I just got tagged this morning for speeding and having a defective brake light. The speeding I don't care about (I'll take defensive driving). The brake light is what pisses me off. Chances are you are not going to know you have a defective brake light until it's too late. It's $115 fine. Will city of Houston courts let you show proof that you have fixed the light and reduce the fine?
If you do get the light fixed and show the court the proof, you'll most likely only owe the court costs.
Why are you pissed off? Because you have a defective brake light? Please forgive me for saying this but, stop whining. You should have checked it. So many people I see out on the street whose brake lights are out, but they don't get caught. Your luck just ran out. When were you going to check the lights, when it was time for an inspection? Don't wait so long. You will now just lose time in court because you failed to check it. Yes, get it fixed and you won't get fined.
i'm like the expert on tickets now after getting my two. hate to tell you this (especially since i want pez after reading your member name), but... ... you can show your proof or whatever and avoid the $115 dollar ticket, but i think you have to still pay the court fee or judgment fee or something like that (told you i was an expert!). when i got the first ticket in stafford, the court fee was $95 (even though i took defensive driving) and i think the fee was around the same amount (if not higher) when i was speeding in houston. also, i hope that you didn't call the main houston municipal court phone number to get the fine amount. i went to pay off mine and the dude said that the $105 dollars that the automated line told me was just for the judgment fee. the total fine amount was just a tad bit over $200. i asked him for a printout of the fees and he told me "nope... all you get is a receipt". effer, bite my arse. anyway, good luck.
I just was at the court house. I pleaded not guilty and took it to court. At the pretrial hearing the judge gave me the option to plea bargain with the prosecutor. I basically got her to dismiss one of my cases(having an altered liscense plate, for having a border around the liscense plate) and what she did for me was dismiss it so I wouldn't have to pay the court costs but added $10 to my other fine. She also offered me a fine that was 1/4 the original fine for my ticket that wasn't dismissed. Moral of story, plea bargain.
Word. That sounds like a pretty standard deal. Can't believe they wrote you up for the license plate holder. Cops I know only use that one for PC.
