Texas
Texas ticket dismissal rules and your answer date deadline
Texas lets most non-CDL drivers erase a ticket completely with a 6-hour driving safety course. Not eligible? Deferred disposition usually catches what the course cannot. The statute most sites still cite, art. 45.0511, was recodified on January 1, 2025; everything below cites the current law, Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 45A.
Verified against: Texas Courts · TDLR · Texas DPS
Do you have a CDL (commercial driver's license)?
- 1 · Driving safety course (dismissal). Statutory right if eligible. Request by the answer date with a guilty/no-contest plea, complete the 6-hour course within 90 days, file the certificate + record + affidavit. Charge dismissed, kept off your record, insurer barred from raising your rate over it. Costs: court costs + up to $10 admin fee + course tuition. art. 45A.352–.358
- 2 · Deferred disposition. Judge's discretion, up to 180 days of conditions, then dismissal with no conviction. No speed cap, so it is the fallback for 25+ over / 95+ tickets and repeat course users. Excluded: CDL moving violations and workers-present work-zone tickets. art. 45A.301–.305
- 3 · Contest or pay. Contesting risks the full fine but wins a dismissal if the state cannot prove it. Paying is a conviction on your record. Texas repealed its surcharge point program (the old Driver Responsibility Program) in 2019, but insurers still see convictions. DPS: DRP repealsingle source · verify
- Answer date on the citation: the course request (with plea) must be filed or postmarked by this date. art. 45A.352(a)(4)
- 90 days: to finish the course and file proof once granted. art. 45A.356(a)
- Missed the 90 days: the court orders a show-cause appearance; no good cause means judgment and conviction. Extensions exist for good cause. art. 45A.355–.356
- Dismissal does not mean free: court costs and fines applicable to the offense are not waived, and the certificate is your job to file, not the school's. art. 45A.358 TDLR
- The 12-month lockout runs from your prior course to the new offense date, not to the day you ask. art. 45A.352(a)(3)
- Your course completion is visible to insurers even though the dismissed charge is not. The charge cannot raise your premium; your overall record still can. art. 45A.357
Paying or appearing happens at the court printed on your citation; there is no statewide Texas payment portal. Need a court's contact or a lawyer, use the official directories, not the ad sites.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. ch. 45A (formerly arts. 45.051 and 45.0511, recodified by H.B. 4504, eff. Jan. 1, 2025) · Tex. Transp. Code §§ 542.404, 545.066 · TDLR driving safety course rules · Texas DPS on the 2019 Driver Responsibility Program repeal. Linked inline above; single-source claims are chipped.