North Carolina Drivers
If you have a North Carolina driver’s license and were caught speeding or given a traffic citation in South Carolina, the effects of that ticket on your North Carolina license and insurance can be severe.
North Carolina license with SC Traffic Ticket?
North Carolina and South Carolina are both member states in the Interstate Driver’s License Compact and as such are required to share information regarding tickets received to your “Home State” DMV, which in your case is North Carolina.
The NC DMV has some of the strictest penalties on speeding tickets in the country, which includes mandatory license suspensions for speeding tickets. For example, if you pay a speeding ticket in South Carolina going 70 in a 55 mph zone, that ticket and speed will transfer to the North Carolina DMV. Points will be assessed on your license and insurance as if the ticket happened in North Carolina and will result in suspension of your North Carolina license. Be mindful of taking advice from the charging officer. He may give you information that could be true for a South Carolina driver but not understand the effects on your North Carolina license.
N.C.G.S. 20-16.1 Mandatory suspension of driver’s license upon conviction of excessive speeding states your license will be suspended by… “(i) exceeding by more than 15 miles per hour the speed limit, either within or outside the corporate limits of a municipality, if the person was also driving at a speed in excess of 55 miles per hour at the time of the offense, or (ii) driving at a speed in excess of 80 miles per hour at the time of the offense.
N.C.G.S. 20-16(a) Authority of NCDMV to Suspend Licenses—the DMV has the authority to suspend a person’s license or driving privileges under a number of circumstances, some of which include the following:
1. Within 12 months (conviction date to conviction date), a person has 2 or more convictions of speeding in excess of 55 and not more than 80 miles per hour, or one or more convictions of reckless driving and one or more charges of speeding in excess of 55 and not more than 80 miles per hour.
2. Conviction of speeding in excess of 75 miles per hour where the maximum speed is less than 70 miles per hour.
3. Conviction of speeding in excess of 80 miles per hour where the maximum speed is 70 miles per hour.
4. Within a three-year period, accumulating 12 or more driver’s license points (or 8 or more points within a three-year period after reinstatement of a license following a suspension/revocation for a traffic offense conviction).
5. Fraudulent use of license
6. Illegal transportation of alcoholic beverages
7. Impaired instruction
South Carolina Attorney who understands NC traffic laws
Traffic violations attorney, Thomas C. Jeter III, is licensed in both North Carolina and South Carolina and understands how to fight your South Carolina traffic ticket to keep points off your North Carolina license and insurance. A large percentage of our South Carolina traffic clients are licensed in North Carolina, and we have experience fighting SC traffic tickets all throughout the state. Learn the facts before paying your ticket!
North Carolina Drivers! Call (803) 351-3597 or E-mail [email protected] with your ticket information for a FREE consultation regarding your South Carolina traffic ticket
