Legal Question in Traffic Law in California

The bottom line is that you'll need to appear in court (or send an attorney on your behalf) to clear up these tickets before you'll get your license back. If it was suspended for failing to appear, by going to court, it will clear the FTA in the DMV's mind and you can get your license reinstated.

If you had been to court and pled guilty, but hadn't paid the fines, they would have suspended it for failing to pay (FTP). If that's the case, you'll have to pay off the entire balance of the fines before they'll lift the hold.

After all this time, they have probably added on several civil assessments (at $300 each), so sending an attorney to try and negotiate a good resolution on these may be the way to go. Traffic ticket attorneys that routinely appear in the courthouse where your case(s) are shouldn't charge that much, but it depends on how big the mess is and whether they can be wrapped up quickly or if it will take some work.