Drivers License Requirements

Nick, in comments, says:

30 days to get a Texas license? Man, I might have been in trouble if a TX trooper had pulled me over last year. I lived in Kingwood for 6 month, and had work kept me in East TX I would have stayed there. However, I was waiting until my Louisiana license expired in 2008 b/c I wanted to continue to get my Louisiana fishing license for only $30.

Actually, Nick, you were in violation in BOTH states.

Louisiana only gives you ten days to report a change of address. We in law enforcement understand that we live in a mobile society (since Katrina, a lot more mobile than before), and we use a lot of common sense in enforcing the law, but R.S. 32:406 says this about that:

§406. Licensee must give notice of change of address

Whenever any person after applying for or receiving license shall move permanently from the address or place of residence named in the application he shall, within ten days thereafter, notify the driver's license division, in writing, of such change and of his new address.

And, it is pretty easy to get the information from the driver. The exchange goes something like this:

Cop: "Is this address your current address?"

Driver: "No, we moved last year. My new address is 314 Elephant Trot."

Cop: "Thank you. It helps to have the current address on the ticket."

Without saying anything else, the cop writes 32:406 in the violation block, above and beyond whatever he/she stopped you for in the first place. That little charge adds about $75.00 to the cost of the ticket.

Of course, if you tell the cop a story he has never heard before, he is liable to let you go. To get released without a ticket, there are some rules. 1) The violation must be minor. Driving blind drunk through a school zone will not be ignored. 2) The story can't be a bald-faced lie that insults my intelligence. 3) the story must be funny enough that I can repeat it for my buddies back at the station. I normally give extra points for creativity.