Speeding and No Insurance Citation - How to handle it?

C

Cory

Guest
Jurisdiction
Texas
I was in Austin, TX last week for a work conference and had a rental van for me and my 5 other colleagues. On our final day, we were on our way to work and I was caught driving 37 in a 25, school zone. Since it was a rental I didn't have my insurance on me, it was home in Minnesota.

I asked the officer at the scene if I can mail in my insurance to have that taken off the record and he said I could. My first question, is that all there is to getting that cleared or do I need to fill out paperwork? I don't believe deferred disposition is needed in this case but maybe I am wrong.

My next question, for options to handle the speeding ticket, it lists taking a drivers training course as a potential option and it also offers deferred disposition as an option. Is either of these preferrable for a first time offender? Is either cheaper?
 
Deferred disposition in Austin (Travis County), or deferred adjudication in the other parts of our Texas Republic.

This link is maintained by the courts in Austin.
It explains in detail most of what you want to know:

Deferred Disposition | Municipal Court | AustinTexas.gov - The Official Website of the City of Austin

If the court grants your request, you usually have to avoid any traffic citations for 60 days, maybe 90 in some cases.

You'll be required to provide the court a certified copy of your driving record fr the last year, maybe two years.

You pay some fines, fees, costs, and the whole thing gets dismissed after the probationary period. The probation is usually informal in mst Texas counties. Some counties also charge an extra fee to pay for the probation department paperwork. No county requires you to report. You're on the honor system, kind of, but that certied driving abstract cant be submitted until a week before the end of the waiting period, some counties require the abstract to be submitted on the last day of probation!

If you can get it, it's worth it. It costs more than traffic school, but its so much easier.

Traffic school is cheaper, by about 75% cheaper, but some counties don't allow non-residents of Texas to take it.
 
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