Reckless Driving in North Carolina? What are the ramifications?

Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely son
But he's on the run on a shotgun mission
"Listen here cocksuckers, motherfuckers, pay respect to my building.
It's JB property and it could be the one you get killed in."

Cops arrive, "What's this, what's happening,
What's what, where's the hot shot?"
James pushed his luck too far this time
His pick-up truck's flat out and flying

[s]"I wanna get into it man, y'know?"
Not now James, we're busy
Not now James, not now James [s]"Waaaahhh!"
Not now James, we're busy
Not, not, not now James
Not now James, we're busy

Cops get excited and grin with glee;
They got themsevles a celebrity!
Seven cars give chase
"You're in the clear...this is the race of the year!"

Faster Soul Master, they're coming at you from all directions
Speed's your protection...don't look behind ya 'til south Carolina
Cops spring a roadblock "He ain't gonna stop!"
"He's gonna take a pop!"

[s]"Fellas, I'm ready to get up and do ma thing!"
Not now James, we're busy (x3)
We're busy
Not now, James

Someone opens fire, the trucks front tyres are blown out
"Get the hell out!"...
A six mile skid, trapped in a ditch,
In the lap of the FBI, the Secret Service, the Russians
"They're all in this, they're doing it to James
Like they did it to Elvis"

[s]"I wanna get into it man, y'know?"
Not now James, we're busy
Not now James, not now James [s]"Let's deal with your mind"
We're busy [s]"Hold it now"
Not now James, we're busy [s]"Hold it now"

A "good-foot" dance in a dusted trance...
Breath tested "No Chance!" Arrested!

[s]"We're gonna do a song..."
Not now James, we're busy
Not now James [s]"Waaaahhh!"
Not, not, not now James, we're busy [s]"Hold it now"
Not, not, not now James
We're busy [s]"Hold it now"

... sorry couldn't help myself, thats no help to you at all is it.

Hope you dont get too much hassle FWIW!

I've gotten two speeding tickets in my life, both for 73 miles per hour. Once that was in a 55, and once it was in a 45. Both times I hired a lawyer, about $200, didn't need to show up for court, and he got it taken care of so I have no points on my record or anything. If you can afford it, I'd say just take that route. Pay the lawyer and then you can pretty much put it out of your mind.

I imagine that the lawyer knocked both of your violations down to 9 over the speed limit. You still had to pay a small ticket/court fee, right?

On a completely different tangent -- Chapel Hill is a cool little town. I like it. Also, I grew up in Asheville, so I've been in the state for a long time. Probably will be moving out after university is through, though.

Asheville is just beautiful! I love that town. I've pretty much decided to move out of the country ASAP, but if I did live in NC longer for whatever reason, it'd definitely be Asheville. I absolutely adore that town.

Back to the speeding tickets... I believe one of them was knocked down to 9 or less. The other used something with fancy initials which I completely can't remember. If I understand it correctly, it's a sort of get out of jail free card. You get one every three years or something and if you choose to use that, your speeding ticket is just cancelled... or something. I don't know how it works. Like I said, the lawyer handled it all for me.

I don't know how different it is in other states, but my impression is that speeding tickets here aren't really a big deal. I definitely got out of both of mine very easily.

Nolo contendere (no contest)?

I think it's too be used in a worst-case scenario, because if you have bad driving habits (which if this happens to me, I'm going to become the safest driver ever) and get stopped again, this comes back and bites you in the ass.

I agree with you about Asheville. Beautiful place. But something about growing up there makes you see it in a different light.

My plan is to:

A) First, I'm going to try and talk with the DA or someone that can represent him (of the specific district). I'm hoping for a plea bargain -- without the lawyer fees.

B) If that fails, then I go to the laywer.

Does this sound good?

Don't bother trying to talk to the DA before court. He probably won't see you. I tried to do that, and the people at the front desk wouldn't let me talk to him, so I lied and said I was doing some research for a high school project. Then they directed me to her office. When I stepped in there and started talking about my speeding ticket, he was polite but clearly agitated and told me not to talk to him again before the court date.

If you don't get a lawyer, you'll probably be fine. I really don't know what the penalty is, but from talking with other people, you just go to court, basically say, "Yeah, I made a mistake..." and it gets lowered to 9 above and you're fine. Or, you could just pay a couple hundred bucks to get a lawyer to do that for you so you don't have to show up.

Funny how much I know about traffic law here after this incident. I'll never do anything over 10 in a speed limit on any highway, again...that goes double for unfamiliar areas.

One last question -- did you personally meet with your lawyers? Or was it simply something you set up over telephone? It wouldn't bother me much if I had to go personally visit, but taking time out around finals could be costly.

You've greatly eased my worries about this, so for that, I thank you. Misdemeanor record, shudddder. Seems like this is more a thing so insurance companies and lawyers get richer, than anything actually going to the state.

I was so convinced Roxy would have posted to this thread

She lives in Tennessee.

She swerves a LOT