hey everyone,

this is my first time ever going through something like this so i would like some information.

i got a ticket for reckless driving in north carolina going 95mph in a 70mph zone. it was 4AM in the morning and the roads were fairly clear except the slow lanes. this is my first ticket ever while having a drivers license for 5 years.

my question is.. whare are the steps that i should take? i have to hire a lawyer anyways because i cannot drive 5 hours to get to the court on that day. what are the prices that i should expect to pay? will it reflect on my insurance premium?

thanks for any information.

hey everyone,

this is my first time ever going through something like this so i would like some information.

i got a ticket for reckless driving in north carolina going 95mph in a 70mph zone. it was 4AM in the morning and the roads were fairly clear except the slow lanes. this is my first ticket ever while having a drivers license for 5 years.

my question is.. whare are the steps that i should take? i have to hire a lawyer anyways because i cannot drive 5 hours to get to the court on that day. what are the prices that i should expect to pay? will it reflect on my insurance premium?

thanks for any information.

First, consider yourself lucky because in NC they usually arrest you if you are going 15mph over and in excess of 55.

If you can pay the fine by mail, do so.

If you can't pay by mail, you'll have to go to court. If you don't show you'll probably be charged with contempt of court and a warrant put out for your arrest. A lawyer may be able to delay (continue) your case for you, but you will probably have to show up eventually.

You can check on the NC fines by calling the Clerk of Court for the locality where you got the ticket; their number should be on the ticket.

Your insurance company may or may not find out about the ticket. If they don't, np. If they do, then you may get an increase, depending on your age and other factors.

Good luck with it.

It's a moving violation, and a pretty serious one, so most likely your insurance company will find out about it. And if they do, definately count on your premiums skyrocketing. The only way, that you might get away with it, is if your insurance only checks for infractions in your PA AND PA doesn't transfer tickets over from NC. I'm not sure if they do or not, sorry, but you could check their website or call your local DMV and ask.

I don't know NC's system, but I will say, I think pleading guilty is hte worst thing you can do.

For 25 over and RD, I'd definantly get a lawyer, he should be able to help you out immensely and get it lowered. Plead not guilty, and have hte lawyer correspond with the District Attorney/prosecuting officer/judge and 99% of hte time they will cut you a break. How much of one, really depends on how much of a prick the prosecutor wants to be. With a good lawyer, you may get it dropped completely or reduced to something with no associated points. But don't count on it, they may only be able to get it down to a lower speeding ticket. Good luck.

North Carolina Reckless Driving
If you can pay the fine by mail, do so.

Absolutely the worst advice ever!

Just paying the reckless driving ticket is probably not an option anyway since this is usually a mandatory court appearance. In NC your license will automatically be suspended for a 15+ ticket so pleading guilty and paying will mean no license and an extremely large increase in your auto insurance when you do get them back. Just ask your agent but be sure you are sitting down.

A North Carolina traffic attorney will probably run you areound 500 and will be well worth the expense. If you need some resources, send me an email.

Geez, guess I stirred up some stuff by not writing enough.

I meant that, if you are unable to attend court, you should pay the fine by mail to avoid contempt charges and other things that happen when you don't show up.

NC may not be able to suspend your license from another state, they have to send the records to your home state. Then, if your home state would suspend your license for that, they could.

If you do show up in court, then by all means you should plea it down at least to speeding. If you weren't driving recklessly, just fast, then say so. I've gotten a few tickets where I was charged with reckless and had it moved down to speeding.

thanks a lot for the great advices. i think i will go ahead and get a lawyer, the cop told me that i would either have to show up or have a person show up for me, which would be the lawyer.

is there anyway you can tell if the lawyer is good or not? how do you research this? money isn't quiet the biggest issue, rather just trying to get this ticket to go away. i had no idea this was such a huge deal or else i would've been more cautious.

thanks

What county?

halifax