US-Nebraska

Name of Game
The State of Nebraska plays the infraction game.

RS 60-682. Violations; traffic infraction. //Unless otherwise declared in the Nebraska Rules of the Road with respect to particular offenses, a violation of any provision of the rules shall constitute a traffic infraction.//

Type of Action
Criminal //Prosecution for a traffic infraction is a criminal action.// State v. Knoles, 199 Neb. 211, 256 N.W.2d 873 (1977).

Nebraska Revised Statutes 60-672. Traffic infraction, defined. //Traffic infraction shall mean the violation of any provision of the Nebraska Rules of the Road or of any law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation regulating traffic which is not otherwise declared to be a misdemeanor or a felony.//

Offenses
Speeding, and parking.

Proodedure for complaints
Nothing special: A specific format of citation with standard criminal requirements.

Nebraska Revised Statutes 60-685. Misdemeanor or traffic infraction; lawful complaints.

//When a person has been charged with any act declared to be a misdemeanor or traffic infraction by the Motor Vehicle Operator's License Act, the Motor Vehicle Registration Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, or the Nebraska Rules of the Road, and is issued a citation meeting the requirements prescribed by the Supreme Court, if such citation includes the information and is sworn to as required by the laws of this state, then such citation when filed with a court having jurisdiction shall be deemed a lawful complaint for the purpose of prosecution.//

Anomalies and Exceptions
The Judge need not be a lawyer.

//Prosecution of a traffic infraction is a misdemeanor criminal proceeding authorizing a non-lawyer associate judge of the county court to preside in any such proceeding//. Miller v. Peterson, 208 Neb. 658, 305 N.W.2d 364 (1981).

Non-moving violations may be bared from immediate prosecution by municipal ordinance, to provide opportunity for payment.

Nebraska Revised Statutes 18-1729. Violations bureau; purpose; payment of penalties. //Any incorporated city or village may, by ordinance, establish a violations bureau for the collection of penalties for nonmoving traffic violations. Such violations shall not be subject to prosecution in the courts except when payment of the penalty is not made within the time prescribed by ordinance. When payment is not made within such time, the violations may be prosecuted in the same manner as other ordinance violations.//