Speeding Ticket in NC – The Unknown Plea Option

People call me about traffic tickets all the time.  They ask lots of questions.  There are, admittedly, a limited amount of questions one might ask in relation to this sort of situation. But there is one question that I get a lot and it drives me nuts:

“Can I get a PJC?”

Sometimes they don’t even say “PJC.”  Sometimes they’ll say “PFJ” or some other nonsense.

The question is not inherently the problem.  The underlying assumption based on decades of legendary misinformation is the problem.

First, if you don’t know what a PJC is, click here.  That will iron that out for you.  If you don’t know what it is, you have no business asking for one.  This video also makes a similar point as I’m about to make below…

Second, people think of the PJC as a panacea for all traffic tickets, all day, all the time.  I picture Taco from The League Notarizing everything unnecessarily, or Dave Chappell pleading the 5th every time someone looks at him.  The bottom line is a PJC is to be used ONLY in specific circumstances, and only when you know what the consequences will be vis-a-vis your driving record AND the driving record of everyone in your household.  Yes, those matter, too.

I often see unrepresented people in traffic court asking for a PJC when they a) don’t need it and b) could actually be harming themselves by getting it.  Judges and ADAs can only do so much to protect people from themselves, so this is another reason to get good advice from an attorney – like me!

What most people fail to realize as they are stumbling over themselves asking for a PJC is that in many circumstances an even better plea option would be a 10 or less over the limit.  This is the unknown plea option that can make everything all (mostly) better.  In North Carolina if you have no convictions of moving violations in the three year experience period around a 10 over (or less) you are not assigned insurance points for that conviction.  Of course, a non-moving violation would be even better, but sometimes you can’t get that (for many reasons).

So just remember that a 10 over, with a clean record, is often times better than a PJC.  But as with everything in the law it is always best to seek counsel before you go making deals with a prosecutor.