my first time

[gigag04]

Refusal to pay the surcharge means your license gets suspended.

As you can imagine, the program is under review now. Not many people paid the surcharges and most just kept driving on a suspended license.

Driving on a suspended license with no insurance, or a previous DWLI (driving while license invalid/suspended) conviction is a Class B misdemeanor. Which, incidentally is the same level offense as your first DWI, but much easier to prove. I have a guy dragging his to court this week...not sure what his defense is, but we will see.

[sjfcontrol]

The state admitted, to my way of thinking, that it sees all tickets as revenue generation when it passed the surcharge bill for points. No one made any bones about it being a fund raising bill at the time.

Steve -- As someone who's never been involved with Texas traffic tickets, can you tell us what this is?

I think it was four years ago. The state passed a law that assesses a surcharge on your driver's license for certain violations o combination of violations. This is done as a civil cost raising the DL cost so that it does not come under the limit on fines or extra punishment. Anyway, for each moving violation you get two points, but some (excessive speed - more than 15 over I think - is the one I remember) are three points. Points stay on license for three years. If you get six points, you have to pay $100 (I think) per year for three years. Some specific violations (no dl, no insurance, DWI, driving on a suspended license are examples) have their own surcharges instead of points. The surcharges go up to $2500 per year I think for the DWI.

Refusal to pay the surcharge means your license gets suspended.

As you can imagine, the program is under review now. Not many people paid the surcharges and most just kept driving on a suspended license.

Wow! That's quite a program! I seem to recall long ago that the insurance companies used to use some kind of point system to boost your insurance rates. Maybe they still do. But I've never heard of a state doing so. And those aren't minor fees, either.

[AdioSS]

I didn't want to start a new thread on the subject, so I'm posting in this one.

This weekend was the first time that I have been pulled over since I received my CHL last year. I was driving my Mom in her S-Class Mercedes, the limit had just dropped from 70 to 60 on 31 heading into Tyler from Kilgore, & I was slowing down, but still speeding. The car doesn't have a front license plate (a stupid law IMO.) When the Highway Patrol officer asked for my license, I gave him my CHL as required in Texas. He asked who owned the car & my Mom spoke up. I could tell pretty quickly that I wasn't going to get a ticket because he didn't ask for proof of insurance. He took my licenses I said he was going to check for warrants. He came back with the warning for speeding & no front plate along with my licenses. No comments were made about whether or not I had a firearm by any of us.

I was a bit nervous because it was my first time to get pulled over while carrying, & I had heard of others who had been disarmed or other stuff during stops. Luckily the officer was cool about everything. I talked about it with my Mom (who doesn't really like me carrying everywhere anyway) & told her that I gave him my "good guy card" (CHL) & explained to her that the DPS runs a background check on all CHL applicants.

[MadMonkey]

I've been pulled over probably 6-8 times since I got my CHL a couple of years ago... ouch. Never been disarmed (yet) and all the officers have been professional. As far as I can tell it had no bearing on whether I got a ticket or warning though...