Speeding ticket for teenage son in NC

Your posting says it came from Raleigh, NC, so I assume your son has his ticket in Wake County District Court. Assuming he does, the first question is whether he has had any other speeding violations or any accidents within the preceding three years. If the answer to both of these is no, then your son can avoid any insurance consequences by having the speed reduced to 9 miles over the limit, or 54 mph in a 45 mph zone, without the need to use a PJC (prayer for judgment continued). An exception to this rule would be if the charge involved speeding in a school zone, which is exempted from the 9-over exemption each driver may seek to use in a three-year period to avoid insurance consequences when they have no other violations or accidents. If your son has had a prior traffic violation or a prior accident, then consult an attorney as there is still a possibility that the case can be resolved without using a PJC and without having any adverse insurance consequences, depending on what he has in his history. In Wake County, the District Attorney's office has a policy that seeks to have any teenage drivers participate in a driving school before their tickets are reduced. While the policy is supposed to apply to all teenage drivers, often our clients are able to get the reduction without the school. If the assistant district attorney (ADA) handling your son's case notices his age, he will require the school--the key is to avoid his or her picking up on your son's age prior to his acting to reduce the speed. Many people hire an attorney for just that reason as the attorney will be the person in court handling the ticket and not your son, whose appearance alone may cause the ADA to question his age. As a general rule, you should try to avoid using a PJC for a simple speeding ticket, as their use is limited for insurance purposes in traffic matters to only one every three years per policy per driving household. There are many more serious and higher insurance point offenses that would be better to use the PJC on, so a PJC should not be a first option to resolve your speeding ticket. Consult an attorney for all the ins and outs of using PJCs.