I got a speeding ticket on the way to Austin Saturday morning, 80 in a 70. (I still can't believe he gave me a ticket for going 10 over..) was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the Texas Highway Patrol. Do they usually show up in court?

The thing I'm really worried about is that I'm on probation (Until 12-05) for a speeding ticket I got in Richardson in July. Scott said I can just ask to do Deferred for this ticket (judge is in Georgetown, TX) and Richardson won't find out about it. Anyone else think this will work?

Thanks

 

How soon do you have to file a response to the ticket (ie, fight it or pay it)?

If you can, put it off for as long as is allowed, then ask for deferred adjudication (can you ask the clerk? I don't know how they do it in TX). If they refuse that, file to fight it in court. You should be well past your probation period by then. Show up in court, ask again for deferred adjudication. Either way, you should be outside your probation period.

Oh yeah - 80 in a 70 is baloney. That cop was obviously out to get people because traffic almost always is moving right around 80mph at that limit...

 

After the driving I did this weekend I think I'd be thankful for any ticket that was just for 10 over

Still sucks though... I'm sorry

From what I hear you can usually get away with the second ticket not ruining your probation if you get it in a different county. I don't think they go too far out of their way to check that you really didn't get another ticket.

 

Thats how I understand it

I got a ticket 3 weeks ago (52 in a 35) in Burleson, just over the county line in Johnson.

First ticket in 3 years so I got deferred judgement offered, and of course I took it.

I live in Tarrant (just the other side of the county line) and the clerk said to me the deferred judgement applies to moving violations in Johnson ONLY.

I just need to stay out of Johnson for 90 days or drive like a saint when I do need to go there.

Bear in mind the state of Texas is under a lot of financial pressure right now with the Rita damage and the refugees all need paying for, so every cop has probably been told to issue as many tickets as possible, yes, even for 5 or 10 over!

 

Yes they will show in court since it is scheduled in their area.

You can do both safe driving, local probation, and deferred adjudication at the same time with no problem.. in fact with no central clearing house (at least in the past) it is no problem to run programs in many jurisdictions at the same time.

It will cost you time and money but usually cheaper than a three year hit on insurance.

 

Hey Josh, I am the tall guy with glasses (silverstone) that you drove with yesterday.
From what I understand a police officer told me that you can fight the ticket based on some little known texas statuate about department of transportation surveys. Apparently they are supposed to do traffic surveys every X number of years and set the speed limit according to what speed the traffic is driving at for whatever section of highway your on. Naturally they almost never do this survey except in giant urban areas because Texas has more highway miles that any other state except maybe Cali. I will PM you the number of my "ticket jedi" lawyer that has a list of all the best ticket lawyers for the different counties in Texas.

 

TX State Troopers HAVE to show up. So that ploy won't work. So long as you don't get a citation within the Same county as your probation, and you keep your nose clean during your porbation in those counties, you should be OK. I had deffered in Carrollton, Lewisville, and Richardson all at the Same Time.

 

You should be fine by taking Deffered in the other city as well. I did this once in Arlington and in Richardson... I dont think they ever knew.

 

Well, I talked to the clerk at the judge's office earlier and they don't offer Deffered?? I've never heard of that.. they said they only offer Defensive Driving, pay the ticket (guilty) or plea not guilty and take it to court.

I did defensive driving 10 months ago so she said I can't do that again, but I have until Novemember 10th to answer them. So I think I"m just going to wait until the first week of November and then plead Not Guilty. By then the probation for the ticket in Richardson will alost be done with and maybe I can go into court and ask the judge to let me do defensive driving again. Even if I lose, it's better to have just 1 ticket on my record than 2.

 

You could always try an attorney, I had one work on a ticket for me and I ended up having to pay a fine for " driving with defective equipment". No ticket on record.