been driving for almost 30 years. got pulled over ONCE about 10 yrs ago, got a warning.
yesterday I was pulled over by Montgomery County for expired inspection sticker . he was so NICE to give
me a ticket!!! I was stunned.
thought for sure I would get a warning and he would tell me to get the car (computer) fixed to get inspection.
.. the only mention of my CHL was when he asked if I was carrying, I told him yes and pointed to my waist.
..then he walked back to his car and spent 10 minutes filling out my ticket.
..my first ticket.. I feel violated
Isn't there a grace period? Unless yours expired in months prior to Feb.
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Did it just expire last month? (February) The reason I ask is if I'm not mistaken, you get a five day grace period. If you get your sticker today, take the receipt to the judge and the ticket should be dismissed. I had a similar situation in Brazoria county several years ago, where I flat forgot to get it done. I was 10 days into the next month when I got my ticket. I did as I said above and the judge tore the ticket up. Didn't cost me anything. YMMV.
Watchful wrote:Did it just expire last month? (February) The reason I ask is if I'm not mistaken, you get a five day grace period. If you get your sticker today, take the receipt to the judge and the ticket should be dismissed. I had a similar situation in Brazoria county several years ago, where I flat forgot to get it done. I was 10 days into the next month when I got my ticket. I did as I said above and the judge tore the ticket up. Didn't cost me anything. YMMV.
The so called fixit ticket is useful to encourage a person to remedy the deficiency sooner rather than later.
Expired inspection and registration - you have until the 5th day of the month following the expiration before it is considered expired. If you take care of the issue, take the citation and receipt to the Court before the date required to appear, they will dismiss the citation for a $10 fee. An expired registration usually has additional fees when you register a vehicle late and it has been in use. Those are charged by the County Tax Office. Neither are considered a moving violation and do not affect insurance rates.
A citation for expired insurance or failure to display proof of financial responsibility - if you have valid insurance at the time the citation was issued, you can take the proof along with the citation to the Court prior to the appearance date and the Court will dismiss the citation with no fee. If you wait until after the appearance date on any of these citations, you may be subject to a charge of Failure to Appear, which has it own set of court costs and fine.
If the inspection was due in February, I would not even pay the $20 dismissal fee. The law (Transportation Code section 548.062 specifically says you do not need to have it inspected until after the fifth day after it expires. The dismissal fee is authorized if it was a valid ticket to begin with and you get it fixed. That is in section 548.605. Incidentally, the law says the inspection must not have been more than 60 days expired and must be fixed within 20 days of the ticket. I have heard of JP's who will give you more time expired and still dismiss the ticket if it is fixed but it is not required after two months out.
marinemom wrote:..my first ticket.. I feel violated
Welcome to the dark side..
Don't be too hard on yourself. Forgetting your inspection is nothing to kick yourself about, it's just a mistake. When you start forgetting your family members names, then you have a real problem .
I am not a lawyer. This is NOT legal advice.! Nothing tempers idealism quite like the cold bath of reality.... SQLGeek
marinemom wrote:been driving for almost 30 years. got pulled over ONCE about 10 yrs ago, got a warning.
yesterday I was pulled over by Montgomery County for expired inspection sticker . he was so NICE to give
me a ticket!!! I was stunned.
thought for sure I would get a warning and he would tell me to get the car (computer) fixed to get inspection.
.. the only mention of my CHL was when he asked if I was carrying, I told him yes and pointed to my waist.
..then he walked back to his car and spent 10 minutes filling out my ticket.
..my first ticket.. I feel violated
My first LEO contact after I got my CHL was exactly the same scenario. In my case, the sticker had been expired long enough that it was no longer a matter of a "fix it," and I had to pay a fine.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
marinemom wrote:..my first ticket.. I feel violated
Welcome to the dark side..
Don't be too hard on yourself. Forgetting your inspection is nothing to kick yourself about, it's just a mistake. When you start forgetting your family members names, then you have a real problem .
Exactly. In my case, it was simply a matter of not yet being accustomed to how Texas does things. In California, your car gets "smogged" (inspected) every other year, and your registration renewal notice reminds you that inspection is due for that year. And there is no window sticker, indicating your expiration in big block letters. I just wasn't used to thinking of it in those terms, and I let the inspection date get by me. When I was pulled over, it was already 90 days overdue. The Southlake PD officer told me that if it was inside of 60 days, it would have been a fix-it ticket.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
marinemom wrote:..my first ticket.. I feel violated
Welcome to the dark side..
Don't be too hard on yourself. Forgetting your inspection is nothing to kick yourself about, it's just a mistake. When you start forgetting your family members names, then you have a real problem .
Exactly. In my case, it was simply a matter of not yet being accustomed to how Texas does things. In California, your car gets "smogged" (inspected) every other year, and your registration renewal notice reminds you that inspection is due for that year. And there is no window sticker, indicating your expiration in big block letters. I just wasn't used to thinking of it in those terms, and I let the inspection date get by me. When I was pulled over, it was already 90 days overdue. The Southlake PD officer told me that if it was inside of 60 days, it would have been a fix-it ticket.
What did you get dinged for, expired reg only? That is a fix it in CA. They must have wanted the revenue. If it was expired 6 months and a day you would have been towed.
to give
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