The Law Office of Todd E. McCurry has approximately twenty-five (25) years of experience in dealing with traffic citations and simple misdemeanors.
TRAFFIC TICKETS
We know that getting your traffic citation handled in a cost effective and expedient manner is important to everyone. When you are charged with a traffic offense, the worst thing you can do in most situations is just pay the ticket. While this may seem like the most cost efficient way to handle a citation, that misconception will quickly be set aside when you receive your next insurance bill after just paying your ticket.
If you get points on your driver’s license, they normally stay for a period of three (3) years and your car insurance premium will increase for that three-year period. That is why hiring an attorney for a speeding ticket at a fee of approximately $150.00, plus paying the court costs may seem excessive at first, especially when the court costs and fine alone reach $263.00. The advantage to hiring an attorney is that your car insurance could go up as much as $300.00 every six (6) months and you will have a total increase of $1,800.00 for that one ticket over the life of the insurance premium increase. You could have avoided that increase by spending less than $500.00 to have it handled properly through an attorney.
A second reason not to pay off a simple traffic ticket is that once you begin acquiring driver’s license points and convictions on your driving record the options that an attorney has for you decrease dramatically.
There have also been several recent updates to the North Carolina Traffic Laws which limit the number and effect you can receive by a reduction of your traffic ticket to an “improper equipment”. For those of you who do not know, an “improper equipment” is a reduction of your charge that is a standard plea negotiation in speeding tickets to reduce the traffic offense to a non-moving violation. This serves to benefit the driver by protecting their car insurance premiums and meets the State and District Attorney’s needs by moving the case off the Docket and obtaining a fine and court costs to place in the State’s coffers.
Until recently, improper equipment convictions were not shown on your driving record. However, following the latest round of Statutory updates, convictions for improper equipment are now listed on your driving record. Their use has also been greatly reduced by Statute.
If you are facing a traffic violation of any kind, it is always better to consult with your Wilmington Traffic Ticket Attorney, Todd E. McCurry, so that you can make an informed choice on how to handle your citation and save money and your driver’s license.
Todd E. McCurry
Attorney at Law
207 ½ Princess Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
910-772-1254
Website: www.toddemccurry.com
Email: lawyertm@bellsouth.net
This article and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not to be construed as legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship.
For more information or to contact Attorney Todd McCurry, call 910-772-1254 or email at todd@toddemccurry.com or lawyertm@bellsouth.net.