Carolina Criminal & DUI Lawyer Blog
Experienced attorneys normally ask a lot of questions because traffic tickets in North Carolina can be complicated – Bill Powers
While there are some matters that you may be able to handle yourself, sometimes that just may not be a good idea. What Do Lawyers Want to Know About Your Traffic Ticket. . .a lot:
- What is the Charge?
- Is there more than one Charge?
- Is there more than one alleged offense?
- What is on your Driving History?
- Have you had any other Tickets or Citations?
- Have you been involved in any Wrecks?
- Is anyone else on the policy?
- Does anyone else reside in the household?
- Have you been licensed in any other states?
- Have you ever been to driving school?
- What do you do for a living?
- Do you have a Commercial Driver’s License CDL?
That indeed may seem a lot of questions about what at first glance might appear to be a “simple traffic ticket.”
SEE RELATED: TRAFFIC TICKET TIPS
We ask a lot of questions because it is important to proceed with caution. There is normally more to consider than just the citation itself. That is because an attorney will want to balance things like Insurance Points, Motor Vehicle Points, Reduction Options and Driving School.
MORE ABOUT: BILL POWERS ATTORNEY
Transcript of What Do Lawyers Want to Know About Your Traffic Ticket for the Hearing Impaired:
When you’re talking to a lawyer, and it doesn’t hurt to talk to a lawyer because our consultation is free as well as confidential, I encourage you to listen to the questions that are being asked of you and ask, “Why is this person asking a lot of questions?”
The reason is because in order to do what I consider to be a complete or thorough job on a speeding ticket or any other traffic matter, we need to know some things.
We ask questions like, “What else were you charged with? Was this just a speeding ticket or did you get a no-operator’s license? Were you wearing your seatbelt? Did you have an inspection violation or registration? Was there more than 1 citation issued? Were there warrants outstanding that they picked up on meaning that there was some other criminal process going on? What does your prior record look like?”
Now that means what was physically on your record like, “I paid off the speeding ticket.
I got so many points on this date,” but did you do anything else?
Did you go to driving school?
Have you had any wrecks in the last 3 years?
We also ask about people within the household meaning loved ones, family members or friends that live in the household that may be on the insurance policy. Then we ask about tickets and citations.
It’s not as easy as you would think. Now if we think you can just handle a ticket yourself, we’ll say, “Listen. Just pay the thing off or you can do X, Y and Z. B.” By the way, you can always handle a ticket by yourself.
You’re not required to retain an attorney.
On the other hand we may say, “Given the history, we may want to pull a record.” That’s important as well.
You need to pull a record that is maintained by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles.
We don’t trust these private companies that have records because they can be incomplete. They may not be thorough. They may not have everything listed.
In our practice, there’s 1 way to do tickets. It’s to do it right. It’s to do it by the book, to get all the information, to get the background, to pull an official record from North Carolina, to ask a lot of questions and then explain to the client what we think is the most appropriate way to go. Sometimes a reduction’s appropriate.
Sometimes improper equipment’s appropriate. Sometimes driving schools appropriate. It depends.
Call us.
We offer a free consultation.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Powers
704-342-4357
2412 Arty Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28208
Bill@342help.com
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