Traffic citations are getting a new look designed to help save time spent at roadside stops and organize court appearances for those who contest offenses, the state judiciary has announced.

Beginning Sunday, the current one-ticket-per-offense policy that includes vital handwritten information such as court dates will be replaced by a form, 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, developed with input from all four county police departments. The new tickets will include a tear-away answer form that can be mailed to district court.

Instead of writing out offenses, the forms are pre-printed, with the most common forms of traffic offenses that occur in each county. The officer can check a box — or several for multiple offenses — then hand over the ticket.

The tear-away response sheet attached to the ticket allows motorists to check a box indicating if they want to contest it (and appear in court), pay the fine or offer written proof of "mitigating circumstances."

Postage is paid by the citation recipient.

Marsha Kitagawa, public affairs director for the Hawai'i State Judiciary, said the main benefit will be to the court system, which will now be responsible for scheduling appearances for traffic violators seeking their day in court.

"Previously, we were subject to the police officers (hand-writing the court dates) and sometimes we'd have 200 or 600 cases scheduled for a morning or afternoon calendar," she said. "We would especially be overbooked during speed sweeps and other traffic campaigns like Click-It-Or-Ticket. We can have more control whereby we can make sure the court dates are not overbooked."

Judiciary staff will assign court dates only when motorists request them in writing and if the request is made within 21 calendar days from the date on the ticket, according to the judiciary. Phone requests for court dates will not be accepted.

The response form is printed in English only, and Kitagawa said she did not know if there was any thought of printing it in other languages.

She said the current form is printed only in English.

Honolulu police remained neutral on the new citation, saying officers would handle traffic stops and issue citations in the same manner as they do now.

"It's just a small change to our working environment," said Honolulu police Capt. Frank Fujii. "We're going to treat it the same as any other document produced by the court."

Another change to the traffic citation system is an extended deadline for responding.

Currently, motorists are given 15 days from the date on the ticket to offer some form of response. The new rules, which also go into effect Jan. 1, will push the deadline to 21 days from the date on the ticket.

A default judgment will be entered against people who do not respond by the deadline, according to the judiciary.

The changes did not seem to excite those standing in line at traffic court on Alakea Street recently. Several people waiting to pay fines said the changes "didn't matter."

"I don't think it will help either way," said Billy Whitfield, 26.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.