Showed up for arraignment but the court "assumed" traffic violators like me wouldn't show?

I would assume it is the standard seven years. But if you have any documents or written proof that you did in fact appear, you may have a case getting off. You have a chance even if you don't have any evidence. I presume it is the State DMV office that issued the suspension so you can go to the state and follow their appeal process. If you are going to appear to contest this, tell them you want to subpoena the court records for when your case came up on the day you were instructed to appear. What you are trying to do is to show that they did not actually call you up. But what may indeed happen is that they will either not be able to find it or will decide it is not worth it to find it and consider dropping the charges. If this happens again, take a close look at, usually the back, of the ticket. Sometimes there is a phone number that you are instructed to call or an address to write to in case you wish to plead not guilty. z