“....In Texas you can plead to deferred adjudication. It’s basically the same price as a speeding ticket but it does not go on your record. Furthermore you do not have to spend all day in a defensive driving class....”
Yep....except for the upstanding, sovereign state of McMullen County. There, it is “cash only” at a payment booth that’s only open two days/week for short hours, and IF you want to plead Deferred Adjudication, they will double the fine for the ticket. That happened to me back in 2014 during the oil boom down there. Ticket was for 81 mph in a 75, but I was actually doing about 78-79 mph. It may be different there now...but I doubt it. Rumor was the sheriff and judge were brothers, and their sister was the Clerk of Court. Heck of a combo.
Rather than pay double the amount, I decided it was better to just pay the original fine, in cash as demanded, and be done with it. I, then, asked her if it didn’t cost me any extra, could I get a receipt for the payment? She took a lead pencil, scratched the amount on to a small yellow sticky pad sheet, scowled at me and pushed it under the bullet-proof glass to me. She then hollered, “NEXT!!”. The payee line extended from the little booth out to the parking lot.
In South Texas you always get screwed. The cops, the officials, the judges, they all know each other.