Speeding Tickets In Grand Prairie

Grand Prairie Traffic Ticket Lawyers

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Speeding Ticket Attorney In Grand Prairie, TX

Texas is now part of the “points system” that swept across the United States in the early 2000’s.  This means that every moving violation a person receives is now monitored and categorized by the level of seriousness.  The Texas Department of Public Safety then determines how many points each moving violation should receive and what punishments should be associated with the ticket.  This article will focus on speeding in Grand Prairie and how a speeding tickets become convictions. If you would like to discuss your speeding tickets with a Grand Prairie traffic ticket attorney after reading this article, feel free to fill out our Traffic Ticket Questionnaire or a call to our office today.

Many don’t realize there is a points system in Texas, much less how it works.  Points in Texas accrue for every moving violation that goes on a person’s permanent record.  Speeding tickets are divided into 3 loose categories. Those categories are as follows:

• SPEEDING UNDER 10% OF THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT:  These types of tickets are not actually considered moving violations.  We sometimes use this provision in the Transportation Code to try and help out our commercial driver’s that are not eligible for a normal deferred adjudication agreement to protect their record.
• SPEEDING OVER 10% OF THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT:  These types of tickets are considered moving violations and will accrue 2 points on a person’s driving record.  The points fall off after 3 years. However, the conviction remains on the record forever.
• SPEEDING 15MPH OVER THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT:  Anything 15mph over the posted speed limit is considered a serious moving violation and is 3 points on a person’s driving record.  These are the most serious violations and should be treated as such.

You are only allowed 6 points every 3 years.  If you get more than that, your driving privileges can be suspended and you will be subject to financial penalties called surcharges that must be paid every year.  So if a single ticket can cost you 3 points, then you can do the math and see you only need 2 tickets to have your driver license taken away.

Speeding Ticket Convictions

Grand Prairie Municipal Court

In order to have a discussion about the punishments involved with moving violations, we first must discuss convictions. The reason why convictions are so important to the points system model is because DPS will only know about your moving violation if it is reported by Grand Prairie Municipal Court. Grand Prairie will only report the speeding ticket if it becomes a conviction. So how does a speeding ticket become a conviction?

In most cases, a speeding ticket will only become a conviction by completely mishandling the ticket. Some people have good hearts and horrible legal minds. The system has been created by the legislature to maximize the financial leverage of Texas courts and to put a level of responsibility on the driver that has never been seen before. For example, if you go down and pay your speeding ticket off in Grand Prairie Municipal Court because you felt it was the “right thing to do,” Grand Prairie will then report that offense as conviction. That conviction is now a potential precursor to severe punishments handed down by Texas DPS. What gives Grand Prairie the authority to do this to a person?

Article 27.14(c) of The Code Of Criminal Procedure states the following:

• In a misdemeanor case for which the maximum possible punishment is by fine only, payment of a fine or an amount accepted by the court constitutes a finding of guilty in open court as though a plea of nolo contendere had been entered by the defendant and constitutes a waiver of a jury trial in writing

Defending Speeding Tickets Properly

The importance of handling a speeding ticket properly is lost on thousands of people across the state of Texas every day. A recent post on one of our articles stated the following:

I received a surcharge notification payment of $133.00 (some might say that appears to be extortion but government would never do that) to maintain my license. The confusion is reading about the validity of these surcharges so I am asking your advice about these charges and then the best procedure for handling such a notification along with your fees for handling the case
thanks for listening
Bill Adler

The focus of this comment is on the surcharge penalties that DPS can assess against a driver for convictions. However, our purpose is to educate people to understand how the surcharges are assessed in the first place. Surcharges can only be assessed against a driver if the speeding ticket or any other traffic violation is reported as a conviction. This driver may have had very good intentions by simply going into the court and paying his tickets off. Once that is done, those violations must be reported as convictions. Those convictions then create surcharges. Non-payment of surcharges causes the driver to lose their license and driving privileges.
This law was not written for you. It was written for courts all across Texas to make their job easier. Now they simply take your money, hand you a receipt and push a big red button that says “conviction.” Case closed and you are left to pick up the pieces.

Hire A Lawyer For Speeding Tickets In Grand Prairie

If you would have hired a speeding ticket attorney in Grand Prairie under the scenario discussed above, more than likely they could have saved you at a minimum the suspended license and the $450.00 surcharge. Lawyers are able to negotiate deals on speeding tickets in Grand Prairie that protect your record from convictions even if the ticket is past due. That is why it is important to first discuss your