If you get a speeding ticket, or are stopped for reckless driving or another moving violation by a law enforcement officer in North Carolina, they may improperly talk to you about your options for how to handle your ticket. However, you should not take your legal advice from the very person who put you in the position to need legal advice.
Take advice from your lawyer, not from the police! Call 704-376-9376 or email our Charlotte law firm for a consultation.
Bad Advice From Police Officers
- The most common advice you will get from any officer is how to pay the ticket. If you do this, you are pleading guilty to a traffic offense and paying a fine. While the officer loves this because it is saving them the trouble of coming to traffic court to testify, it does you no benefit. You also give up your right to have a lawyer make an explanation on your behalf, or request that the charges against you be dismissed or reduced.
- Do not take legal advice from a police officer. An officer writing a traffic ticket may give legal advice — advice that should come from your lawyer. The officer may, despite good intentions, give you bad advice. Your attorney will see that you take advantage of all options and may be able to preserve your driver's license status and keep your insurance rates down.
- Your traffic offense attorney works for you, and you alone. A police or highway patrol officer works with the district attorney and they have common goals. You need an advocate with only your interests in mind.
A PJC (prayer for judgment continued) or the "driving school" is available for a motorist, but it may not be your best option.
The "driving school" and/or a "PJC" are rarely worthwhile options for a first- or even repeat offenders. Many traffic tickets can be handled in a way that does not require you to spend hours at a traffic school. Even if you go to the driving school and get a PJC, your insurance company may still increase your premiums, even with a clean driver's license record.
Attorney Chris Connelly represents clients in cases involving a variety of traffic offenses, including:
- Speeding — tickets for Speeding in School or work zones, or speeding to elude law enforcement
- Reckless driving (defined as "carelessly and heedlessly in willful or wanton disregard of the rights or safety of others" or "without due caution and circumspection and at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or property")
- Passing a stopped school bus and other forms of illegal passing
- Drag racing/highway racing/street racing
- Hit-and-run/leaving the scene of an accident
- Unlawful racing or prearranged speed competition
Call 704-376-9376 or email our Charlotte office to discuss the defense of your traffic offense.
