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I was on HWY 55 last night in Durham coming home from work and the light turned yellow on me and I sped up to miss the red. Personally I thought I got thru before it turned red but apparently there was a cop behind me somewhere (I never saw him) who thought differently. I realize it was a stupid decision on my part to do that, whether it was red or yellow, but like I said it was close. Anyway I'm not making excuses if the cop said I ran it then I ran it, I'm not going to try to contest it court, because I don't really see the point.
So my question is does anyone know if this will affect my insurance? I've read conflicting things, some say yes some say no. Also does anyone know if I have to pay the court costs if I don't go to court? In other words could I just pay the fine?
Thanks, I was planning on calling USAA later today, I just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience and if their insurance went up as a result of the violation.
Last edited by efranklin; 12-13-2011 at 09:45 AM..
I was on HWY 55 last night in Durham coming home from work and the light turned yellow on me and I sped up to miss the red. Personally I thought I got thru before it turned red but apparently there was a cop behind me somewhere (I never saw him) who thought differently. I realize it was a stupid decision on my part to do that, whether it was red or yellow, but like I said it was close. Anyway I'm not making excuses if the cop said I ran it then I ran it, I'm not going to try to contest it court, because I don't really see the point.
So my question is does anyone know if this will affect my insurance? I've read conflicting things, some say yes some say no. Also does anyone know if I have to pay the court costs if I don't go to court? In other words could I just pay the fine?
I have USAA. It depends on your driving record. I received a ticket for the same thing but it was an out of state ticket. I called USAA and asked how much my insurance may go up. They told me no more than $20-$30 for the 6 months but I have a clean record and it was my first ticket. The ticket was dismissed eventually. You can call USAA. They will give you a estimate but not a actual increase amount.
So my question is does anyone know if this will affect my insurance?
The NC DOI has a guide that describes how many points you get for various offenses / crashes. I think it is in the link below, but I am getting a PDF error when trying to open the file.
You should go to court and see if you can plead to a lesser violation - like a non moving violation (for instance a city code violation). You pay court costs whether or not you show up.
If you have NC auto insurance the answer to your question is yes, your insurance will go up if you just pay it. It will not depend on your insurance company. Yes, you will have to pay the costs of court even if you dont go. It will stay on your record for three years from your next policy renewal. Consider going to court with your driving record to see if the da will agree to let you plead to an improper equipment violation (which they do in some counties but not others), use a pjc if you have not used one in the last 3 years, hiring an attorney for about $175 plus costs to handle it for you.
Yes, if you have a NC license and get a ticket for a moving violation in NC, your insurance will go up. It puts points on your license and gives you insurance points.
The DA in Durham will agree to reduce it to a City Code violation (Durham does City Code reductions for stop light / stop sign tickets and Improper Equipment reductions for speeding tickets) if you have not received a City Code violation or Improper Equipment reduction in Durham within the past three years. A City Code violation does not get reported to DMV and will not raise your insurance. You will have to pay court costs plus a fine of up to $100 (usually no more than $50).
If you have received a prior reduction in Durham, the DA and judge will agree to a PJC. You are entitled to one PJC per household every 3 years with a max of 2 per household every 5 years. A PJC will also prevent the insurance bump, but the ticket will still show up on your record.
If you've already used your reduction and burned a PJC, then either pay the ticket or hire an attorney.
Of course, you can achieve the same results without going to court by hiring an attorney, too. The question is whether the time or the money is more important to you. If you want a referral, please DM me.
My advice is to get it reduced one way or the other; that's what the system is set up to allow. Effectively, the county is happy if this ticket serves as a warning to you and they make a little revenue off it.
Disclaimer - I am an attorney and have handled thousands of traffic tickets in the Triangle during my career; however, neither I nor any other attorney in my firm handle tickets now.
@Jefflaw @grababun @Mikeheel Thanks for your advice I may now considering going to court since you think I could get my fines reduced but I still have some questions if you don't mind.
Quote:
The DA in Durham will agree to reduce it to a City Code violation (Durham does City Code reductions for stop light / stop sign tickets and Improper Equipment reductions for speeding tickets) if you have not received a City Code violation or Improper Equipment reduction in Durham within the past three years. A City Code violation does not get reported to DMV and will not raise your insurance. You will have to pay court costs plus a fine of up to $100 (usually no more than $50).
If you have received a prior reduction in Durham, the DA and judge will agree to a PJC. You are entitled to one PJC per household every 3 years with a max of 2 per household every 5 years. A PJC will also prevent the insurance bump, but the ticket will still show up on your record.
If you've already used your reduction and burned a PJC, then either pay the ticket or hire an attorney.
I have not received a City code violation or Improper Equipment reduction in Durham within the past 3 years. However, unfortunately in July 2008, I had a similar violation in Raleigh, which actually did not affect my insurance for some reason. Will this change anything for me by going to court? I apologize for not knowing some of the legal terms here but what exactly is a PJC? Like I said in my original post if I go to court, I don't want to just make excuses, I'm sure that won't fly. So what exactly do I tell the judge? Do I just ask nicely for it to reduced to a City code violation? Also I should clarify my fine is $50 and the court costs are $170 which is $220 total. So if I do get it reduced to a City Code Violation will my costs be less than $220?
I also want to add that I previously lived in Tennessee and I once got a speeding ticket. I was given the option to take a defensive driving course for the same price of the ticket and by taking the course I did not have to pay the ticket costs or court costs and it was removed from my record. Is there any kind of option like this in the State of NC?
So knowing all of this what would you say my best options are?
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