I just got my first ticket. What am I going to do?

Talk to your parents…since you’re under their household and ultimately they’re liable for you while you drive (as your legal guardians), they’re gonna have to step in and assume the “adult” responsibility here.

As for what kind of penalties and potential consequences, that’s different in each state; you can check the vehicle code for Texas and perhaps the local laws in your county (if it was a county officer, versus a state trooper). In either case, provisional licenses may be subject to stricter penalties than full licenses…just my observation from my younger 16 y/o sister getting 3 tickets in California.

And stop being in such a hurry! Oops too late…oh well, good luck.

Another reason I’m glad I don’t live in Texas. Slow down! You want to make it to be old enough to tell your 16 year old to slow down.

You were stupid, you will lose your license. On top of that, you will pay a fine (pretty big one) and you will not drive again until you are 18… any chance you had for a license when you turned 16 get flushed if you have any violations before signing up for Driver’s Ed.

Nobody can fix this one for you… and there’s no way out unless it was a life or death situation.

I got my first speeding ticket when I was 19, and it was for doing 62 in a 55. For that, I did Deferred Adjudification: Pay a slightly bigger than normal fine, but the charge doesn’t go on your record… but given how badly you screwed the pooch here, you likely won’t see that option.

Gotta be responsible

Additionally, my second speeding ticket came last year at age 23. It was for 58 in a 55 mph zone… Same city. Some cities are notorious for “writing tickets in volume for bonus cash” for the officers… but 90 plus? That’s just begging for it.

When you are older than 21, you can do Deferred Adjudification, but only if you take Defensive Driving as well, and also, if you haven’t plead guilty to another ticket within a year.

By the way, being a french person, I don’t know why it’s allowed to a 16 years old person to drive a car and that the same person can’t go in a bar until 21…

As said before, I don’t think a 16 years old person can be responsible for driving a car, with all that involve…

Information on what penalties you may get (especially in regards to being a “provisional” driver), should be available from the traffic authority or the police. I would suggest checking there.

As for what you should do? Follow the instructions you have been given on the ticket, or from police.

Going 25 mph (40km/h) over the speed limit? No way was that unintentional – any penalty you get is deserved. You know the law, and you broke it. It’s your problem, so deal with it.

Slow down – a lot – and talk to your parents.

90 in a 65 zone, what were you thinking. Scrap that. Doesn’t sound like you were thinking, not clearly anyway. Is there anywhere you can seriously go 90mph in the US? I don’t know what speed limits you have over there but I think our max is 80, actually reading now it looks like 80 is the max on rural interstates. But I agree with jonno.

I went over the speed limit a bit by accident when I was on a slower road (a 30mph zone) and got worried when I went over a bit when a police car was driving behind me (just generaly, no flashing lights or anything) but there were no consequences there, I’ve just learnt that I need to make sure I keep my eye on everything around me as I drive, trying to keep my speed constant is getting easier but it’s not too easy yet, I’ve only been driving for a total of 7 hours!

I am nearly certain that you can say goodbye to your license. As said before, juniors have much stricter rules. It will also be much harder for you to get your senior license. I’m sorry, but you seriously screwed up.

Calm Down. You will not lose your license. Here is what a car insurance site says:

“The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has online the driver’s handbook for TX. Here it states that the DPS has the authority to suspend/revoke the driver license or driving privilege of a minor, after a proper hearing, for the following reasons:

1. failure to appear or default in payment of a fine for a traffic or a non traffic violation
2. repeated violations of traffic laws such as:

* 2 or more convictions for moving violations occurring separately within any 12-month period for a driver who has a provisional driver license;
* 1 or more convictions for a moving violation if the driver holds a 60-day hardship (Minor’s Restricted Driver License) license.

It does not appear that this one speeding ticket will get your license suspended as long as you pay the fine for the traffic offense and do not receive another moving violation within the next 12 months while you have your provisional license.

To find out the fine amount and what other penalties may be associated with your speeding citation for 30 mph over the posted speed limit contact the court listed on the ticket. You may see if deferred adjudication is available to you as a 16 year old or not.

