Texas Defensive Driving

If you drive defensively in Texas, you may be familiar with the following observations. If you don’t, you may or may not notice similarities from the state in which you drive in. Texas is so big, yes I know that is a cliché, but it is also true, that you can find all sorts of driving in different types of cities. The people you meet are one of a kind. The weather is sometimes unpredictable, but it’s best that if you are driving in Texas that your vehicle have air conditioning.

The cities in Texas themselves are more varied. For example, Austin defensive driving has more hills than Houston. Actually, any town can have more hills than Houston defensive driving. Big cities like Houston have suburbs, inner city, farmland, and within those, traffic. The traffic in Houston is one of the worst in the country. It can take someone one hour to get to work in the morning. And that is not at all uncommon. The improvements made to some highways, like Interstate 10 have eased that a bit, but now there are tolls and more and more people. It won’t be long before it gets back to the way it used to be. The suburbs are just as you see them in the movies. Houses look similar, there are kids everywhere and from the hours of 6 am to 8am as well as from 4pm to 7pm, you’re driving will be hectic. More and more people are moving back into the city. That means more traffic going into the city then there was before. Cows don’t seem to be that much trouble in the country but hitting a deer is very common, and of course dangerous.

There is a saying that very few people in Houston are natives. That is because so many people come from different parts of the country and world to settle there. The medical and oil industries have kept Houston from falling as far as other cities during the economic crisis. People that were able to sell their houses in California for example, go to Houston and get more home for their dollar. Maybe the Californians find the driving in Texas not so bad compared to what they had. But lets not forget the southern hospitality that you get from the locals. Yes they will flick you off in the middle of the road, and maybe even try to run you over with their trucks, but they can make some awesome iced tea, BBQ and fajitas.

The weather may be just as volatile as the people. One day you will need to drive with your AC at full blast and the next just roll down the windows and enjoy the fresh air. Recent storms have taught the Texan drivers that it is not a good idea to drive down a road when you can’t see the pavement. But it is amazing to be driving in the middle of strong rain one second and sunny roads the next. You can sometimes see the curtain of rain behind you. During spring you can see fields and fields of blue bonnets and daisies. There aren’t buildings as old as there are in other places, but mother nature provides for beautiful scenery.

There are so many things we all complain about when it comes to driving. I will focus on a couple of driver types to keep it short and simple because my list can go on and on. I’m sure everyone has heard of “everything is bigger in Texas”.

And it is true. Everything includes trucks. I’m talking about monster trucks that think they own the road and the big ego drivers that drive them. And it is not just the men. The women truck drivers are just as bad. The recent trend to go green and get a smaller vehicle has brought on a war against the small cars. The big trucks will act as if they don’t see the small cars and pretty much drive them off the road. They don’t bother to signal, give the right of way or use common courtesy.

Another hazard out there is the football moms. Not soccer moms, they are not as abundant, but the football moms that drive in an unbelievably enormous SUV and have a sticker for every kid they have on the back windshield. Normally you can catch them on their cell, drinking their cappuccino, yelling at the kid in the backseat and driving at the same time. These are the same ladies that enforce to their kids safe driving.

I got pulled over on the day we moved into our first house here in Texas. I had just returned the rental truck and was heading back to the house on Westheimer. I have never known the speed limit on Westheimer; it always seemed like you couldn’t go fast enough to speed anyway due to the traffic. I was caught going 50 in a 40 and pulled over. I pulled into a parking lot and got out of the car to speak to the officer. He asked why I was getting out of the car, and told me to get back in the car. I didn’t have my latest insurance card in the car, so he tacked that onto the ticket, but assured me that if I brought proof of insurance to court, the judge would remove that infraction and charge from the ticket. Apparently this is a Texas driving law that I was not aware of. He was cool (not “this is a warning” cool, but cool compared to some other experiences in the past).

I went to my court date and sat and waited while being treated like a child (no hat, no talking, no phone, etc). When it was my turn, I showed the judge my insurance card, she removed the charge and I paid the speeding ticket on my way out. The court process was a pain as most government run things are…

I completed my texas defensive driving on www.texasdefensivedrivingcommission.com and had the ticket removed from my record, while also updating my insurance discount.

It has been 368 days since I last got a speeding ticket. (I only know this because it was the day we moved into our house).

-Jason C.

I once received a ticket for going 12 miles over the speed limit in Texas.  I was driving down I-10 and I was in one of those tunnel-vision modes, just cruising along.  A Texas State Trooper pulled up behind me and to be honest I didn’t even realize it until I was getting pulled over.

So I go to court and request to take a Texas Defensive Driving Course.  Like most others I started getting the cards in the mail, and I decided to go and take one of the courses because of the free pizza offered.

Here I am sitting in this dusty old classroom with a teacher mumbling out different Texas Laws and Regulations, the whole time thinking how mad I was that I got caught speeding.  This was not a fun experience.  The only thing I could think of is how good that pizza was going to taste.  The pizza was delivered 20 minutes before our break, so by the time we were ready to eat it was cold.  So there it was, boring stuffy class, cold pizza, and that state trooper was probably home sleeping on this Saturday.

Needless to say over the years I’ve gotten a few more speeding tickets.  I’ve started to take Online Texas Defensive Driving Courses now instead of those classroom ones.  I personally like how much easier it is.

-John Shifton
-Texas Driver