Speeding Citation; no $ amount, out of state...help? (Houston: rental car, rental)

[NorthByNortheast]

Hi everyone -
I was on a business trip to Houston last week and while driving my rental car back to the airport, I got pulled over for speeding. The citation has no dollar amount on it, and doesn't look like it even has an option to pay it - I have no idea how this works in Texas; I'm in MA and if you get a ticket here, it has an amount on it and an envelope to mail it in. I have no clue what to do with this citation, as all it has on it is a date on which to appear in traffic court in Houston (1000 miles away). On the back it has the address and phone number of the court.

The citation says "for information to help you decide how to take care of your traffic citation, see the NOTICE TO VIOLATOR given to you by the officer," but all he gave me was a blue slip for the citation, I didn't receive anything called a Notice to Violator that I know of...

So that's question number 1.

Question number 2 is, I want to try to appeal this ticket or get it dismissed. Mostly though, I want to avoid inadvertently causing more problems than I already have - it's just not clear what I'm supposed to do next; doesn't seem to be an option to pay it, and I'd like to not have to fly back to Texas to go to traffic court. Could I hire a lawyer in TX to take care of it for me? Can I deal with it over the phone or by mail?

Any help would be appreciated.

[HoustonRonnie]

Call the court. I'd also check to see if MA and TX have reciprocity. If they don't, then consider not paying at all, but never get caught speeding again in TX.

Oh, I checked for you. Massachusettes isn't part of the pact, so Texas doesn't report the ticket to them:

The Interstate Drivers License Compact (DLC) requires member states to report tickets received by motorist to the state where they received a license to drive so as to receive points and get an insurance hike. Also when a state suspends the license of a driver who is from out-of-state, the state where the motorist received a license to drive will also suspend their license as well.

States not members of the Drivers License Compact:

• Georgia
• Massachusetts
• Wisconsin
• Michigan
• Tennessee

Just my $.02

Ronnie

[Bozydeaux]

We live in Lafayette LA, and my husband received a speeding ticket in Houston from the City of Houston back in 2009. I don't know if it applies to MA residents, but he was allowed to apply for "Deferred Disposition" on his ticket. He had to submit a copy of his license, insurance, I think registration, and an application fee. Once it was approved, he paid a "Court Fee" that was basically the same as the fine would've been (maybe $10 or $20 more?) and was then placed on "probation." As long as he didn't get a ticket within the probation period (his was three months), the ticket went away and our insurance was not notified. On the other hand, if he had gotten another ticket, he would then be held liable for the old ticket as well the the new second ticket. I don't know if MA has the same agreement with TX that LA did, but it's worth checking into. We did it all over the phone and through email. Yes, we were still out the fee, but it was worth our insurance not finding out.

And I don't even know if Houston still does this, but it's worth checking on.

[Oildog]

Take a defensive driving course online.