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Rolly

Aug 25, 2010, 1:10 PM

Post #1 of 13 (4235 views)

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Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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Here is part of an e-mail that has left me puzzled. Comments?

"Just thought I'd let you know that the "DMV" office here in Patzcuaro told me today that I wouldn't be able to use my Mexican license in the U.S. but that I could keep my Texas license. Later today over the phone the Texas DMV confirmed that I would not be allowed to use my Mexican license there. Rather icily they said "Texas doesn't have a reciprocity agreement with Mexico." Very neighborly, no? Especially considering that it's perfectly OK to drive here with a Texas license."

Rolly Pirate

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Reefhound

Aug 25, 2010, 1:44 PM

Post #2 of 13 (4220 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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It has nothing to do with neighborliness and everything to do with compliance to international standards. With all the other threads talking about how Mexico doesn't require an actual driving exam and often not even a written exam, I can see why another country might be hesitant to assume drivers licensed by Mexico may not be up to par. But I don't mean to get into a debate on that. Let's cut to the chase.

Here is the Texas Administrative Code that deals with that.

International reciprocity. International reciprocity in driver licensing between a state in the United States and another nation is determined, first, by international agreements between the United States and other countries, and, second, in the absence of any international agreement, by individual state laws. The Department of Public Safety complies with all driver license reciprocal agreements.

There are nearly 100 countries including the likes of Congo, Haiti, Syria, Viet Nam, and Zambia that see fit to be a part of the 1949 World Convention on International Road Traffic, and a dozen more bound by former governors. Mexico is not among them. So perhaps the question isn't why Texas doesn't honor a Mexican driver license but why Mexico cannot meet international standards for reciprocity.

Reefhound

Aug 25, 2010, 1:47 PM

Post #3 of 13 (4218 views)

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Re: [Reefhound] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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What this seems to indicate (not sure though) is that the U.S. and Mexico have no reciprocity agreements. Because if there were any U.S.-Mexico reciprocity agreements then it's not up to Texas. Texas would have to honor them.

Casa

Aug 25, 2010, 2:40 PM

Post #4 of 13 (4208 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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Now things may have changed but I found that according to Texas transportation code 521.030 a Mexican license is good in Texas.

§ 521.030. RECIPROCAL LICENSE. (a) A nonresident who is
18 years of age or older and who has in the person's possession a
license issued to the person by the person's state or country of
residence that is similar to a Class A or Class B driver's license
issued under this chapter is not required to hold a Class A or Class
B driver's license issued under this chapter if that state or
country of residence recognizes such a license issued by this state
and exempts the holder from securing a license issued by the state
or foreign country.
(b) A nonresident who is 16 years of age or older and who has
in the person's possession a driver's license issued to the person
by the person's state or Canadian province of residence may operate
a type of motor vehicle that is permitted to be operated with a
Class C or Class M driver's license in this state if the license
held by the nonresident permits operation of that type of vehicle in
the person's state or province of residence.

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

In addition on June 29th 2009 there was a ruling in the El Paso Municipal court of appeals that states that valid Mexican driver licenses are good for up to 1 year in Texas. The ruling can be found here.

There was also a similar case in 2007

Maybe if one is using a Mexican license in Texas they should print out the law (if in fact it is still valid) and carry it with them like some people do here with the Mexican foreign plated car rules. ;)

Reefhound

Aug 25, 2010, 3:05 PM

Post #5 of 13 (4197 views)

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Re: [Casa] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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Two points.

1. Nothing in the cited statute says that a Mexican license is similar to a class A or B issued by Texas. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But the statute is conditional.

2, The court ruling says that a Mexican *citizen* may use a Mexican license for up to a year and only if visiting. BTW, the court upheld the conviction by the trial court.

One more thing, you generally cannot hold multiple licenses. That is, if you have a valid Texas DL then your Mexican DL would not be valid. I don't recall the name of this law but it came up because long time ago truckers would obtain licenses in many different states so when one got revoked for too many citations they would just use another one.

Hound Dog

Aug 25, 2010, 3:22 PM

Post #6 of 13 (4192 views)

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Re: [Reefhound] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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It has nothing to do with neighborliness and everything to do with compliance to international standards. With all the other threads talking about how Mexico doesn't require an actual driving exam and often not even a written exam, I can see why another country might be hesitant to assume drivers licensed by Mexico may not be up to par. But I don't mean to get into a debate on that. Let's cut to the chase.

You don´t mean to get into a debate over "that" but the reason you wish to avoid a debate after inferring that Mexican driver´s licenses are not up to the standard in your yokel region is that you do not have a leg to stand on depite that ten-gallon hat you wear so proudly.

I was licensed in the United States in Alabama and Washington, D.C. and California for some 45 years before moving to Mexico and acquiring driver´s licenses in both Jalisco and Chiapas states in Mexico. The testing procedures I went through in both Mexican states were every bit as rigorus as any testing procedures I underwent in Alabama or California or Washington, D.C. the Texas requirements are, as so much is, in Texas, purely racist in nature. Dawg would love to see all the Mexicans walk out of Texas overnight and watch that place fall on its ass as a result.

Reefhound

Aug 25, 2010, 3:48 PM

Post #7 of 13 (4182 views)

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Re: [Hound Dog] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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More baseless Texas (and ReefHound) bashing on your part. You don't even know what the Texas requirements are. To call them racist (explain how) is libel. We're not talking about what they were in the Stone Ages when you learned to drive but what they are now. You not only have to take a physical driving test (after you pass the vision test and written exam) but have to take a driver education course. The physical test is waived if you have a valid license from another state.

