ARS 28-701A on Your Ticket: What Does It Mean in Arizona?

What Does ARS 28-701A on Your Ticket Mean?

If a DPS trooper or a city officer handed you a citation that reads “ARS 28-701A,” you are holding Arizona’s basic speeding charge — not a criminal one. What happens next still matters: points, insurance, defensive driving eligibility, and, for some drivers, consequences at work. This guide explains what the citation means, what it actually costs, and when fighting it makes sense.

Arizona also has a separate criminal speeding statute, ARS 28-701.02, a class 3 misdemeanor prosecuted in criminal court — our guide to criminal speeding in Arizona covers that charge, its penalties, and its defenses in full. Everything below is about the civil ticket cited as 28-701A, and the exact line where the same conduct would have become a crime instead.

It means you were cited under subsection A of ARS 28-701, Arizona’s basic speed law. Subsection A holds the operative rule — which is why officers write “28-701A” on the citation: a person “shall not drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances, conditions and actual and potential hazards then existing,” and must control speed as necessary to avoid colliding with any object, person, or vehicle.

Notice what the statute does not say: it does not make the posted number itself the offense. The legal standard is reasonableness under the conditions, which is why 28-701A is the catch-all citation for nearly every ordinary speeding stop in Arizona — whether you were 6 over or 19 over.

Because the violation is civil, there is no jail exposure and no criminal record. The hearing is a civil traffic hearing, the finding is “responsible” or “not responsible,” and the state’s burden is a preponderance of the evidence — not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

What Does “Reasonable and Prudent” Actually Mean?

It means the speed limit works as evidence, not as an automatic verdict. Under ARS 28-701(B), exceeding certain speeds is “prima facie evidence that the speed is too great and therefore unreasonable”: 15 mph approaching a school crossing, 25 mph in a business or residential district, and 65 mph in other locations. Posted limits above or below those defaults are set through the procedures in ARS 28-702 and 28-703.

“Prima facie” is the phrase that matters for the defense: it creates a rebuttable presumption. Being over the number is evidence your speed was unreasonable — it is not conclusive proof, and a driver can present evidence that the speed was reasonable for the traffic, visibility, and road conditions that actually existed.

The standard also cuts the other way. Subsection D requires drivers to slow below the limit for intersections, curves, hill crests, and weather or highway hazards — which is why you can be cited under 28-701A during a monsoon or dust storm while doing less than the posted speed.

Is ARS 28-701A Civil or Criminal — and Where Is the Line?

A 28-701A citation is civil. The same speed becomes criminal speeding — a class 3 misdemeanor under the current text of ARS 28-701.02 — when a driver:

• Exceeds 35 mph approaching a school crossing;
• Exceeds a business or residential district limit by more than 20 mph, or exceeds 45 mph where no limit is posted; or
• Exceeds the posted limit by more than 20 mph in other locations.

Two details from the statute are worth knowing. First, the current law measures criminal speeding by how far over the posted limit you were in every ordinary location — the margin, not one magic number. Second, under 28-701.02(C), a driver charged criminally cannot also be issued a civil 28-701 complaint arising out of the same circumstances — the state picks a lane.

Speed combined with aggressive driving — weaving, tailgating, racing — can instead be charged as reckless driving in Arizona, a criminal charge aimed at the manner of driving rather than the number.

What Does an ARS 28-701A Ticket Actually Cost?

Less than a criminal charge, but more than the fine on the citation. The pieces:

• The civil penalty. The fine is set by the local court’s schedule and typically scales with how far over the limit you were. There is no jail and no criminal record.
• Three points. A speeding violation adds three points to your MVD driving record. Reaching eight or more points within twelve months triggers Traffic Survival School — or a license suspension of up to twelve months.
• Insurance. A responsible finding lands on your motor vehicle record, and insurers commonly surcharge speeding violations at renewal for several years. For most drivers, the insurance cost quietly exceeds the fine.

Can Defensive Driving School Dismiss a 28-701A Ticket?

Yes — for most drivers, it is the cleanest exit. Under ARS 28-3392, a court must allow a driver cited for a civil traffic moving violation to attend a state-certified defensive driving school, and completion resolves the citation with no points and nothing for your insurer to see.

The limits, straight from the statute: you can use defensive driving school only once every twelve months, measured from the date of the last violation you diverted; a violation that caused death or serious physical injury is not eligible; and for criminal speeding under 28-701.02 the court may allow it — a matter of discretion, not right. CDL holders face their own restriction, covered next.

What If You Hold a CDL?

The calculus changes completely, because ARS 28-3392 splits CDL holders in two. If you were cited while driving your personal vehicle — one requiring only a class D or M license, used non-commercially — you can still attend defensive driving school and resolve the ticket. If you were cited in a commercial motor vehicle, the diversion program is off the table entirely: the court may order the class as part of a sentence, but it cannot dismiss the violation and must report the outcome to the MVD.

On top of the state rules, federal CDL regulations treat sufficiently excessive speeding in a commercial vehicle as a “serious traffic violation,” and accumulating those within a few years brings disqualification — which is why professional drivers should treat any speeding citation as a job issue, not a fine. The same career math applies even more harshly to alcohol; see our guide to CDL DUI in Arizona.

Should You Fight an ARS 28-701A Ticket or Just Pay It?

Paying is pleading: you are admitting responsibility, taking the points, and accepting the insurance consequences. Before doing that, run through the ladder defense attorneys use in Arizona courts:

• Divert it if you are eligible — defensive driving school beats almost any other outcome for a routine ticket.
• Contest it when eligibility is gone or the stakes are higher. At a civil hearing the state must still prove the violation, usually through the officer’s testimony and a speed measurement. Calibration and certification records for radar and LIDAR units can be demanded and challenged, visual estimates can be cross-examined, and hearings are frequently dismissed when the officer fails to appear.
• Argue reasonableness. Because exceeding the limit is only prima facie evidence, light traffic, clear conditions, and a modest margin leave room to argue the speed was reasonable and prudent — the argument the statute itself invites.

Fighting clearly makes sense when you hold a CDL, when you are close to eight points, when defensive driving school is unavailable, or when the cited speed sits near the criminal threshold. For the broader landscape of Arizona driving charges, see our overview of Arizona traffic offenses.

How Tamou Law Group Handles Arizona Speeding Cases

Honestly, and by the numbers. For a routine first 28-701A ticket, the right answer is often defensive driving school — and we will tell you that in the first five minutes. Where a defense team earns its keep is everywhere the stakes are bigger: CDL drivers who cannot divert a commercial-vehicle ticket, drivers approaching eight points and a suspension, out-of-state licensees, and anyone charged with criminal speeding under 28-701.02 — where the most common negotiated win in Arizona courts is a reduction to exactly the civil 28-701A violation this article covers, taking the misdemeanor, the jail exposure, and the criminal record off the table.

Our team includes former prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and public defenders who know how speed cases are measured, charged, and negotiated from both sides. Call 623-321-4699 for a confidential consultation about your ticket and your record.