BAY MINETTE, Ala. - Thousands of Baldwin County traffic ticket holders needlessly take off from work and spend hours in court when disposition of the cases can be as simple as mailing in payment.

The unnecessary court trips are inconvenient for the public and bottlenecks the Baldwin County Circuit Clerk’s Office, according to Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack.

Mack estimates as many as 50 percent of traffic violators do not read information contained on the tickets, or forget officer instructions designating which violations require a court appearance.

“Most ticket holders don’t have to appear in court,” Mack said. “They just see the court date and go. A DUI or suspended license is a mandatory attendance. But speeding and seat belt violations are not.”

Mack said offenders should ask authorities at the time of ticket issuance if court attendance is required, or call the Baldwin County Circuit Clerk’s Office for information.

There is a three month window between receiving a ticket and court appearance dates.

District judges Jody Bishop and Michelle Thomason handle about 25,000 cases yearly, which range from traffic citations to conservation and marine police violations.

At the beginning of each court session, violators are told they can pay certain tickets and leave unless they are contesting, which opens a floodgate of ticket holders heading to district court offices for payment.

“With the economy, people are less able to pay,” Thomason said. “They can pay through the court date without penalty. Most people who stay ask for additional time to pay and we try to work with them.”

Thomason also encourages ticket holders who may have multiple tickets to space out payments rather than pay all tickets at once. A driver with a DUI citation and a seat belt violation, for instance, can pay the latter before court attendance.

On Sept 4, 2010, 1,200 cases were scheduled for one docket, prompting Thomason to ask state programmers to adjust software to limit the number of people scheduled for a court appearance.

“There was no place to sit and there were long waits,” Thomason said. “One day there was a storm, long lines and people got wet.”

Court appearance now are limited to 500 per session.

Traffic citations issued by police are handled in municipal court. If they contest and are found guilty and appeal, the case is forwarded to district or circuit judges.