For what it's worth, here was my experience around this question: I have had only one traffic ticket for a minor accident in Atlanta way back in 1998. I used to have a VA driver's license back then. Anyway, the accident was my fault but being a minor fender-bender, I had a citation of somewhere around $85 (can't remember exact amount but this was the ballpark figure) and I had paid that fine. Fast forward many years and I had lost my copy and proof of resolution of that accident (well it has been about 12 years, people). So when I was applying for my N-400, I answered yes to that question about arrests/citations and in the details I wrote "Cited: Traffic accident" and for the resolution, I wrote "Paid traffic fine (~$85)". I didn't even have the exact date but knew it was in Jan 1998 and so put that down in the date column.
Before my naturalization interview, I got the usual yellow letter which said that I mentioned that I had been arrested (not true, I stated "cited" on the form) and to bring proof of resolution. So I spent a couple of days making all kinds of calls to:
1. The VA DMV (they no longer even have me in their system, it's like I never existed there because they tried looking up my record based on my old VA license number and even my SSN. I was told they purge records after something like 7 years after you change from VA to a different state driver's license)
2. Just about every Atlanta and GA court, agency, state police number asking for details I needed. I wasn't exactly sure which jurisdiction that accident happened in but had a general idea. Everyone in Atlanta seemed very nice on the phone but nobody could help me out. In many cases, I was told that records are purged after 4 or 6 years.
In the end, I just decided I wasn't getting anywhere and wrote a letter detailing my efforts to find my disposition information and was going to take this letter to my interview and only furnish it if I felt I needed to. I also got a certified copy of MA driving record which has been absolutely clean for the last 10 years.
At the interview, when we got to that question, I proactively told my lady interviewer that I answered yes to that question because of my traffic citation and I had paid the fine. She said that since I only paid that fine, this sort of incident did not apply to that question. I told her that I had interpreted my answer as a yes because of the word "cited" and I had paid a citation. She told me that many people did the same thing but these didn't apply to that question. She said that she was changing my answer to no and she did that in red ink, initialed the change and wrote that I had paid a traffic fine. She also asked if I had ever been in a court, which was no, and she wrote that down as well next to that question. So I didn't have any proof of the disposition and resolution with me at the interview but in the end, she didn't ask for it and approved everything.
