There were no blog posts about it because I was embarrassed, but believe it or not, it was my first speeding ticket ever and first ticket in Houston. Not bad.
I took defensive driving and thought everything was good. Even dropped the defensive driving proof off at the municipal court personally. The clerk said I was finished. What a relief.
Then the city of Houston screwed up.
I received a letter in the mail (IN ALL CAPS) telling me that my defensive driving choice was denied and then listed a bunch of possible options for the reason. This after the clerk at the courts told me all was OK:
THE RECORDS IN THIS CASE REFLECT THAT YOU HAVE FAILED TO COMPLY WITH YOUR APPLICATION TO TAKE A COURT ORDERED DRIVING SAFETY COURSE.The next day I called the number on this letter. That number was no longer in service. So I resorted to 311. The wait time was maybe three minutes so that wasn't too bad. The operator was very nice and told me there had been a mistake - I was actually in the clear. She took my number and said she would call me back and let me know when everything was taken care of and I no longer had to appear in court.
EITHER YOU WERE INELIGIBLE TO TAKE DRIVING SAFETY COURSE (DSC) WHEN YOU REQUESTED IT BECAUSE YOUR DRIVING RECORD INDICATES YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY REQUESTED IT (not true), YOUR DRIVING RECORD INDICATES YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY TAKEN A COURSE WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE OFFENSE CURRENTLY BEFORE THE COURT (not true either), YOU ARE THE HOLDER OF A COMMERCIAL DRIVER'S LICENSE (nope) OR BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT SUBMITTED ALL OF THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO HAVE THE COURT PROPERLY DISPOSE OF THIS CASE (not true).
THEREFORE, YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO APPEAR BEFORE MUNICIPAL COURT NO. 2...
[snip]
A FINE OF $150.00 IS NOW DUE (this is like a red light camera!)...
IF YOU FAIL TO APPEAR ON THIS DATE AND TIME OR FAIL TO PAY YOUR FINE, A CAPIAS PRO FINE (WARRANT) WILL BE ISSUED FOR YOUR ARREST.
That was a couple of weeks ago, I still haven't heard back.
This could have happened because I turned the paperwork in the day before it was all due, but I personally took it down to the court and when I left the building, it was supposedly taken care of all in time. Does this mean the court prepares this type of letter ahead of time and just sends it out without checking if the paperwork is in?
Marvin Zindler recently did a story about a woman who thought her ticket was taken care of too, but then found out years later there was a warrant in her name. This could turn out to be a common occurrence at 1400 Lubbock. Maybe one of the many enterprising TV or newspaper reporters who read this blog would like to take a closer look at the municipal court system.
Does this mean my only option is to appear in court to provide evidence I actually attended defensive driving and submitted the proper paperwork? Seems like a waste of everyone's time when the city told me everything was OK.
Do I trust that 311 operator, assume it was all taken care of and not appear in court?
Sure don't want to have another parking problem at a city building. CONTACT: Leave me a Houston or Texas media news tip | COMMENT: Click to leave your thoughts on this post here
