my own experience
OK, here is my record of offenses:
- 1 speeding ticket (paid, lost all records of it, don't even know what city it was in)
- 1 written warning
- several verbal warnings
- 1 arrest (see
http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=292133)
- 2 parking tickets
- 1 time I was questioned by a police officer for something I did not do (released without charges)
I reported on my N-400 my speeding ticket, my arrest, and my written warning. I DID NOT report my verbal warnings, my parking tickets, or my questioning for something I did not do. This was based on advise from this thread:
http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=292134
At the interview, I explained all these incidents to the IO and volunteered to give the IO a written copy of elaboration of these incidents (I put all of this in several little tables, one for each category, and brought it to the interview, hoping that we could just append it to the application if need be).
The IO refused to take any of my written stuff and didn't really care about traffic tickets or verbal warnings or parking tickets or me being questioned. I asked the IO repeatedly -- do you want a list of these?? Do you want moer details about these?? The IO kept saying no, they only care about "crimes" -- the IO was interested in my arrest, but said that traffic violations DO NOT count against your moral character. The IO did not seem to consider paid traffic tickets "crimes". Likewise, parking tickets don't matter.
None of my tickets, offenses, etc. were drug or alcohol related. No tickets were over $500 (not even close).
Your mileage with your IO may vary.
IN CONCLUSION: I advise reporting your traffic tickets and any time you even got pulled over, period. If you don't have exact dates, report a time range (that is what I did). They are unlikely to count against your good moral character.
My interview experience:
http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=301821