Texas Bill Would Allow Cops To Accept Traffic Fines By Credit Card

Written by: Alek Hidell

This month, Texas law makers introduced a bill which would authorize police officers and state troopers to accept traffic penalties on the spot by credit card. The new bill, Texas HB 121, adds an option, which the issuing officer must advise, to pay the citation and related court costs immediately using a credit card swiper carried by the officer himself.  Sponsors of the bill state that the bill attempts to streamline the citation payment process by offering drivers the opportunity to pay immediately.  While this may seem like a valid attempt to make things easier, the single biggest effect of this new bill is that it greatly erodes the nature of due process.

Traditionally, after a citation is issued, the driver has the option to pay the citation or fight it in court.  If you plead not guilty, a civil traffic infraction trial is held. At the trial, the burden of proof is on the officer who issued the ticket.  He must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you, in fact, violated a traffic statute and that he observed it.  Even if you committed a traffic violation, there are a number of factors which come into play in determining your guilt in a court of law besides your actual guilt.  Many citations, when fought in court, are thrown out. Officers have a tendency to become complacent in what they do, particularly in writing tickets.  Many times, tickets are thrown out over simple mistakes made by the officer, either on the citation or during testimony in court.  Every detail has to be 100% accurate for a ticket to stand up in court.  The location, date, time, license plate number, description of vehicle, and accurate statute numbers. These fine details are what can cost cops a perfectly valid ticket.  If you pay the citation on the spot, in a time of nervousness and fear, you lose the opportunity to take the time and properly evaluate the validity of the citation. 

By making immediate payment of citations via credit cards an option, the door opens to a slew of new problems.  Drivers traveling through an area from out of state may feel pressured to pay the citation immediately, as a slick cop can make a convincing argument for you to help yourself and pay now.  There are some small town Police Departments that make their living off of traffic fines from out of area drivers.  The added ability to pay now only gives more incentive for these agencies to write tickets, in hopes of raising more funds with less resistance in court.  When you take a step back and look at HB 121 and bills like it, you can see how the erosion of our rights and freedoms are wrapped up in seemingly innocent packages.  Bills like HR 121 remove due process from the system and silence our voices.  The constitution of the United States clearly lays out the people’s right to face their accuser in a court of law.  Bills like HR 121, while seemingly benign on the surface, are nothing more than the latest attempts to chip away at the fundamental rights we, as American’s, hold dear.