You are not eligible for a deferral for a moving violation if you received your citation while driving in a construction zone when workers were present. Otherwise, there are two ways to request to take a driver safety course and get your moving violation charges dismissed.
Statute-based driver safety course request
You can request to take a driver's safety course and pay $144.00—or $169.00 if the offense happened in a school zone—if all of the following information is true. You:
- Have a Texas driver's license, or are an active military member living in Texas, or their dependent.
- Have insurance.
- Do not have a commercial driver's license.
- Were not driving a commercial vehicle.
- Have not taken a driving safety course in the past 12 months.
- Were not cited for speeding 95+ mph or 25+ mph over the speed limit.
- Were not charged with leaving the scene of a collision.
- Were not charged with passing a school bus.
- Are placing this request before your initial appearance date.
Your request will be approved or denied based on whether you meet the criteria set out by Texas Statute.
Moving violation deferral request
If you do not meet the criteria above but you are eligible to request a deferral, you can request a deferral for a moving violation and pay the associated fees, which you can find in the court's online case portal after your application is processed. Like the statute-based driver safety course request, the moving violation deferral requires taking a driver safety course in order to have charges dismissed. The difference is the cost and the eligibility criteria.