Young Drivers in The Lone Star State Face a More Difficult Time Brushing aside Traffic Fines

By Joe Gerstl

A new law going into effect Sept. 1st 2005 will likely increase the demand for defensive driving online(http://www.officialdefensivedriving.com) courses in addition to onsite classes and defensive driving video rentals and will grow the total of road screenings distributed by the State of Texas DPS.

Initiating 9/1/2005, a drivers safety course will be required for all automobile operators under age 25 that experience a ticket for a moving ticket such as speeding if they want to keep it off their record. This isn't new in that many metropolises and regions already have this requirement. However, many judges in these counties dismiss the class requirement typically in substitution for probationary cycle in which, if the driver stays clean of any more Violations, the original ticket is pushed aside. Typically this understanding usually also packs a fee to the municipality in addition to the probationary cycle.

Authored by Dallas Republican John Carona & presented as Senate Bill 1005, this new law is even more rigid for those under eighteen. Automobile operators through the age of 17 will be mandatory to take a road exam with the Texas Department of Public Safety in addition to the fine & probation if they want to keep their records clean.

Those with a great deal of experience with getting tickets will not be pleased with this law as it closes down a loophole. Before this law judges were allowed to excuse operators under the age of twenty-five who received a traffic citation from a Online Defensive Driving Course(http://www.officialdefensivedriving.com). Some lawgivers were worried about teens, especially those who were instructed to drive by their parents versus state licensed instructors. To uRL this concern, they amended the road exam requirement for those under eighteen.

Prior to 9/1/05, there were two segments that touch on to deferred adjudication of infractions. This simply means that if a driver pleaded "no contest" to the traffic sections and then did not go against any additional traffic laws for a period of time set by the court, the ticket would be effaced from the driver's record. One segment of the law specifically addresses traffic treats indicating that a traffic violator must take an online defensive driving course(http://www.officialdefensivedriving.com) or attend an alternate defensive driving school or class in order to have a ticket removed from their record. Misdemeanors are covered in the other section of law allowing judges to define the standard to be reached for "deferred adjudication". Deferred adjudication means: the driver is placed on probation for a length of time and if driver stays violation free during this period, the original traffic violation is erased from their record. Deferred adjudication, in addition to the probationary period, usually incurs a fine to the district in which the ticket occurred. In many jurisdictions, this second section of the lay has allowed fine to simply fine operators as long as they didn't get an additional fine for some period of time like 6 months.

For automobile operators under the age of 25, Texas law SB 1005 eliminates that flexibility & in fact requires those who receive traffic citations and are under 25 to a take defensive driving online(http://www.officialdefensivedriving.com) or in classroom setting.

The Texas Dept. of Public Safety indicated that an forecasted 21,000 teens will take the road exam each year. All state driver's license offices are gearing up to have officers available to conduct more of these tests. DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said that these offices already conduct road screenings now however as this road test has not been required to obtain a driver's license for more than 10 years, most teens don't take it so more officers will need to be available at each Dept. of Public Safety faciltiy. Those that do are usually at the request of their parents. Fortunately for the usually cash strapped young drivers, the road end line text will only tack on another $10 to their already costly traffic citation experience.

This new law will likely improve the demand for defensive driving online(http://www.officialdefensivedriving.com) classes in addition to onsite classes & defensive driving(http://www.officialdefensivedriving.com) video rentals.

About the author:
Cindy Cashman operates Official Defensive Driving and provides online defensive driving courses. Save the time, money and hassle of attending defensive driving classes. Go to http://www.OfficialDefensiveDriving.comto sign up for an online defensive driving course.


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