We have read that due to Texas SB 1005 (which went into effect as of September 1, 2005) younger drivers will now have a harder time getting traffic violations removed from their motor vehicle record. This Senate Bill that was signed into law relates to the suspension of sentence and the deferral of final disposition for a defendant younger than 25 in certain misdemeanor traffic cases.

This TX law now provides that if a driver younger than 25 years of age commits a traffic offense classified as a moving violation, the judge must require the driver to complete a driving safety course and, if the driver holds a provisional driver license (under 18 years of age), submit to a DPS road test. Failure by the driver to meet this requirement will result in a final conviction for that traffic offense instead of an adjudication.

The clerk of the court for the jurisdiction you received the ticket in should be able to give you more information and tell you if adjudication is possible to keep this ticket off your record and what penalties you may face as a minor with speeding 30 mph over the limit.”

So, it looks like possibly another road driving test, traffic school, and a stiff fine. What I am hoping to hear is that you have some understanding of why you should not be driving ninety miles an hour.

You can take defensive driving as long as the ticket wasn’t 25mph over the posted speed limit. Having a provisional license doesn’t make anything worse for you – you will not lose your license on this first citation. (If you rack up a few more, you’ll be looking at suspension.)

The best course of action: either you or your parents should call the phone number on the back of the ticket – request to take the defensive driving course. They’ll point you in the right direction. You’ll have to pay a fee to the state to get a copy of your driving record, sign an affidavit (and have it notarized), and pay some court fees. They you just get online, sign up for a defensive driving class, and be done with the ordeal. It won’t be on your driving record (assuming you don’t get another ticket within a year), and your insurance won’t go up.

source: Grew up in Texas, and became well acquainted with the Houston Police Department’s Traffic Division

Wow, Texas is lenient. Here in New York you can’t get a senior license till 18, and with 1 offence poof it’s gone.

Don’t forget about your auto insurance premium going up too…very likely.

Pay it off and don’t do it again

You could go to court and try and get it appealed. But this probably wont do any good knowing that you were almost going 30 over the speed limit. So your best bet is to probably just pay off the fine and try to drive the speed limit from now on.

Oh and all your dreams are dead!

If you are going to be thought of as responsible enough to be behind the wheel, you are going to have to own up to what you did and accept the consequences. It’s not the end of the world for you. You will be able to drive again at some point. Just try to use this as an early lesson on what not to do. Slow down and be more careful from now on. And stay safe!!

ok, you’re getting a lot of good advice here from fellow flutherers, so take heed and use it. but my advice to you is, unless you’re driving an ambulance or a squad car, nothing is so urgent. manage your time so you don’t have to speed. don’t be fooled that attractive women get out of tickets because law enforcement hates speeders and “know-it-alls.” hope you learned a valuable lesson.

If you’re a minor, the state can take away your licence for doing less than what you did. They can take it away from you until you’re 18, and before you can get it again, you’ll have to pay a $150 reinstatement fee.

Texas used to be more lenient on provisional driver licenses until it passed the Driver Responsibility Act in 2003. I wouldn’t trust what an car insurance place says in regard to the laws, for the fact that they don’t keep up with changes as fast as the government does.

In ohio, if you’re 16 you can only have one person in the car with you. Also, if you get any ticket within your first year of driving, you have to go to court and then you have to drive with only your parents till you’re 17.

I am looking for answers myself, My 16 yr old daughter just got her liscense 4 months ago and recieved a ticket for going 36 in a 20 school zone. I called a friend at the police station and he told me that because she is a minor that she has to appear before the court and that she is ineligable to take defensive driving because anything over 15 miles above the speedlimit is not eligable for defensive driving. I pray when we go to court that they do not take her driverse liscense away, She is in an early college high school that she had to qualify for. She is making A’s but in order to go to this school she has to travel between high school and college classes in the next town every day. She is on track to recieve her associates in science and her high school diploma next year. She has a great oppertunity and I know that speeding in a school zone was careless and my daughter is devestated, But In her defense, She never travels that area of town and the zone is in a busy and unusual area of the main strip and she said she didnt realize that she had entered a school zone. I would just hate to see what should be one of those lessons learned as a young adult, become something that changes the whole course of her future,,,,wish us luck,,,,will post outcome.