Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Underage Drinking and Driving

If you’re a minor, meaning you're under 21 years of age, and found to be in possession of alcohol, you may face up to a $500 fine, 30–180 days of your driver's license being suspended, eight to 40 hours of community service, and mandatory alcohol-awareness classes. A minor in possession begets major punishment.
Any amount of beer, wine or liquor found in the system of or possessed by a minor can trigger these penalties. This is known as the Zero Tolerance law in Texas. A second or third offense can lead to suspension of your driver license for 60 to 180 days. If you’re 17 or older, you also can be fined as much as $2,000 and go to jail for up to 180 days for a third offense. Time to ditch that lucky beer bottle cap from your key chain!
If you're a parent then be a good example for your children: don’t drink and drive. Remind your children to call you if they’re ever in an uncomfortable situation. Teach them never to get in a car with someone who’s been drinking. Also, teach the people who they're getting into cars with to not drink while they drive.
Furnishing alcohol to someone under 21 can lead to a $4,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Selling alcohol to a minor is a Class A misdemeanor, which can bring a $4,000 fine and land the seller a year in jail.


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Faces of Distracted Driving

I ran into this website: www.distraction.gov,
which is dedicated to the awareness of distracted drivers.

•In 2009, there were 30,797 fatal crashes in the United States, which involved 45,230 drivers. In those crashes 33,808 people died.
•In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities).
•The proportion of fatalities reportedly associated with driver distraction increased from 10 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2009. During that time, fatal crashes with reported driver distraction also increased from 10 percent to 16 percent.
•The portion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crashes increased from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009.
•The under-20 age group had the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes (16%). The age group with the next greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the 20- to-29-year-old age group – 13 percent of all 20-to-29-year-old drivers in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted.
•Of those drivers reportedly distracted during a fatal crash, the 30-to-39-year-old drivers were the group with the greatest proportion distracted by cell phones. Cell phone distraction was reported for 24 percent of the 30-to-39-year-old distracted drivers in fatal crashes.
•Light-truck drivers and motorcyclists had the greatest percentage of total drivers reported as distracted at the time of the fatal crash (12% each). Bus drivers had the lowest percentage (6%) of total drivers involved in fatal crashes that were reported as distraction-related.
•An estimated 20 percent of 1,517,000 injury crashes were reported to have involved distracted driving in 2009.


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Web-Based Driving Safety Courses in Texas

The most convenient and cheapest option for driver safety courses in Texas are those that are web-based. While it may lack the entertainment value that comedic classroom-based driving safety courses provide, it's better for some Texans to sit in the comfort of their own living room or office and listen to as well as watch a driving safety course on their computer screen than attend a live class with a licensed driving instructor who may or may not be versed in comedic performance as well. For those Texans, there are an abundance of options available of which don't really vary in price or convenience, but often vary in experience. Without doing some research, a person really can't know which option is going to offer the best experience for him or her.

The price of web-based driving safety courses across Texas vary little from provider to provider. By running a Google search using, “web-based driving safety course in Texas” as your search terms, you'll notice that every driving safety course provider that turns up in the results offers their web-based driving safety course for twenty-five dollars. By state law, the lowest price any driving safety course provider can offer for a driving safety course, whether web-based or classroom-based, is twenty-five dollars. For classroom-based driving safety courses, schools generally charge anywhere from $29 such as at Comedy Driving, Inc., to as much as $59 at other driving safety course providers. Some driving safety course providers distribute coupons for a discount on their classroom-based driving safety courses which may decrease the price to $25 such as it does at Comedy Driving, Inc., classroom-based driving safety courses, but not every driving safety course provider distributes such a coupon and those that do may not decrease the price the $25 that is required as the minimum by Texas law. You'll only find driving safety courses that start at $25 without any sort of coupon or discount by taking a web-based driving safety course.

The distance from the course provider to the address where you'd like to have your Certificate of Completion mailed probably won't be a huge factor in your decision of what web-based driving safety course provider to use. While most driving safety course providers state to allow one to seven days for delivery of your Certificate of Completion, you'll most likely receive it much sooner than seven days. If close by, two to three days is more likely albeit never guaranteed. Taking a web-based driving safety course from a driving safety course provider that is located on the opposite side of Texas from where you're located could potentially take significantly longer than a driving safety course provider that is within no more than a few hours driving distance from your location.

