Talking Down Tickets
Until recently, the main methods of taking care of a traffic ticket were to simply pay the fine, hire a lawyer to mediate for you, or to show up on the designated court date yourself. Now, however, there’s another option: you can go online.
At the end of 2017, North Carolina’s court system officially released a service that provides eligible drivers that have been issued speeding tickets with the chance to request a reduction of the offense as well as process the citation from home. This means that when you get your very first traffic ticket, you may not have to endure a complicated process to settle the matter. According to the state’s stipulations, eligible drivers include:
- Drivers who have no previous or pending speeding offenses
- Those who were ticketed at a speed between 10 and 19 mph above the posted limit
There is a catch to making use of the service’s convenience – not only must you meet the state’s criteria to use the service, but your options for reduction will be limited in comparison to what they would be had you opted to report to your given court date. Once the case has been reviewed by the district attorney, the current system allows for the reduction of the citation to the equivalent of either:
- Operating a vehicle with improper equipment
- Traveling nine miles above the speed limit
There are no costs associated with this request process and drivers receive email confirmations of submissions and of the decision of the district attorney’s office once the request has been reviewed. If the petition is granted, it’s a simple matter of paying the reduced charge by 5 p.m. the day before the ticketed driver’s designated court date.
But what happens when you can’t accept the reduced offer for any reason, or your request is denied?
Should the district attorney’s office opt not to grant your request for a ticket reduction, or if you do not respond to the reduced offer in time, you will still have to appear in court on the appointed date. In cases such as those, you’ll need an experienced traffic attorney to make sure your ticket gets settled quickly and fairly.
The attorneys at Wentz Law Firm understand that you can’t put your life on hold to take care of a traffic citation; so if you don’t qualify for the online reduction request program, or if you’ve already been denied, contact us. We can help get your ticket settled while you get back on the road.