I didn't say Mexico's licensing was not up to par, I said I could see why one might be "hesitant to assume" they are up to par based on their absence from international treaties like the 1949 World Convention on International Road Traffic. That is fact.

BTW, no one ever answered my question in the trucking thread as to whether Mexico maintains accurate driving records for individuals.

"The testing procedures I went through in both Mexican states were every bit as rigorus as any testing procedures I underwent in Alabama or California or Washington, D.C"

Interesting. Earlier today you said "I also had to pass a perfunctory eyesight test for each license but think I could have passed those eyesight tests if I had been legally blind. " and "The examiner in Chiapas, where virtually nobody speaks English, taking pity on me with my limited Spanish, informed me that out of simple pity he was giving me the easy test". Quite a contradiction as I know for a fact that U.S. vision exams require at least uncorrected 20/40 in each eye or else they will add a restriction code on your license requiring you to wear corrective lenses. And there is no "hard" or "easy" written test that an examiner can arbitrarily give, there is a computerized 20 random question test that everyone must be pass.

Hound Dog

Aug 25, 2010, 4:38 PM

Post #8 of 13 (4172 views)

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Re: [Reefhound] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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Interesting. Earlier today you said "I also had to pass a perfunctory eyesight test for each license but think I could have passed those eyesight tests if I had been legally blind. " and "The examiner in Chiapas, where virtually nobody speaks English, taking pity on me with my limited Spanish, informed me that out of simple pity he was giving me the easy test". Quite a contradiction as I know for a fact that U.S. vision exams require at least uncorrected 20/40 in each eye or else they will add a restriction code on your license requiring you to wear corrective lenses. And there is no "hard" or "easy" written test that an examiner can arbitrarily give, there is a computerized 20 random question test that everyone must be pass.

Never, ever, try to be amusing with a Texas troglodyte. Especially a facile "ageist" Texas troglodyte attempting to belittle an opponent based on maturity. One thing that advancing age confers upon the recipient is the wisdom of age and an understanding that the more things change the more they remain the same.

The old saying that 60 can know 30 but 30 can never know 60 could hardly be more appropriate.

Casa

Aug 25, 2010, 5:14 PM

Post #9 of 13 (4161 views)

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Re: [Reefhound] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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All very good points!

The license would need to be a similar class. (They probably won’t let you drive a school bus with a license for a moped.)

And although the court did use the term citizen the statue uses the term “country of residence” as does the court in a different section of the ruling.

Yes the defendant lost the case but not because Texas does not accept the validity of Mexican driver’s licenses. He lost the case because he entered a guilty plea of driving without a license and he did NOT have a Mexican drivers license at the time of the citation.

The second case was remanded to the trail court. The case states 521.030. RECIPROCAL LICENSE. (a) and says

“Such a right of reciprocity exists with Mexico. Appellant’s driver’s license shows it was valid on the date she was cited and would have been valid in Texas if she was a resident of Mexico. “

The appellant gave an address in El Paso on her citation and therefore her Mexican residency was called into question.

Reefhound

Aug 25, 2010, 5:57 PM

Post #10 of 13 (4151 views)

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Re: [Casa] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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I wasn't trying to parse the meaning of words in a legal document although such documents do often rely upon very strict and defined semantics. Just suggesting that in an ambiguous uncertainty that seems to be this issue, that this document doesn't make it crystal clear. Personally, my bet is that the DMV clerk cited in post #1 was wrong and there is a Texas-Mexico reciprocity agreement, else this issue would have been well known long before now.

Reefhound

Aug 25, 2010, 6:06 PM

Post #11 of 13 (4147 views)

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Re: [Hound Dog] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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If one does not wish age to be used against him, one should not invoke age as if it is a trump card, as you so often do, frequently relating your splendid adventures of the 60's and 70's in topics about current events.

Sometimes things really do remain the same, and sometimes things really do change. Wisdom is being able to discern and accept both. The old man that can do that is indeed wise, the old man that only sees things as they once were and cannot adapt to what is new, is just old.

DavidHF

Aug 25, 2010, 8:00 PM

Post #12 of 13 (4117 views)

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Re: [Reefhound] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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Texas doesn't have the legal right to make ANY agreements with Mexico. All agreements with foreign countries are the province of the US Federal Government. I would expect any high school civics student to know that. BTW, I always enjoy those that follow their own posts with another, and sometimes yet another! Keep it up, I think the record is 4.

Hound Dog

Aug 26, 2010, 8:35 AM

Post #13 of 13 (4074 views)

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Re: [Reefhound] Mexican Driver's License in Texas

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If one does not wish age to be used against him, one should not invoke age as if it is a trump card, as you so often do, frequently relating your splendid adventures of the 60's and 70's in topics about current events.

What´s past is prologue. Because of my lengthy past and observation of many expanding and contracting economic phenomena over the decades from the 1960s until the turn of the century, I was able to foresee both the stock market crash of the early 21st Century and the recent bursting of the housing bubble and, was, therefore, alerted to the need to exit the stock market that had been so good to me for over 20 years and sell my Northern California home at a premium before its value shrank precipitously thereby leaving some other sucker to lament his/her ill fortune in leisure. Perhaps that has something to do with the reason you must post from your Houston hell hole while I bask in the sun of Lake Chapala and among the alpine forests and crystal blue skies of Highland Chiapas as I have for about a decade now. As a native and long time resident of the U.S. gulf coast all too familiar with the dreaded Houston climate, I realize that you, as a Houstonian, may not have experienced "crystal blue skies" except perhaps briefly in about late October or early November every year if luck has been with you.