How Much are Traffic and Speeding Ticket Fines and Penalties in Texas?

The Texas Driver Responsibility Program assesses surcharges for individuals with certain traffic convictions.

Drivers who are convicted of one of the following offenses will pay a yearly surcharge for three years. No points are applied for these offenses since the surcharge is automatic upon conviction. Keep reading to learn how much speeding tickets are in Texas depending on the offense.

  • Intoxication: 1st offense, Texas or out-of-state conviction for driving, intoxication assault, or manslaughter: $1,000
  • Intoxication: 2nd, 3rd, or more offenses, Texas or out-of-state conviction for driving, intoxication assault, or manslaughter: $1,500
  • DWI with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16 or greater, Texas or out-of-state conviction: $2,000
  • Driving without insurance: $250
  • Driving while license invalid: driver’s license is canceled, suspended, denied renewal, or revoked: $250
  • Driving without a license, no driver’s license or commercial driver’s license, expired license, or endorsement violation(s): $100

Surcharges are assigned based on the number of points or convictions on the driver’s record. Surcharges are applied in addition to other fees and do not replace a suspension, revocation, disqualification, denial, or cancellation resulting from these convictions.

Tiered Speed Limit Fines in Texas

Texas speeding ticket fines and costs are set by the municipality in which you received a ticket. Your ticket may show the fine on it, or you may need to contact the court. There is a different scale in each municipality. To give you an idea, here are average fines for traffic violations in a few different Texas cities:

  • Houston
    • 1-5 miles per hour over speed limit: $165
    • 6-9 miles per hour over speed limit: $180
    • 10-14 miles per hour over the speed limit: $195
    • 15-19 miles per hour over speed limit: $240
    • 20-29 miles per hour over speed limit: $265
    • 30 miles or more per hour over speed limit: $300
  • Austin
    • 5 miles per hour or less over speed limit: $164
    • 6-10 miles per hour or less over speed limit: $194
    • 11-15 miles per hour or less over speed limit: $239
    • 16-20 miles per hour or less over speed limit: $284
    • 21-25 miles per hour or less over speed limit: $301
    • 26-30 miles per hour or less over speed limit: $301
  • San Antonio
    • $166 for the first 10 miles per hour over speed limit and then $5 more for each additional mile per hour over that.

 

Comedy Defensive Driving can help you dismiss your speeding ticket in Texas quickly and save you money on your fine.

 

Texas Cities – Speeding Statistics

Texas is the state with the fifth highest volume of speeding tickets in the U.S. Here are some other statistics about speeding tickets fines in Texas:

  • The largest “speed traps” tend to be counties on the I-10 and I-20 corridors; many of these counties are highly reliant on revenues from traffic violations.
  • Despite a population of around 4,000, Sutton County recorded 378 speeding tickets of drivers going over 100 miles per hour in the first 11 months of 2015.
  • The greater Houston and Austin areas are also dense areas for speeding tickets; Montgomery, in Houston’s Harris County, saw 2,515 traffic tickets last year despite the fact the population is less than 700 people.
  • The largest speed traps in North Texas cities with over 10,000 people, particularly around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, are Southlake and Hurst (each of which has 0.5 traffic tickets per capita).