How We Do Traffic Law
For many people a traffic ticket is a scary ordeal. They have never been in trouble with the law before and they are unsure how it will affect their insurance. The Moreland Law Office limits its traffic practice exclusively to tickets here in the 1st judicial district and we are located less than a 30 second walk from the Perquimans County Courthouse. From start to finish, we are here to ensure that you receive all the answers you need and are fully protected until your ticket is resolved. All traffic matters are handled on a flat fee basis, so you will know exactly how much it will cost you from the time you hire us.
DIY Ticket Guide
The Moreland Law Office understands that not everyone will want or can afford an attorney to handle a traffic ticket. For that reason we have put together a guide on how to handle your own ticket at the Perquimans County Courthouse. Our hope in putting this together is that it will prepare you somewhat for what to expect once you arrive at the courthouse and what the process will be.
North Carolina Point Systems
North Carolina has two (2) point systems: insurance points and license points. The insurance point system is used to determine the rate you pay for automobile insurance. The license point system is used by DMV to determine your driving privileges. One speeding ticket has the ability to impact your point record on both systems. The goal when handling a ticket is to protect both of these systems so that your insurance remains affordable and that you do not lose your license.
Insurance Point System: One of the factors your insurance company uses to determine your insurance rate is the amount of insurance points accumulated during the past three (3) years for moving violations and accidents. Each moving violation is worth a different amount of points and will result in different insurance increases. For example, a conviction of reckless driving is worth four (4) points and would generally result in an insurance surcharge of 90% on an otherwise clean driving record.
License Point System: Most people are usually worried more about their insurance points, but your license points cannot be ignored. Generally, twelve (12) points within three years may result in a revocation of your driving privileges, but there are other instance where your license may be revoked with fewer points. If you are in danger of hitting twelve (12) points in a three (3) year period there are steps your attorney can advise in order to reduce your total license points, such as by attending a Driving Improvement Clinic, but there are usually specific limitations that apply, which is why it is important to have an attorney to accurately guide you through the process.
Some people simply ignore their license revocation and continue driving, but this is quick path to getting charged with Driving While License Revoked, which carries the potential of jail time. It is important that you carefully safeguard your driving record by trying not to speed in the first place, but if you do, it is important to accurately navigate the point system to ensure you do not lose your driving privileges.
Prayer for Judgement Continued
A PJC (Prayer for Judgement Continued) is a unique to North Carolina. It can only be granted by a judge and only under certain circumstances. Even if a judge grants you a PJC sometimes the DMV and/or your insurance company will be able to ignore it and still add points to your record.
The basic rule is one PJC every three years per household for insurance purposes; two PJCs every five years to protect a license. So if it turns out your daughter, husband, father, sister, or so on, that lives in your household received a PJC and didn’t tell you, then your insurance company will still add the requisite amount of points to your insurance point record and increase your insurance premiums accordingly; it will also raise the insurance based on BOTH the original conviction AND the new conviction! If you are going to request a PJC it is very important you understand all of the potential ramifications. Think of it as a break-in-case-of-emergency type of thing and make sure you save it for when your other plea bargain options are used up.