to take is approved for it.
How to Enroll in PTIT
The Solicitor's office lists three ways to enroll:
- Submit the online form. The office asks for it at least 10 business days before your scheduled court date.
- Visit the office during walk-in hours. The posted hours are Monday through Friday, 8am to 11am and 1pm to 4pm.
- Ask at court. Arrive on your assigned court date and ask to be referred to PTIT.
Forms, hours and terms change. Check with the Solicitor's office for the current process before you rely on any of this, and do not let your court date pass while you wait.
When to Talk to a Georgia Traffic or DUI Attorney
Diversion is a good result for many simple citations. It is not the right answer in every case, and some charges carry consequences that a program like this does not reach.
Talk to a lawyer if any of the following fits you:
- You hold a commercial driver's license (CDL) and a conviction could affect your job
- You are under 21, where a single offense carrying four or more points can suspend your license
- Your citation involves DUI-related charges or allegations of impaired driving
- You received a Super Speeder citation, which adds a $200.00 state fee on conviction
- You are at risk of license suspension because of the points already on your record
- You face court deadlines for hearings or plea dates that are approaching quickly
In these situations the stakes go past a single ticket. An attorney can read your citation and explain what a conviction would really cost you. An attorney can also tell you whether diversion, a plea negotiation, or a fight on the merits puts you in the strongest position.
William C. Head, PC focuses on DUI and traffic defense in Georgia. The firm knows how the local courts handle these cases. Contact the firm for a free consultation about your traffic citation or DUI matter. Court deadlines move quickly. Reaching out sooner rather than later may give you more options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the PTIT Safe Driving and Awareness Course a DDS-Approved Defensive Driving Course?
The Solicitor's office does not say that the PTIT course is approved by the Department of Driver Services, and the two are described as alternatives rather than as the same thing. PTIT is the City of Atlanta's diversion program, and the course sits inside it. A State of Georgia certified safe driving course is the separate option, run by a clinic the state has approved. If you need an approved course for another purpose, such as the state point reduction, confirm the course's status with DDS and with the Solicitor's office before you pay.
How Long Does the PTIT Safe Driving and Awareness Course Take to Complete?
No official source states the length of the PTIT course. The Solicitor's program page publishes no schedule, no hours and no price for it, and the summaries that circulate online are not its terms. Ask the Office of the City Solicitor what your agreement requires. For comparison, state law makes an approved Georgia driver improvement clinic's defensive driving course a six-hour program, but that standard governs those clinics, not this diversion program.
Will Completing a Safe Driving Course Remove Points from My Georgia Driver's License?
That depends on which path you are on. Finishing PTIT ends the citation in a dismissal, so no points are assessed for it at all. That is not a reduction, because nothing was ever added. Separately, state law reduces the points already on your record by seven, and never below zero, when you complete a defensive driving course approved by the Department of Driver Services and submit your certificate. That benefit is available one time only in any five-year period.
Can Taking a Safe Driving Course Help Get My Georgia Traffic Ticket Dismissed?
In Atlanta Municipal Court it can, through PTIT. The Solicitor's office dismisses qualifying charges when a participant completes the program. On its own, outside a program like that, finishing a course does not dismiss a ticket. A prosecutor or a judge may think better of your case for it, but that decision is theirs. Ask about diversion options in the court that holds your citation.
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