Speeding Ticket in Gastonia And What To Do About It:
Getting a speeding ticket in Gastonia, North Carolina can be a real pain, and the potential outcome in court depends on a few different factors. Luckily there are a few ways to handle a ticket in Gastonia that should reduce your fine or preserve some license and insurance points. As always it is best to contact an attorney who knows the local system and can evaluate your individual facts, especially when you are cited for more than just speeding.
Request Your Ticket in Gastonia to be reduced
If you have no traffic convictions on your driving record in the three years prior to your speeding ticket, the best bet might be to ask the district attorney to reduce your ticket to 9 miles over the limit (ex. If you are charged with speeding 55mph in a 35mph zone, the reduction would be 44mph in a 55mph zone). An assistant DA is not required to reduce your charge but will often do so, particularly if you have no recent offenses on your driving record. If you are insured in North Carolina, the result of this reduction, (as long as the speeding ticket did not occur in a work or school zone) is that you will not have points added to your auto insurance, which means your rates will not increase as a result of the speeding ticket.
Request a Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC) on your speeding ticket in Gastonia
As long as no one on your insurance policy has requested a prayer for judgment on any ticket in the three years prior to handling your current ticket, the effect of receiving a PJC on your speeding ticket is that you will not have points added to either your driver’s license or auto insurance (i.e. no increase in rates). There are exceptions to this, for instance a PJC will not be recognized by the NC DMV for some speeding charges (ex. Where the speed is 25 mph or more above the speed limit) – . Also a judge is not able to grant a PJC on some charges (25 over, passing a school bus) and it will still count as a conviction if the driver has a commercial license or a commercial vehicle was used during the traffic offense.
A PJC will typically keep points off of auto-insurance, but again, it may only be used once every three years by any member under the same auto insurance policy. There are other issues to be aware of with PJC’s; if you get another moving violation within three years after getting the first PJC, your insurance company will count both of the moving violations against you. Also, if you do not live in North Carolina, a PJC may not do you any good. PJC’s are unique to North Carolina and you have to contact your state’s DMV to see if they will honor it.
* In some cases a driver improvement course will improve your chances of getting a PJC.
Improper Equipment
Getting a speeding charge reduced to a charge of improper equipment is really the best result you can get; it is considered a non-moving violation so no points are assessed. In Gaston you will be eligible for an improper equipment reduction if you haven’t received a reduction to improper equipment in Gaston County for three years prior to the current citation, and you were not going more than 18 mph over the limit. If you were going over 18, you may still be eligible for the reduction with a four or eight hour AAA certified driving course like the ones taught at Carolina Driver Improvement. Gaston County will not accept Internet only driving courses.
Driver Improvement Training
Gaston County relies pretty heavily on driver improvement courses, depending on the severity of the charge you may want to go ahead and schedule a class. Four and eight hour classes are available and they are relatively inexpensive (four hour $50, eight hour $85). Whatever reduction you get as a result of the driver improvement course will be worth it for both DMV point reduction and Insurance point savings. Some insurance providers may even give you a discount for taking the course.
