Israel’s administrative traffic offense reform took effect on February 8, 2026, under the Administrative Traffic Offenses Law, 2024. According to attorney Hanna David, the law removes hundreds of traffic offenses from the criminal court system and sends them to a new administrative track, changing how drivers receive and contest tickets.
The new process is handled by a digital Traffic Tribunal under the Justice Ministry, staffed by judges appointed for seven-year terms. Cases are managed through the UniCourt system, and if a hearing is held, it will usually be by video on VCourt rather than in person. To help drivers who are less comfortable online, service stations were opened in Haifa, Nof HaGalil, Netanya, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beersheba.
The reform is being rolled out in two stages. Since February 8, 2026, offenses carrying fines of 100 to 500 shekels, excluding speeding and city parking, have moved to the administrative route. These include not wearing a seat belt, driving with an expired vehicle license for up to four months or an expired driver’s license for up to six months, ignoring certain signs, starting on yellow-red, driving without lights, unlawful riding on a sidewalk, minor vehicle defects, illegal cargo transport, entering a blocked intersection, and failing to yield in some cases. On August 8, 2026, offenses with fines of 750 shekels and up, plus speeding offenses, will also move over. Any offense causing injury or property damage remains criminal, and police can still issue a summons in aggravating circumstances.
A driver who receives an administrative fine notice has three options. Within 30 days, they can file an objection with the competent authority, which must respond within 45 days, or 90 days if they say they were not the driver. If rejected, they may appeal to the Traffic Tribunal within 90 days of the fine or 30 days of the authority’s decision. The tribunal can uphold, cancel, or reclassify the offense, but it cannot lower the statutory fine. A further appeal lies to the Traffic Court of Peace, and then only with permission to the district court.
The biggest unresolved issue is the points system. The law requires each fine notice to state the points, but the new regulations have not yet been approved by the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, so current administrative tickets are being issued without points. That does not mean points are gone, only that they are expected to return once the regulations pass. The existing points system still applies to criminal-track offenses, including all speeding offenses, fines above 750 shekels, summonses, and traffic accidents. The reform also allows officers or inspectors to double a fine of 500 shekels or more, excluding parking, if the driver has at least three additional qualifying offenses in the past three years. David also noted a separate push to toughen penalties for eight life-threatening offenses, including phone use while driving, running a red light, and speeding, with fines potentially rising to thousands of shekels and repeat offenses possibly leading to vehicle immobilization.
