Stanford Law to issue traffic court text reminders as part of study

San Mateo County Superior Court has partnered with Stanford Law School to deliver text message reminders to people who have upcoming traffic court hearings, according to court officials.

Stanford has agreed to send reminder messages to people awaiting traffic hearings so that its law school can study whether receiving an alert will improve participants’ attendance at hearings.

Litigants who choose to participate in the study will be randomly selected to receive SMS reminders. Their phone numbers will be shared with Stanford but otherwise kept confidential.

“We are excited to offer this opportunity to our litigants. We look forward to seeing the results of the study and evaluating if a text reminder reduces the Failure to Appear rate,” Court Executive Officer Neal Taniguchi said.

“If the study is favorable, the court will be looking to develop this opportunity for all litigants. This joint effort will benefit the litigants who appear before us.”