Traffic Fine Lookup

How much is a speeding ticket in Arizona?

statute caps it; each court sets the amount · 2 tiers · every row cited · sources retrieved 2026-07-17

set by the local courtcourt-set

15 mph over the limit, first offense (civil traffic violation) — the full arithmetic is on this page.

Arizona law only CAPS the fine — 1–20 mph over the limit (civil traffic violation): set by the local court · More than 20 mph over the limit — criminal excessive speed: set by the local court — and the amount you actually pay is set by the court handling the ticket, with local costs and add-ons attaching on top. This page shows the statutory ceilings, what is uniform statewide, and exactly where the local court takes over. For 15 mph over the limit, the honest answer is set by the local court — the page decomposes what is knowable statewide instead of inventing a total. What raises it: school crossing with double-penalty signs posted. More than 20 mph over the posted limit (35+ mph approaching a school crossing; 45+ mph, or 20+ over, in an unposted business/residential district) — a criminal charge, outside a fine table's scope, noted here as a fact. Points: Speeding adds 3 points to the MVD record. At 8 or more points in any 12-month period, MVD orders Traffic Survival School or suspends the license. Every row on this page carries its citation — 15 primary sources (statute text, court fine schedules, DMV publications), each with a retrieval date, plus the local-variation caveat that applies in Arizona. This is a reference to what the law and the schedules print; it is not legal advice.

How Arizona sets it Ordinary speeding in Arizona is a civil traffic violation, and the statute sets only a ceiling: the civil penalty may not exceed $250, with the actual amount set by the justice or municipal court handling the case. Whatever the court sets, five mandatory percentage surcharges totaling 78% are levied on it, plus $46 in flat per-citation assessments — so a $150 penalty becomes $313 owed. Above the civil layer sits a hard criminal line: more than 20 mph over the limit (or over 35 mph approaching a school crossing, or over 45 mph where no limit is posted in a business or residential district) is criminal 'excessive speed,' a class 3 misdemeanor.

The fine, tier by tier

Speeding fines in Arizona by speed over the limit. “Base fine” is what the statute or schedule names; “what you actually owe” includes the mandatory add-ons where state law fixes them.
Speed over the limit Base fine What you actually owe Citation
1–20 mph over the limit (civil traffic violation) up to $250 cap only set by the local court court-set ARS 28-701; ARS 28-1598

The court sets the civil penalty up to the $250 ceiling; the 78% in statutory surcharges is then levied on whatever the court set (rounded to the nearest quarter dollar), and $46 in flat per-citation assessments are added on top of that. No statewide schedule of per-mph amounts exists.
More than 20 mph over the limit — criminal excessive speed set by the local court court-set set by the local court court-set ARS 28-701.02

A criminal charge, outside a fine table's scope: exceeding the posted limit by more than 20 mph is 'excessive speeds,' a class 3 misdemeanor sentenced by the criminal court. The same statute criminalizes exceeding 35 mph approaching a school crossing, and exceeding 45 mph (or the limit by more than 20) in a business or residential district. See criminal thresholds.

The mandatory add-ons

These attach on top of whatever fine the court sets:

Add-on How it is computed Citation
State surcharge 42% of the civil penalty (applied to the base penalty only, never to another surcharge) ARS 12-116.01(A)
Additional state surcharge 7% of the civil penalty ARS 12-116.01(B)
Additional state surcharge 6% of the civil penalty ARS 12-116.01(C)
Medical services enhancement surcharge 13% of the civil penalty ARS 12-116.02(A)
Clean elections surcharge 10% on fines and penalties subject to the ARS 12-116.01 surcharge ARS 16-954(A)
Probation assessment $20 flat on every civil traffic violation finding of responsibility (statewide; in counties with a population of 2 million or more — Maricopa County — the county sets its own amount in lieu of the $20) ARS 12-114.01(A); ARS 12-269(C)
Law enforcement equipment / gang enforcement assessment $13 flat on every civil penalty collected for a civil traffic violation ARS 12-116.04(A)
Victims' rights penalty assessment $9 flat on every civil penalty collected for a civil traffic violation ARS 12-116.08(A)
Victims' rights enforcement assessment $4 flat on every civil penalty collected for a civil traffic violation ARS 12-116.09(A)

Worked example: 15 mph over the limit, first offense (civil traffic violation)

Line Amount Citation
Civil penalty — set by the court, statutory ceiling $250 ARS 28-1598
Statutory surcharges at 78% (42+7+6+13+10), computed on the ceiling for illustration $195 ARS 12-116.01; 12-116.02; 16-954
Flat per-citation assessments (probation $20 + law enforcement equipment $13 + victims' rights $9 + victims' rights enforcement $4) $46 ARS 12-114.01; 12-116.04; 12-116.08; 12-116.09
Where it lands set by the local court court-set

No statewide total exists to print: the court handling the citation sets the civil penalty anywhere up to $250, the five statutory surcharges add 78% of whatever was set (courts may round that portion to the nearest quarter dollar), and four flat assessments add a further $46 regardless of the penalty amount. At the $250 ceiling the arithmetic reaches $491; a court that sets $150 produces $313. The per-court deposit schedules that fix the real number vary across Arizona's justice and municipal courts.

What raises it

License points

Speeding adds 3 points to the MVD record. At 8 or more points in any 12-month period, MVD orders Traffic Survival School or suspends the license.

Violation Points
Speeding (any civil speeding violation) 3

8–12 points in 12 months: Traffic Survival School assignment (or 3-month suspension if a course was already completed in the prior 24 months); 13–17 points: 3-month suspension; 18–23 points: 6-month suspension; 24 or more points in 36 months: 12-month suspension. (AAC R17-4-404(B), (E); A.R.S. 28-3306(A)(3))

Where speed becomes a criminal charge

Criminal penalties are a courtroom matter and outside a fine table's scope — this page records the threshold as a fact and stops there.

Local variation — the honest caveat

This is a maxima state: each justice and municipal court sets the civil penalty for speeding within the $250 cap, so the pre-surcharge number varies by court. The 78% surcharge stack and $46 in flat assessments are statewide and uniform, with one exception: in counties with a population of 2 million or more (Maricopa County), the county sets its own probation-assessment amount in lieu of the statewide $20. Quarter-dollar rounding of the surcharge portion is at the court's option. (ARS 28-1598; ARS 12-116.01(E); ARS 12-269(C))

Sources

Every figure above was compiled from these sources, with a verbatim quote of the sentence carrying each number stored in the dataset so any row can be re-checked against its origin.

This is not legal advice This page republishes what Arizona's statutes, court fine schedules, and driver-licensing publications print, for reference. Amounts change on legislative cycles, and the court named on a citation is the authority on what is owed in that court. Nothing here is advice about any citation or case.