Why hasn't the traffic violation been cleared even after paying the fine for several years?
4 Answers
If the traffic violation hasn't been cleared even after paying the fine for several years, it might be due to unsuccessful cross-regional data transmission or data loss. Below are the detailed reasons: Unsuccessful cross-regional data transmission: In this case, simply re-upload the violation processing data, and the local vehicle management office will receive the data, restoring the driver's license to normal status. Data loss: Before the nationwide networking of traffic management data, the coding rules for penalty decisions varied across provinces. After system upgrades, some provinces experienced data loss. If this occurs, the traffic police detachment should formally notify the vehicle management office where the driver's license is registered to explain the situation, allowing them to update the violation data and restore the driver's license to normal status.
I ran into this exact issue last time. The payment showed as successful on the 12123 app, but the violation status remained unchanged. When I called the traffic management bureau, I learned about a hidden bug: after payment, you must open the penalty decision document and manually click 'Payment Completed' to trigger a system update. After waiting three days with no change, I rushed to the traffic police station window, only to find that the bank hadn't pushed the transaction number to the traffic management system, forcing the officer to manually process it for half an hour. My advice: don't wait. If the status hasn't updated within 3 business days after payment, immediately call 12123 to follow up or visit the enforcement station in person. Remember to bring your payment receipt and driver's license.
Repair shops often help customers with this issue. One car owner had a traffic violation from 3 years ago still unresolved. We directly checked the bank transaction records and found that one character in the name was entered incorrectly during payment, so the system deemed it an invalid payment! Banks don't verify names, and since the traffic management bureau didn't receive the money, the record naturally wasn't cleared. Also, note that violations due to ETC card arrears are not synchronized with regular tickets and need to be handled separately at ETC service points. Once, while helping a customer deal with a speeding ticket from 2019, we found that the penalty decision had expired and had to reprint it to pay the late fee.
New Year's Eve violations are the most troublesome. I once dealt with a violation that occurred in December and paid the fine, only to find the record still there in January. It turns out that at the end of the year, there's a backlog of payments, and the system takes 15 days to synchronize. Out-of-town violations are even worse. For example, a ticket from Fujian paid in Shandong takes 40 days for the systems of the two provinces to sync. Once, I checked the 12123 app and it showed the violation as processed, but the DMV said the data hadn't been updated, resulting in a wasted trip for the annual inspection.
