Suspended license in Texas finally getting noticed.

Hmm. I guess instead of getting upset about the situation, people could actually try being responsible, not driving with a suspended license, paying their fines when due, and not driving under the influence.

Much better to be lazy and break the law and then complain about the hassle I guess.

 

aceshigh,

didn't you get a ticket for squealling tires? i bet you deserved that.

 

Thank you! Responsibility, people!

 

I think he is saying not to drive with an expired license.

 

keep your license up to date with your current address. you're supposed to.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Is your lawyer Lionel Hutz?

 

Damn you.

Aces

 

DWLS cases, and no insurance cases (because they typically go hand-in-hand) should both be Class B misdemeanors. I really don't feel bad for people who can't keep their license current, when it's something you can do online or through the mail, once every few years. And most people who get those cases keep getting them over and over... they make no attempt at keeping things current.

The fines are from the court. The surcharges are a fee from DPS, consider it part of what you pay to keep your license. I really wouldn't mind if they eliminated the surcharge and instead started imposing some real jail time (up to the maximum 1 year for a class A) for repeat violators. People might even take the law seriously then.

 

I love these threads where you complain about the law, man. I really do. You get all worked up and indignant. But still, I have alot more experience dealing with these cases than you do, and I can talk about whatever aspect of them that I want. You're not the post police.

Speaking of the law, I love how people throw around phrases like

You are responsible for keeping your address up to date with DPS, you are responsible for keeping your license current, and there's nothing unconstitutional about them charging an extra fee when you fail to do so.

 

I read the post...so don't say I didn't. And I don't have any sympathy to people who get slapped with the surcharges. If it's something like an expired license, or suspended license (from another reason) it's that person's responsibility to keep track of/ know what's up with their license etc. Take the "little" laws serious, or you'll be in for a lot more.

 

I had heard somewhere that the fees and penalties for driving on a suspended license are much more harsh than the fees for driving with no license at all, and that that's why illegal aliens are better off when they drive with no license.

(don't know if that's true or not)

 

Could care less about the surcharges and such. And there's no freaking excuse to have an expired license to begin with. It's printed on your damn license. If you don't have the ability to calculate the expiration date or pay to renew it, you shouldn't be driving.

If all of this somehow results from a DWI-type offense, it's still your attorney's responsibility to advise you as to what to do, and your responsibility to follow that advice so nothing bad happens.

It's your traffic lawyer's responsibility to keep up with the law. If they can't demonstrate competency within that field of law, they shouldn't be practicing in it. If they give you bad advice, complain to the Bar.

Anyway. The bigger problem is the State raping the trauma centers of the funding to dump it into the general fund. This is what should piss people off.

 

I had another thread about this - I got pulled over and found out my insurance wasn't valid last summer. I've been paying fees and fines ever since, and, as of right now, I have no idea whether my license is valid or not. I think it is, since I've paid for everything. But, since DPS now won't let me change the address on my license for yet another $100 "reinstatement fee," (that takes 7-10 weeks to process - which is strange considering it only took them 1 day to take the fee out of my account), I'm not aware.

The article does not go about the underhanded manner in which DPS collects these fees and fines, and the purposive obfuscation in the entire process - it is written into the law that courts are not required to inform you of all these extra fees that you will be forced to pay. I suspect many courts are not even aware that the state is extorting money from people even after all the penalties have been paid and the case is, or should be, long over.

The article does mention, however, that there is no appeals process, no way to combat these extra fines. In my case, the total fees and forms and compliance costs are going to end up being almost triple what I paid for the offense in court.

Y'all worshipping state papers are free to congratulate yourselves on your great civic responsibility and your inherent superiority in following the dictates of Texas Driver's Law, but continually trying to recast this as solely an issue of personal responsibility is just petty. "Golly gee, if you had just been awesome and kept all your official papers in order like I do you'd have nothing to worry about! To bad you're not law-abiding like I am!"

What's at issue here is that the state is doing a blatant, and uncontestable, bullying money grab in a very underhanded way - the punishment does NOT fit the crime, and they avoid that by making the Driver's Responsibility Program fees part of "administrative costs" instead of what they really are - punitive fees. This is essentially ignoring double-indemnity. And no lawyer is going to challenge the state on these costs, and even if one would, there's no way most people would be able to afford it.

Since you good citizens have such fantastically complete driving files, would you be okay with the penalty for, say, failing to pay a separate registration fee on your tags to be $10,000 and suspension of your license (which requires an extra $100,000 reinstatement fee)? Would that be okay? Because people really should follow the law, and it's their own fault if they have to pay $110,000 to the state of Texas.

 

I can understand why so many of yall support it and say be responsible. But its CLEARLY a money grab. And that kind of thing pisses me off. Prevent the crimes, dont wait on em...

Its like a speed trap, the cop is hiding somewhere to catch someone doing a crime. Why not just stop on the side of the road with their lights flashing. That way instead of catching a criminal they prevent the crime... Oh ya. Money...

 

Instead of running a speed trap, why don't you go bust a drug dealer or some illegal aliens or something - ANYTHING else?

Why?

Because busting a drug dealer doesn't bring in revenue.

Money.

It's more important than fighting crime.

 

Speeing is a crime and it costs a lot more lives than illegal aliens.