Traffic Violation Attorneys in Raleigh & Asheville North Carolina
If you have auto insurance in North Carolina, your insurance carrier is a member of the North Carolina Rate Bureau. This bureau has developed a contract called the Safe Driver Insurance Plan, which governs the point system under which insurance rates are set. The Safe Driver Insurance Plan allocates point values to different moving violations based on the schedule described below. For each point, your insurance carrier will increase your insurance rates by approximately 25 percent. These increases will apply for three policy years.
Why Choose Fay & Grafton To Defend You?
Fay & Grafton has represented hundreds of clients on traffic charges in North Carolina
How Can I Avoid Insurance Points Being Assessed as a Result of my Speeding Ticket?
Whether a conviction for a moving violation will result in insurance points depends on the severity of the conviction and on the defendant’s driving history. Individuals who have clean driving histories for the three years preceding their court date may be eligible for a safe driver’s waiver. A Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC) may also be utilized in certain situations to avoid insurance points.
Can't I Just Ask for a Prayer for Judgment Continued?
A Prayer for Judgment Continued is one of the least understood phenomena in traffic law. While in some cases a PJC is exactly what is needed to avoid insurance points, in others, using a PJC can be disastrous to insurance premiums. The crash course on PJCs is as follows: one PJC per household every three years. The dangerous part is that if you go into court and request a PJC, you very well may get it. If you or someone else on your insurance policy has already used one, then the PJCs cancel each other out and not only do you get the insurance points for the ticket you just pled to, you also get the insurance points from the earlier ticket where a PJC was used!
How Many Insurance Points is my Ticket Going to Cost me?
Keep in mind that insurance points are based on convictions, not charges. In this country, we each enjoy the presumption of innocence until proven guilty whether we are charged with arson or exceeding the posted speed. In most cases, the district attorney will be willing to negotiate your charge in order to elicit a plea. Consider how many people in your town get tickets every day. Imagine if each of those people decided to plea “not guilty” and take their case to trial. The state simply does not have the time to try each case. Because of this, the district attorney will often be willing to reduce your charges. Your insurance points will be based on the charge that you plea to, not the charge that you were initially accused of.
Will My License Be Revoked?
Certain offenses can enable the Department of Motor Vehicles to revoke or suspend your North Carolina driver’s license. Your driver’s license can be revoked for a number of reasons. A DWI conviction will revoke your license for a period of one year on a first offense. Convictions for speeding more than 15 mph over the limit will also result in a revoked license. Being convicted for too many tickets in a certain time period will also lead to revocation. This type of revocation is based on driver’s license points (not to be confused with insurance points).
If your license is revoked, you should not drive until your license is restored. Convictions for diving while your license is revoked or any moving violation while your license is in a state of revocation significantly lengthen the period of revocation and can in some cases result in jail time. This does not mean that you should sit and wait until your revocation period has ended. In many cases, a lawyer can shorten or eliminate a period of revocation even after the revocation period has begun.
How Can my License be Revoked if I Never Had a North Carolina Driver's License?
You do not need to have had a driver’s license in North Carolina in order to be in revoked status. North Carolina considers it a revocation of your “driving privilege” and the penalties are just as severe as if you once had a North Carolina license. Many states will honor suspensions levied by other states, so that revocation in North Carolina may mean that you lose your out-of-state license as well.
How Does a Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC) Help my Revoked License?
A PJC granted on a moving violation while your license is revoked will help you avoid lengthening your period of revocation, and may help avoid increased insurance premiums. But there is a limit on the number of PJCs you can receive. Each driver is allowed two PJCs every five years. Keep in mind that using multiple PJCs can be disastrous to your insurance premiums.
Can I get Limited Driving Privileges to Drive to Work?
Possibly. If a license is revoked for a speeding ticket where the rate of speed was high enough to warrant revocation, the individual may be eligible for a privilege. As backward as it may seem, someone who is revoked for a DWI may also be eligible for a limited driving privilege. However, if you are revoked for a failure to appear, for acquiring a moving violation while your license was already in a state of revocation, or if you have previously been convicted of driving while license revoked (DWLR), you will not be immediately eligible for a driving privilege until certain requirements are met.
How Can I Get My License Back?
Every case is different. In some cases, even the best attorney will not be able to undo all of the damage on a driving record and restore you to active status. In most cases, however, there are steps that can be taken to restore your license or at least to put you into a favorable status for a DMV restoration hearing.
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