I Hate Insurance laws!!!

[tony]

selma pd waited at the end of my driveway one morning so they could write me a ticket for an expired inspection

selma pd are mouth breathers

[Bill S]

I had a Selma PD whip a u-turn, IN A SCHOOL ZONE, then fly through it to catch up with me for an expired inspections sticker. All for a $10 ticket.

[alton]

Well since we are picking on Selma PD my wifes boss while pregnant got pulled over for speeding thru Selma in the 80's and while the officer was giving her the ticket commenced to puke on him. (True Story)

[tony]

hahaha alton you just made my day

what kills me is on fri or sat nights one will sit at the entrance of my neighborhood waiting for people to roll through a single stop sign, at 1 AM. nevermind the countless drunk driver speeding up and down the road we cant let someone get away with not coming to a complete stop.

ive actually written a letter to the new mayor of selma begging him to get a hold of the selma pd and not make them the punch line of every joke around here any longer but I cant pull the trigger on sending it. they targeted me enough as it is. you would have thought when they were on every tv station in town asking people they pull over for personal information they had no business knowing that would have been a wake up call. nope, they still do it.

[chunkymonkey]

If what you say is accurate, the officer did a poor Job explaining theprocess. I'll try typing satails later, but in short, the officer does not have to issue a citation for the causing factor of he accident. Most won't unless the see the accident take place. But, the officer would note it to be a contributing factor to the accident on the report.

[jroescher]

I know better than to get into this, but...

The purpose of the police investigating an accident is to determine if there was a violation of the Transportation Code, or if a criminal offense occurred. Period. The accident report that is filled out is a STATISTICAL REPORT. The sections about what happened and the contributing factors are the officer's OPINION. Doesn't have to prove up anything, it's only an opinion. Traffic citations issued because of an accident do have to be proved up. If the officer doesn't feel that he can prove the violation later in court, then he shouldn't issue a citation. Insurance companies require you to make a police report because it's an independent investigation of the accident that doesn't cost them anything. Who's responsible for fixing what car is between the drivers. Who owes who or how much is owed to which person is of no concern to the police. It's not their job. Nor are they bill collectors. If an officer tells you they don't investigate or make reports of accidents under a certain amount of damage, that's a department policy or the officers decision, not state law. Actually, with some exceptions the Transportation Code says that an officer 'may' investigate any accident. Not 'shall'.

And since a parking lot is not a public roadway, those accidents are usually not investigated by the police. Most of the transportation code doesn't apply in a parking lot. And if a report is made, it's not submitted to the state. You are on your own if you have a collision in a parking lot.

Insurance is now tied to your vehicle's registration records. When an officer runs a license plate, he also gets the insurance information at the same time. It must be verified, but if someone can't produce an insurance card doesn't necessarily mean they don't have insurance. You may still get a ticket, but if you show up at the court within some specified time period and produce an insurance policy that was in effect at that time, ticket is dismissed. While the law requires you to carry an insurance card, and you can be cited for not having it, the law also requires the court to dismiss the ticket if you produce the insurance policy.


Many many years ago, Reader's Digest published an article about speed traps in the US. Selma TX made the top of the list. I think it was DPS that got them that title.


Stopping people who don't come to a complete stop at an intersection at 1am is an excellent way to catch drunk drivers. (I'm being serious here.)

[jroescher]

Kristy, I completely agree with you on the perils of being poor. When someone is down, kick them. And keep kicking them until there's no hope left. I think it's sad that our society is that way.

It actually cost closer to $50.00/day to house an inmate in jail. Most municipalities do not operate a jail and must pay the county to house a prisoner. I recently polled agencies throughout the area and the going rate to house a prisoner was $50. Many counties also house inmates at different counties, again around $50 a day per person. If they have room, counties take in inmates from other jurisdictions as a way to make money.

Prison is considerably more though. Cheaper to raise a family of 4 than house 1 person in TDCJ.

[apedroza]

Anthony,
At this point, it has already been reported to your insurance company so you can't really take it off. If you are not at fault for the accident, it should not raise your rates (at least with most insurance companies that is the case). It is always possible that they could find additional damage when they are in there doing the repair, so getting your insurance to cover it could be the smarter way to go.

Actually I was able to cancel the claim. The amount of the repairs was only $7 over my deductible, so I went ahead an paid it. BTW heres another thing that happened to me today. Was driving to Lockhart from Austin on 183 and there is massive construction. All of a sudden I see this huge projectile (thought it was a bird) coming at my window, pow next thing I know this giant piece of road rock smashes into my window and leaves a HUGE round crack in it. Luckily I was in our old Nissan P-up, but still not a good time to be one of my vehicles!!!