How Can a Conviction on Your Driving Record or a Criminal Record Of Arrest Affect You?

While many of us tend to be fairly laid-back regarding traffic violation offenses, the truth is these relatively minor infractions of the law can cause you significant levels of grief down the road. This is the way your traffic ticket generally evolves over time: You see the flashing lights in your rearview mirror and are filled with dismay to realize you are being pulled over by a city of Houston police officer. Perhaps you were exceeding the posted speed limit, slid through a stop sign, forgot to renew your inspection or registration sticker, or you committed any number of other relatively minor traffic infractions. You signed the ticket and returned home, fully intending to either pay the fine or appear before a City of Houston judge to plead your case. Then—as so often happens in our busy lives—you forgot to pay your fine or appear in court and next thing you know there is a city of Houston warrant for your arrest. Suddenly that relatively harmless traffic ticket has turned into a very serious issue.

Should You Pay Your Tickets and Fines?
Of course your first instinct is to simply rush down to the court and pay your fines or mail in a check and hope for the best. While either of these solutions will probably take care of the City of Houston arrest warrant with your name on it, they will also leave you with repercussions which could follow you for years and years to come. First of all, once you pay your Houston traffic ticket you have effectively pled guilty to the original offense, and you now have a conviction on your permanent driving record. The problem with those convictions on your driving record lies primarily in the points which go along with each conviction.

In the state of Texas, a moving violation such as running a stop light, neglecting to have a current sticker, speeding or any number of other traffic offenses will garner you two points on your Texas driving record. A moving violation which caused injuries to another will place three points on your driving record. Once these points add up to more than six, you could have some significant problems to deal with. First of all, you could end up having your driver’s license suspended due to the number of points on your driving record which can be a real problem when you depend on your vehicle to get you to work, school or any number of other places you regularly go.

Posting a Bond in Order to Lift an Outstanding Warrant

Law enforcement and judicial officials issue daily warrants all across the nation for those who have failed to appear as required, and the city of Houston issues these warrants as well. The vast majority of Houston arrest warrants stem from failure to appear on a ticket issued for a traffic offense or possibly another minor Class C misdemeanors as many people believe these types of tickets to be relatively non-serious, putting them away and forgetting to pay the fine. Bear in mind that a Failure to Appear criminal charge is not the same as a Houston arrest warrant. A warrant is a mandate for your arrest—no matter where the police find you— while receiving a Failure to Appear adds an additional criminal charge to your problems.

A Solution to an Arrest Warrant
If you have been hit with a Harris County arrest warrant, don’t panic. Our legal system provides a method of avoiding an arrest without paying the fines and dealing with the hidden penalties not to mention the potential embarrassment of being arrested at your home or at work. This remedy is known as a bond; by posting a Houston traffic bond the warrant for your arrest is effectively suspended. This allows you to receive a new court date and the opportunity to fight your old traffic tickets.

Consequences of Simply Paying an Outstanding Houston Traffic Ticket
Remember that any time you write a check for a ticket you are effectively pleading guilty to the offense and are then considered convicted. Posting a bond in Houston allows you time to consult a knowledgeable attorney to discuss your options as well as the consequences you may suffer should you simply pay the ticket. By paying your ticket you become subject to a litany of repercussions including skyrocketing insurance rates and a strike on your driving record. In other words when you pay your moving violation ticket you for each moving violation you pay you will accept two points on your driving record; paying your accident violation ticket will add three points.

Texas Driver Responsibility Program under Fire

Texas Driver Responsibility Program under Fire

HOUSTON—It is common knowledge that drunken-driving laws in America vary from state-to-state, but in Texas, they often differ between counties. This “checkerboard” system of enforcement has recently come under fire, with local judges, lawmakers and upset residents calling for congruent reform and the elimination of hefty surcharges often imposed on top of criminal penalties.

Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, has taken special issue with the state’s Driver Responsibility Program (DRP), which includes a surcharge of $1000 annually for three years for first-time driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offenders. Too often, motorists simply opt not to pay the fines, which Whitmire and law officers said means more people driving without licenses or insurance.