Most web-based driving safety courses are designed to fit your schedule so that they're as convenient as possible. Since you're given unique login identification and a password, you're able to login at anytime, day or night, and you can logout to take breaks anytime. When you logout during the web-based driving safety course, your progress is saved so you can step away for hours or even days at a time and finish it later when you some free time or just want something to use to kill some time at work. When choosing a web-based driving safety course, you can choose between completely serious or funny at every opportunity available. Just as some driving safety course providers have their classroom-based courses taught by comedians, they also provide a web-based driving safety course that has contributions from actual comedians to make the web-based driving safety course as funny as possible.

Once you complete a web-based driving safety course which includes a test you must pass at the end of the course, a Certificate of Completion will be mailed to you with has your information that your provided printed on it so that it's ready for you to take to the court where your ticket is being handled. If you only took the web-based driving safety course for insurance purposes then you'll receive a copy of the Certificate of Completion specifically for your insurance company.


Wednesday, August 3, 2011



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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Construction Zones

Each year in Texas, there are approximately 15,000 crashes and more than 100 people killed in highway construction and maintenance zones. The two leading causes of work zone crashes are excessive speed and the failure to remain alert while driving. As a result, one in three work zone crashes is a rear-end collision. In 2009, there were 3,871 distracted driving crashes in Texas work zones, involving 7,837 vehicles. These distracted driver crashes resulted in 27 fatalities. Don't mistake the orange barrels for slalom poles. They're not meant for you to weave in and out of them. They're meant to separate you and the workers from danger.
At any one time, there can be more than 1,000 Texas highway work zones in operation. With so much construction, motorists frequently encounter work zones. Please keep the following tips in mind when driving through work zones:
 Slow down and always follow posted work zone speed limits. Speeding is one of the major causes of work zone crashes. Remember, traffic fines double in work zones.
 Pay attention. Workers and heavy equipment may only be a few feet from passing vehicles.
 Be patient. Delays from highway construction can be frustrating, but it only takes a few extra minutes to slow down for a work zone.
 Plan ahead. Leave a few minutes early when traveling through a work zone in order to reach your destination on time.


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

ACCIDENTS INVOLVING PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH

The operator of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to or death of a person shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident or as close to the scene as possible, immediately return to the scene of the accident if the vehicle is not stopped at the scene of the accident and remain at the scene of the accident until the operator complies with the requirements of rendering aid as stated by the Texas Transportation Code. It's called a “scene” because some people like to act like they're injured and you really should get back there as quickly as possible so they don't have a chance to make up a story for their one-man play.
An operator of a vehicle required to stop the vehicle must do so without obstructing traffic more than is necessary. If it can be moved by your own means then you should move it. Otherwise, unless you happen to have Superman in your back pocket to move your upside-down vehicle to the side of the road, you should just get yourself out of the way of traffic as quickly as possible.
A person commits an offense if the person does not stop or otherwise comply with the laws for rendering aid and accidents involving personal injury or death. Such an offense is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for not more than five years or confinement in the county jail for not more than one year, a fine not to exceed $5,000 or both the fine and the imprisonment or confinement. Stick around at the scene of the accident and help out where you can so you can use that time and money to get your clunker fixed.


Monday, July 25, 2011

Smart Phone, Dumb Driver

Have you ever been stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway and thought, “I wish I knew what was goin' on up there?” Of course, you have. That's what everyone thinks when they're struck in traffic. As if by knowing what's going on will somehow make it all go away and you can continue on you way.
These days there are actually quite a few tools most people have at their disposal that could help them find out that sort of information. Although, most of the tools are the very same thing that cause the accidents that, in turn, cause the traffic to be backed up so badly. These tools are your cell phones. There are a lot of great uses for a cell phone when you're driving: GPS, traffic updates and taking pointless pictures of yourself driving to put on Facebook instead of having both hands on the wheel to make sure you don't become the cause of the traffic being locked-in at a standstill.
When you're using one of the tools on your smartphone to find out about the traffic in your area, you should only do so when your car isn't and shouldn't be moving. Do it in your driveway or in a parking lot before you get moving. Stop some place away from traffic like a gas station or restaurant to double-check the information or update the route on your GPS. There's no point is having a smartphone that has all those capabilities if you're just going to make dumb decisions. Be smarter than your phone.