Traffic Fine Lookup

How much is a speeding ticket in Tennessee?

each local court sets the amount · 1 tiers · every row cited · sources retrieved 2026-07-17

set by the local courtcourt-set

15 mph over the limit, first offense, handled in a county general sessions court — the full arithmetic is on this page.

Tennessee has no statewide fine amount for ordinary speeding: each local court sets its own schedule. What IS uniform statewide — the caps, the mandatory add-ons, the points — is decomposed on this page, and where only your court can name the final figure, the page says so instead of inventing one. 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: work zone with workers present (tdot-reduced speed limit). Points: Tennessee assigns demerit points by how far over the limit the speed was: 1 point (1–5 over), 3 (6–15), 4 (16–25), 5 (26–35), 6 (36–45), 8 (46+). Tickets where no speed is indicated on the source documents are recorded at 3 points. Every row on this page carries its citation — 8 primary sources (statute text, court fine schedules, DMV publications), each with a retrieval date, plus the local-variation caveat that applies in Tennessee. This is a reference to what the law and the schedules print; it is not legal advice.

How Tennessee sets it Tennessee speeding is a Class C misdemeanor whose fine is capped by statute at $50 — the statute prints no mph tiers at all. The number on the ticket is set by the county general sessions court (or municipal court) that handles it, and the fine is the small end of the bill: a $42 statewide clerk's base cost for traffic citations plus $33.50 in statewide litigation taxes attach on conviction, and counties layer their own litigation taxes and fees on top, so identical tickets cost different amounts in different counties.

The fine, tier by tier

Speeding fines in Tennessee 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
Any speed over the limit (statute prints no mph tiers) up to $50 cap only set by the local court court-set T.C.A. §55-8-103; §40-35-111(e)(3)

Violations of the rules-of-the-road chapter are Class C misdemeanors — up to 30 days or a fine up to $50, or both, unless another statute provides otherwise. The court handling the citation sets the actual fine within that cap; there is no statewide per-mph fine schedule.

The mandatory add-ons

These attach on top of whatever fine the court sets:

Add-on How it is computed Citation
State litigation tax (criminal) $29.50 flat on all criminal charges, upon conviction or by order T.C.A. §67-4-602(a)
Traffic-violation litigation tax $1 flat additional litigation tax on criminal charges for any violation of title 55, chapter 8 (the rules of the road, including speeding) T.C.A. §67-4-602(g)(1)
Victim notification fund litigation tax $3 flat ($1 base increased by $2 effective July 1, 2012) on all criminal charges in state or general sessions court, upon conviction T.C.A. §67-4-602(h)(1)
General sessions clerk's base court cost (traffic citations) $42 flat per conviction — the general sessions criminal base fee is $62, but for cases involving traffic citations the statute substitutes a $42 base court cost T.C.A. §8-21-401(g)(1)
County litigation taxes and local fees Counties levy their own litigation taxes and courts add locally set fees (officer fees, data/technology fees); amounts differ by county and are not itemized statewide T.C.A. §67-4-601 et seq.; Davidson Co. Circuit Court Clerk traffic FAQ (county example)

Worked example: 15 mph over the limit, first offense, handled in a county general sessions court

Line Amount Citation
Fine — set by the court, statutory ceiling $50 T.C.A. §40-35-111(e)(3)
General sessions clerk's base cost, traffic citation $42 T.C.A. §8-21-401(g)(1)
State litigation tax (criminal) $30 T.C.A. §67-4-602(a)
Traffic-violation litigation tax $1 T.C.A. §67-4-602(g)(1)
Victim notification litigation tax $3 T.C.A. §67-4-602(h)(1)
Where it lands set by the local court court-set

The fine line is a CEILING, not a price: the statute caps a speeding fine at $50 and the general sessions or municipal court sets the actual figure. The three statewide litigation taxes ($33.50 together) and the $42 traffic-citation clerk cost attach on conviction, but county litigation taxes and locally set fees stack on top of those, so there is no statewide total to print. Davidson County, for example, lists a $50 administrative court cost per violation plus a $13.75 investigation bureau fee on its own traffic docket.

What raises it

License points

Tennessee assigns demerit points by how far over the limit the speed was: 1 point (1–5 over), 3 (6–15), 4 (16–25), 5 (26–35), 6 (36–45), 8 (46+). Tickets where no speed is indicated on the source documents are recorded at 3 points.

Violation Points
Speeding 1 through 5 mph in excess of speed zone 1
Speeding 6 through 15 mph in excess of speed zone 3
Speeding 16 through 25 mph in excess of speed zone 4
Speeding 26 through 35 mph in excess of speed zone 5
Speeding 36 through 45 mph in excess of speed zone 6
Speeding 46 mph and above in excess of speed zone 8

Drivers who accumulate 12 or more points in any 12-month period are sent a notice of proposed suspension (6 to 12 months) with the opportunity for an administrative hearing; hearings typically offer a defensive driving class in lieu of suspension, usable once every five years. Drivers under 18 enter the Driver Improvement Program at 6 points. (TN Dept. of Safety — Driver Improvement points accumulation page)

Local variation — the honest caveat

Everything past the statutory skeleton varies by county: general sessions and municipal courts set the fine within the $50 cap, and counties add their own litigation taxes and clerk/administrative fees on top of the statewide ones. Davidson County's court, for example, charges a $50 administrative court cost per convicted violation plus a $13.75 investigation bureau fee, with litigation tax, costs, and fine depending on the judge's ruling — other counties publish different packages. (T.C.A. §8-21-401; §67-4-601 et seq.; Davidson Co. Circuit Court Clerk traffic FAQ)

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 Tennessee'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.