The Texas Department of Public Safety (“DPS”) is responsible for making sure that residents of the state are able to drive safely without causing harm to themselves or to another. Within that broad directive, laws have been created by the Texas legislature to give DPS guidelines to help the agency make determinations. This article will focus on the Department’s ability to suspend a driver license and the reasons it can use to justify that suspension. If your license is being suspended by Texas DPS and you would like legal assistance defending that action, feel free to call our legal team today at 214-321-4105.
Texas Transportation Code Section 521.292
Habitual Violator
Texas Transportation Code section 521.292 is entitled, “DEPARTMENT’S DETERMINATION FOR LICENSE SUSPENSION”. This section outlines the guidelines to help assist DPS in making determinations related to drivers that may be considered unsafe on the roadway. This determination will lead to a suspension of that person’s driving privileges. Section 521.292 outlines categories of events or circumstances that will automatically trigger a driver license suspension notice. Those categories are as follows:
(1) has operated a motor vehicle on a highway while the person’s license was suspended, canceled, disqualified, or revoked, or without a license after an application for a license was denied;
(2) is a habitually reckless or negligent operator of a motor vehicle;
(3) is a habitual violator of the traffic laws;
(4) has permitted the unlawful or fraudulent use of the person’s license;
(5) has committed an offense in another state or Canadian province that, if committed in this state, would be grounds for suspension;
(6) has been convicted of two or more separate offenses of a violation of a restriction imposed on the use of the license;
(7) has been responsible as a driver for any collision resulting in serious personal injury or serious property damage;
(8) is under 18 years of age and has been convicted of two or more moving violations committed within a 12-month period; or
(9) has committed an offense of fleeing as defined by Section 545.421.
What is a Habitual Violator?
Driver License Suspension Hearing
For purposes of Subsection (3) listed above, a person is a “habitual violator” if the person has four or more convictions that arise out of different transactions in 12 consecutive months, or seven or more convictions that arise out of different transactions in 24 months, if the convictions are for moving violations of the traffic laws of any state, Canadian province, or political subdivision. Most commonly this occurs when a person has received multiple citations over a long period of time, but did not have the money to resolve them. Once the money is obtained, they then go to court and simply pay off the old traffic tickets. However, paying off tickets creates convictions on that person’s permanent record. DPS will go by the conviction date, not the date the citation was issued. For example, if a person was issued a citation in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, but paid them all off in 2025, then all 4 conviction will be reported for 2025 calendar year. This will trigger the habitual violator designation in the DPS system and that person will then receive a notice of suspension in the mail.
To avoid this problem, you must hire a lawyer to represent you on old traffic tickets to remove any warrants or holds on your license. Thereafter, the attorney can negotiate a deal with the court to pay the tickets without the citations being reported to DPS. This is a crucial step to avoid the harm that is caused by paying off old tickets.
Fighting a Driver License Suspension
If you have been notified of that DPS intends to suspend you driver license, you need to act quickly. You only have 15 days to request a hearing after the notice is sent. This is not much time to respond, so time is of the essence. If you would like to discuss your driver license suspension with an experienced legal team, call us today.
