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13 years ago I got my only speeding ticket, back when I lived in Rhode Island. I went to court and it was dropped. Last night I got a Johnston County ticket for "exceeding 25 miles an hour in a 25 MPH zone." The cop said I was doing about 40, but I don't think he had me on radar. There's no question I was speeding.
The ticket is only $25 but I don't want to pay it if points are going to kill me. What will happen to my insurance rate? I have a squeaky-clean record, aside from this.
I don't understand the point system. Should I fork out the money for a sub ($50, I'm a teacher) and go to court ($136) or just pay the ticket and take the points?
I'd go to court and ask for a PFJ (Prayer for Judgement). As long as you don't get another ticket in 3 years (I might be wrong, it might be less time than that) then it won't count and will be thrown out.
Better than PFJ, you can get this fully dropped or changed.
Go to your insurance company, and have them print out your clean record to bring with you, then go to the DA and tell him/her what a clean driver you are, and that you just made a mistake, and show your record. They will likely reduce it to something like "failure of equipment" (that's what they did for me in Chatham Co), which is a small fine, but carries no points. It's better than PFJ, because with PFJ, if you get another ticket, you keep the points, with reduction, it is gone.
But either way, you're better off getting it reduced, or changed. The cost is not the $25 ticket, the $50 sub, nor the $136 court fee. The cost is the increased insurance, which will be more than that amount every renewal period for a while to come....
I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know the law well, but this is the advice that was given to me, and it worked out well for me. If I were in your shoes, I'd take my advice (and others), and then talk to someone that knows. Maybe you ahve a resource officer at school that can advise?
Good luck. I am sympathetic to folks like you who are typically good drivers and law abiders, but slip once in a very long while....
You need to check if that ticket carries insurance points as they will probably cost you more over time than the ticket/court costs.
Often a clean record will get your infraction reduced to a no insuranace points violation (you'll still pay court costs, etc). The risk you run is that you still may forego your "safe driver" discount from your insurance company.
You'll soon get mass mailing from lawyers who now want to help. Call a few and see what they say. Especially listen to the ones that have the same last name as the DA
We've had this discussion on here previously so if you need more info., you may want to search it.
I got a speeding ticket for the first time EVER in Creedmoor. The officer told me to just pay it and I could just send the money in and to not even come to court. I was ok with this...I was speeding (not paying attention).
People at my office told me that if I did this, my insurance would go up and it would remain at the higher premium for 3 years.
They also told me to get an attorney...pay him the $200 to $250 and he'd take care of it.
So...I got an attorney that was referred to me...skipped the tons of letters that I got in the mail. Attorney went to court, got the charge DROPPED (shock to me since I thought it would just be made a lesser charge) and no points for me!
Beats paying the ticket and getting an insurance hike AND beats ME going to court and spending a day there!
Here's a link to a page on the Dept of Insurance web site
NCDOI | Auto Insurance - Consumer Services Division (http://www.ncdoi.com/Consumer/consumer_auto.asp - broken link)
Click on #4 - "It Pays To Be A Safe Driver (insurance Points)"
It explains how you can get zero to 4 points for speeding.
Here's a link to a page on the Dept of Insurance web site
NCDOI | Auto Insurance - Consumer Services Division (http://www.ncdoi.com/Consumer/consumer_auto.asp - broken link)
Click on #4 - "It Pays To Be A Safe Driver (insurance Points)"
It explains how you can get zero to 4 points for speeding.
Thank you for that. Looks like I fall in the 1 point category, which is still a hefty 25% increase
HI: I used Coolidge Law Firm, [url=http://www.ncticketlaw.com]Raleigh Criminal Law Attorney / Chapel Hill Traffic Ticket Lawyer[/url]. It all depends on the county that you receive the ticket. In Wake county, where I got my ticket, I found out that improper equipment is not allowed. However, for a small fee and alot of convenience, I hired Attorney Coolidge to help me out. The service was amazing and I got a great result.
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