So, back in Nov. 2006, I received a speeding ticket on 183 in Austin for going 65 in a 55. No big deal, I'll take defensive driving and get it over with. So I wait a week or 2, call the Municipal court to get the info. The officer hasn't turned it in by this point. Well, I check in about once every week for 8 months. Nothing. I have to figure that I got lucky and the officer was being nice or lost it. Yesterday in the mail I receive a notice from the DPS saying that I can't renew my driver's license because of an unpaid ticket. I look on the court's web site this morning and, low and behold, the officer turned the ticket in last month...1 YR AFTER GIVING IT TO ME! I call the court and they tell me the officer actually has up to 2 years to turn it in. 2 YEARS! Because the idiot fat lazy b*stard finally cleaned out his car and found the ticket probably hidden under some donut crumbs and nacho cheese, I am now 1 day from having a warrant. I had to pay it today because I don't have the time to mess with it now and I don't want a holiday surprise. 2 years to turn in a ticket. That's just insanity. Not only that, when you pay the city, they won't send you a receipt. They'll only give you a receipt number and you're supposed to hope and pray that it gets through the system so the judge doesn't sign the warrant tomorrow and that the DPS knows so I can renew my DL when I need to. What a bunch of crap!
I was more than willing to take care of it in a timely fashion. The least the police could do is the same.
What if he filed say one day before two years? Would there be a warrant for you out there?? And you can type your story from the county jail cell?
wow I had no idea. what a crappy cop.. though you'd be singing his praises if he found it 2 years later and it was too late
I usually don't have sympathy for the "the man is out to get me" threads --- but this one does seem a bit unfair.
That's nothing man. I had a speeding ticket once in Luling, Texas when I was a freshman in college. I forgot to pay it, forgot about it completely. Nine years later I got a collection notice. They'd sent my ticket to collection without even contacting me in the intervening years.
I had another situation about 15 years ago in San Antonio. Got a ticket (yes, for speeding...I like to get to where I'm going), but the officer accidentally gave me a court date that was on a Sunday. Can't report to court on Sundays in San Antonio. They had to drop it. Always check your tickets to see what day of the week they fall on.
I want to make sure I understand (I may remove my sympathy) When you originally got your ticket -- that tickets was in essence your "bill". You could have mailed in the check and the "bill" two years ago and it would have been taken care of somehow. Instead you hoped to "cheat" the system and got caught. Is that correct -- or couldn't you even pay the ticket until he submitted it?
I think you can mail it in without waiting for him to file a court date. But if you want to dispute the charge in anyway, or to reduce your fines, you need to appear in court? Is that correct?
A couple of days ago I ran a weird stop sign because of it where it is placed it is very confusing where to tell where to stop. I got pulled over and the cop admitted it was a strange place for it wished me happy holidays and let me go. That was nice.
Couldn't pay or take defensive driving until it was submitted...at least that's what they told me when I called the first time shortly after I got the ticket. As I've said twice already in this thread, I was hoping to take care of it by taking defensive driving or by paying it days after it happened. I wasn't hoping to cheat anything.
I think if you are older the cops are nicer to you, especially if you have wife or kids in the car. When I was younger, I always get the ticket no matter how nice I am. But as I got over the 30 year mark, I have got out of four straight ticket situations (twice with wife in the car, twice alone). That was in three different cities.
