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Types Of Traffic Violations And Their Penalties

There are countless traffic violations for which a driver can be penalized. However, within this vast universe, we can identify the most common ones that occur every day on public roads.

Drivers need to know their rights to defend themselves against any situation that may arise behind the wheel. Therefore, it is important to have a Houston traffic violation attorney to deal with any potential legal penalties that may arise.

In the broad world of traffic violations, we can classify them as follows, according to their severity:

Types of Traffic Violations

Minor Traffic Violations:

These are minor fines, such as parking in a prohibited area, failure to wear a seatbelt, failure to properly use vehicle lights, minor speeding, among others.

Serious traffic violations:

These are the most serious fines and can clearly generate greater consequences. We can name in this group driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, speeding, reckless driving, or fleeing an accident. Of course, if the incident involves personal injury, the severity increases considerably.

Administrative traffic violations:

These are those that are not necessarily committed on public roads, but rather through an unfinished process. For example, failure to renew a driver’s license or driving without insurance. These violations can also be fined and even severely penalized.

Consequences of Traffic Violations

There are several penalties that can be imposed for different types of traffic violations a driver commits. This varies depending on the severity of the offense.

Financial Fines:

Based on the types of violations, there are different types of fines that drivers can receive, ranging from a few dollars to thousands of dollars.

Points on License:

Most U.S. states have a scoring system that adds up points on a driver’s driving record. As stated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), these scoring systems can improve deterrence among drivers in general, preventing further traffic violations.

Driver’s License Suspension:

A driver with repeated violations may have their license revoked. Depending on the severity of the violations, the length of time they will be banned from public roads will depend on the severity of the offenses. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a license may be suspended if convicted of four or more violations within a 12-month period or seven or more violations within a 24-month period.

Jail Time:

For more serious offenses, such as driving under the influence or fleeing a personal injury accident, drivers may face jail time, which will be determined by the local court.

Sameer

Sameer is a writer, entrepreneur and investor. He is passionate about inspiring entrepreneurs and women in business, telling great startup stories, providing readers with actionable insights on startup fundraising, startup marketing and startup non-obviousnesses and generally ranting on things that he thinks should be ranting about all while hoping to impress upon them to bet on themselves (as entrepreneurs) and bet on others (as investors or potential board members or executives or managers) who are really betting on themselves but need the motivation of someone else’s endorsement to get there.

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