Traffic violations fall into two categories, traffic infractions and criminal traffic offenses.
Criminal traffic offenses, which carry the possibility of imprisonment, are defined at RCW 46.63.020. They include, among others, driving under the influence, reckless or negligent driving, and vehicular assault. If an offense is not listed at RCW 46.63.020, it is a traffic infraction. It will include the specific traffic infraction noted, how much the ticket will cost you, your options for responding to the ticket, and any time deadlines by which you must act. Generally, once you have received a ticket, your options are to pay the fine, challenge the ticket, or request a Mitigation Hearing.