New TX DPS laws effective 9/1/9

just and FYI

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr081109.pdf

Awesome link! Thanks!

There was definitely some interesting stuff in there, including for CHL holders.

interesting...Did that article note though that you need to be 18 now to get a drivers license? I thought it was 16 here in Tx?

Thanks for the link.

Looks like I will be buying another car seat.

you can still get a DL at 16 but it's a lot more work now.

akonius wrote:

interesting...Did that article note though that you need to be 18 now to get a drivers license? I thought it was 16 here in Tx?

It is still 16, just a bunch of stipulations

HB 2730 requires that all applicants under the age of 18 take the driving skills exam to receive a driver license.

It also extends the current phase-two restrictions for holders of a graduated driver license from 6 months to 1 year. These restrictions include limited night driving, prohibited use of wireless communication devices and a limited number of passengers.

HB 339 increases the total hours of behind-the-wheel driving instruction a teen receives from 14 to 34

sure would suck to have your 16th birthday on 9/1/9.

I hope my kid's booster seats don't get me into trouble. I don't think I will buy another big car seat. I didn't see anything there about having a kid in a car seat next to a missing door. hehe I guess my kids can still litter the streets with toys they drop.

Ok so I am confused the motorcycle helmet change. So now you can't get the exemption sticker and have to wear a helmet always, or you just have to have standard insurance and not the extra 10,000 minimum?

JKCobra wrote:

Ok so I am confused the motorcycle helmet change. So now you can't get the exemption sticker and have to wear a helmet always, or you just have to have standard insurance and not the extra 10,000 minimum?

Existing law is that you can only go helmetless IF you have have the 10k insurance- The way the existing law is, you have to show proof and pay $10 to get a helmet sticker to put on your license plate. With that sticker, the cops can not pull you over for no helmet. You do not have to have the sticker, but without it you can be pulled over (I've never known anyone that got pulled over for no helmet though).

New law- no minimum amount required. Thus there is no sticker needed. So cops can't pull you over for no helmet.

The law changed about 2 years ago or so, maybe 3, so that cops cannot pull you over ONLY for not wearing a helmet. Even if they don't see a sticker. You have to have first done something for them to pull you over about, then they get to mess with you about it.

Basically they made it legal to ride without a helmet, I think is the end result of this recent change. As long as you're insured, you're fine. Until you hit something. Before I sold my bike I used to prefer to ride without a helmet if I wasn't going to go faster than about 55. Much over that, and the wind over the particular shape of the bike made it hard to deal with wearing only sunglasses.

I was pulled over during college over 10 years ago when the no helmet law was first passed. I didn't have the extra insurance and got pulled over by a campus wanna-be cop. I told him it was the new law and he didn't have a clue. He let me go. Didn't even check insurance.

I like my head where it is. I almost always wear a helmet.

Deacon wrote:

The law changed about 2 years ago or so, maybe 3, so that cops cannot pull you over ONLY for not wearing a helmet. Even if they don't see a sticker. You have to have first done something for them to pull you over about, then they get to mess with you about it..

AH... Did not know that. But I always where a helmet, so it never mattered to me.

Heh, yeah, but if you're tooling around on a Harley at neighborhood speeds, it's damn tempting to go without.

By the way, cops aren't supposed to pull you over ONLY for expired registration/inspection, either. That's not to say they don't, just that they're not supposed to

Deacon wrote:

Heh, yeah, but if you're tooling around on a Harley at neighborhood speeds, it's damn tempting to go without.

By the way, cops aren't supposed to pull you over ONLY for expired registration/inspection, either. That's not to say they don't, just that they're not supposed to

Where did you hear that chit? I could spot an expired registration sticker (the old kind where you had to spot the hole punched through the month) at 60 mph going the opposite direction.

A buddy of mine (and of Justin and Trudy) is a Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy patrolman. That's what he said, anyway...