Is it worth it? What should I do?

Brooke Wilde's Avatar
ONE MORE QUESTION, PLEASE

This traffic stop was kind of like a traffic "sting". They were standing in the median & walking out in front of cars & having us pull over to a side street.

I could NOT believe how many people they got. There were more offenders than they could even handle.

Now to my question: Were all of us that got pulled over during that time, at that spot, given the same court day & time to the courthouse on Lubbock?

Do you think with all these stops, the officers are more than likely to show up to court? I figure if they know 15 of us have all plead "not guilty" & have the same reset day, they would absolutely show up. vs. if there are only one or 2 people, they may be less likely to show up.

I'd love to plead not guilty, but I have no clue which way the outcome will play out.
Michael8219's Avatar
Yep UC is right. You only have one moving violation and if you haven’t taken defensive driving within a year of the ticket and meet the other requirements specified in the link below you can request to the city of Houston municipal court to take defensive driving and just pay the $144 court cost, the cost of the course, and the cost to run a copy of your driving record:

http://www.houstontx.gov/courts/HowD...veDriving.html

The other ones I would plead not guilty and or bring them into compliance and then ask for probation or reduced fine and or payment plan.

I’m not sure on your question but yes I believe with 95% certainty that they will book all the “fish” caught in the dragnet-on the same day or split into two days on the officer’s court date.

You can reset once or twice and may win by the officer not showing up but I will always pick defensive driving first.
DoubleEagle's Avatar
Didn’t think Texas had a point system. Request Defensive driving for the speeding and find attorney for others. I’ve used Sullo&Sullo. Your gonna get crazy amount of fliers in the mail from attorneys. But mine was one ticket. Never saw judge. Attorney saw me and came back and said it’s was dismissed. Don’t remember fee. Was like 5’yrs ago. He just wanted to look at you longer which is why he added on charges. Should have tried to barter. LOL.
RickB_4718's Avatar
A good attorney will know to negotiate throwing out the moving violation if you plead guilty to one or more of the non-moving ones. I had an attorney do this for me a long time back where I had a speeding ticket and failure to change my address within 30 days. I plead guilty to not updating my address and they threw out the speeding violation.
500sl's Avatar
  • 500sl
  • 01-07-2025, 12:55 AM
Brooke Wilde's Avatar
Thank you for all the feedback. I have decided I am going to hire an attorney.

That seems like the safest way to go while ensuring I don't have to commit too much time to this process.

Hopefully I can get the speeding dismissed. I have already re-registered my car so I'd bet they will dismiss that one.

That leaves no seatbelt & no front LP & there is no way I'm adding a front LP to my car.
Demolition's Avatar
Front Licence Plate is Texas law: Texas requires all vehicles registered in the state to have a front license plate. You're going to have to do it
Busty's Avatar
  • Busty
  • 01-07-2025, 04:36 PM
Does that mean she will have to pay additional money for a 2nd tag to go on the front of car?
And how much is that approximately?
Does anyone know how much is a 'no seatbelt'
citation?


I was being lazy for a minute and decided to
be helpful..

Unique_Carpenter's Avatar
Brooke,
Go back to dmv, tell them the plate fell off, they'll give you two new plates and reissue the current registration. As mentioned above, required. Have atty tell prosecutor same story and good chances of dismissed. You do not want to tell judge not gonna do it, you'll get you azz spanked.
Demolition's Avatar
Brooke,
Go back to dmv, tell them the plate fell off, they'll give you two new plates and reissue the current registration. As mentioned above, required. Have atty tell prosecutor same story and good chances of dismissed. You do not want to tell judge not gonna do it, you'll get you azz spanked. Originally Posted by Unique_Carpenter
Exactly! You don't go to court asking for forgiveness and then say you aren't putting a second plate on you car when that is the state law. If you are driving a really nice car and don't want to mess with the looks, well you are going to have to suck it up and put it on because it's the law. If it fell off, go to DMW, tell them it fell off and ask for a second plate. Get it fixed before court because if it isn't, the judge will likely give you 30 days to comply
500sl's Avatar
  • 500sl
  • 01-08-2025, 02:54 AM
Driving without a front plate also gives them a valid reason to pull you over. They are ugly, but it is the law
Michael8219's Avatar
I’ve been in a relatives car when he was pulled over for no front license plate. Car had just been purchased used within the past couple weeks with the old plate on the back only and only a warning was issued.

Had I not been in the car I believe a citation would have been issued (just pointing out to the driver to defend himself accordingly, not that I’m a beautiful 1%-er - have you seen my avatar?).

UC, D, and 500 all make excellent points.
Brooke Wilde's Avatar
I know having a front LP is the law, but I'll never put one on. They are ugly as hell. Would I say this to the judge? Of course not.

I normally have my LP suction cupped inside the windshield & they have never given me any hassle over that, it just happened to have fell off & I forgot to stick it back up.

I have never had a front LP on any of my cars except my 1st car back in the late 90's & this is the 1st LP ticket I have receive in my life. 20 years is a good run.
Brooke Wilde's Avatar
This worked for me.

https://mytraffictickets.com/ Originally Posted by 500sl
Thank you for this recommendation. I ended up hiring them.
Seline's Avatar
Yes, hire an attorney. I hired one for three speeding tickets I got on my way to Dallas (the good old boys knew I was coming). The attorney worked out a great deal for me and I was able to keep them off my record. I got three months' probation (no moving violations for three months), and my tickets were all dismissed.

There are affordable attorneys out there. I can't remember my attorney's name, because it happened a few years ago. Good luck.