Every day, many drivers in the Bolivia, NC, area are stopped by patrolling police officers for exceeding posted speed limits. While many drivers mistakenly assume that light speeding is harmless, the reality is that speeding accounts for a tremendous number of motor vehicle accidents throughout the United States each year, and police are heavily incentivized to stop speeding drivers wherever they are observed. As a result, thousands of speeding tickets are issued in North Carolina each year, many of which aren’t contested.
If you are issued a speeding ticket in the Bolivia area, you might assume you can just pay the fine and carry on without any lasting harm. The reality is that even a minor speeding offense could have significant repercussions, many of which you may not initially expect. The ticket issued to you by the police officer who stopped you should include details of how to pay your fine or contest your ticket. If you find yourself in this situation, do not immediately pay the fine, and instead, reach out to an experienced Bolivia speeding ticket attorney.
North Carolina enforces relatively strict traffic laws, and speeding may carry harsher penalties than you initially expected after receiving a ticket. Depending on how fast you were going, your speeding offense could mean demerit points on your license. If you have points already on your driver’s license for prior traffic offenses, accruing too many could lead to license suspension.
In North Carolina, speeding ticket penalties depend on how fast the driver was going in relation to the posted speed limit and any unique variables for the location. For example, speeding in a school zone incurs a higher penalty than speeding on most other roads, even if the driver only exceeded the school zone speed limit slightly. In addition, ifa driver is intentionally reckless with their speed, they could face a speeding ticket and a criminal charge for reckless driving.
A speeding ticket and the resulting demerit points may also affect your auto insurance. North Carolina law requires all drivers to maintain auto insurance coverage that meets the state’s minimum requirements. A policyholder pays a monthly premium to maintain their coverage, and the price of their premium hinges on many variables. For example, when an insurer deems a policyholder to be “high risk,” they are more likely to charge the policyholder a higher premium for their auto insurance coverage. Conversely, “low-risk” drivers with clean driving records typically enjoy lower premium rates.
If your insurance company becomes aware of a recent speeding ticket or if you lose your license due to accruing too many demerit points, your insurance company could increase your premium rate or even cancel your policy. In addition, if they deem that you have violated the terms of your coverage, you could be compelled to secure new insurance coverage through a different carrier, and you will likely pay a higher premium as well.
Ultimately, paying the fine for your speeding ticket is tantamount to admitting guilt, and if you do this, you must be prepared to weather the consequences. However, working with an experienced Bolivia speeding ticket attorney can potentially help you avoid these penalties, saving you a tremendous amount of time, money, and stress.
If you are issued a speeding ticket and plan to contest it, you must be prepared for traffic court proceedings. In most cases, speeding qualifies as an infraction, but some defendants could face reckless driving charges based on how fast they were going. In addition, exceeding the speed limit by more than 15mph typically incurs harsher penalties than lighter speeding.
Your Bolivia speeding ticket attorney can assist you in preparing for your preliminary traffic court proceedings. When you contest your speeding ticket, the officer who issued the ticket will be required to attend your proceedings and provide their account of the traffic stop. They should be prepared to prove how they clocked your speed and provide clear evidence that the ticket was lawfully issued. However, many police officers will not appear in traffic court for minor speeding tickets. In these situations, drivers contesting their tickets may simply need to offer compelling evidence that they did not commit the speeding offense in question to have their cases dismissed.
Ultimately, many variables could be in play in your speeding ticket case, and you cannot simply hope the traffic court judge will rule in your favor or that the officer who issued your ticket won’t show up in court to challenge you. Working with an experienced Bolivia speeding ticket attorney is the best strategy in this situation. Your legal tea can help you determine the best way to fight your speeding ticket and avoid the associated penalties.
You might have more options for fighting your ticket than you initially realize, and an experienced Bolivia speeding ticket attorney can help you determine the most viable defenses available. Police in North Carolina are legally obligated to stop speeding drivers and issue tickets as necessary. However, they are required to follow specific procedures to ensure their traffic stops are lawful and that the drivers they pull over have actually exceeded the speed limit.
Most police in North Carolina use handheld laser tracking devices that can tell how fast an oncoming car is moving. If the police use this device to clock a driver over the speed limit, they will conduct a traffic stop and issue a ticket. However, if the police did not use a reliable speed measuring method to assess how fast you were going, this could be enough to have your case dropped.
It’s also possible for your vehicle’s internal computer to have evidence that proves you weren’t speeding. Most modern vehicles will record the speed of travel, and it may be a matter of showing you did not exceed the speed limit at the time in question through your vehicle’s records. Successfully having your speeding ticket dismissed may hinge on your ability to prove the police officer who conducted your traffic stop did not have probable cause to do so and/or they failed to accurately measure your speed.
When you choose Christina Rivenbark & Associates to represent you in traffic court for a speeding ticket, we will closely examine the police report from your traffic stop and review the details of your ticket. Once we know how and where you were stopped, we can assess your best defenses. Traffic court proceedings may unfold quickly, and we will provide the ongoing guidance and support you need to understand your legal options in this difficult situation. The sooner you secure defense representation you can trust, the better prepared you will be to address the unique challenges of your case.
It is almost always worth fighting a speeding ticket, even if you think the fine is a minor inconvenience. Paying the fine means admitting guilt, which can lead to increased auto insurance premiums, points on your license, and many other consequences. Investing the time to find an experienced Bolivia speeding ticket attorney can pay off tremendously by helping you avoid the long-term consequences a speeding ticket might entail.
While a traffic violation technically qualifies as a criminal offense, most speeding offenses qualify as infractions, and traffic court generally proceeds much more quickly than criminal court proceedings. You could face one or more hearings before you resolve your speeding ticket, and your attorney can provide an estimate of how long your proceedings are likely to continue before concluding.
Whenever a North Carolina driver receives demerit points on their driver’s license, those points remain for three years. Different types of traffic offenses incur different amounts of points. For example, speeding more than 55mph will lead to three demerit points. If a driver accumulates 12 points within three years, their driver’s license is likely to be suspended.
An experienced defense attorney can potentially help you avoid the long-term consequences of a speeding ticket. They can also streamline your traffic court proceedings and increase the chances of having your ticket dismissed. Ultimately, the money you spend on hiring a Bolivia speeding ticket attorney is likely to be far less than the long-term financial impact your ticket could have.
The law firm of Christina Rivenbark & Associates has years of experience defending clients against speeding tickets and other traffic violations in Bolivia and surrounding communities of North Carolina. A speeding ticket could seem minor, but the reality is that your ticket could pose harsher consequences than you initially realize. If you want to fight a speeding ticket with the help of an experienced Bolivia speeding ticket attorney, contact us today and schedule your consultation with our team.