FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Call us to ask, but generally we handle the following traffic violations all the time:

• Speeding
• Speeding in a School or Work Zone
• Following Too Closely
• Improper Turn or Lane Change
• Unsafe Movement
• Failure to Reduce Speed
• Careless and Reckless Driving
• No Operators License
• Expired Registration
• Driving While License Revoked
• Accidents

We are able to handle traffic tickets throughout northwest North Carolina, including the following counties:

• Alleghany
• Ashe
• Avery
• Davidson
• Davie
• Forsyth
• Iredell
• Rockingham
• Stokes
• Surry
• Watauga
• Wilkes
• Yadkin

If you’ve received a ticket in another northwest NC county, we may be able to help you there as well.  Be sure to call and check with us.  Mr. McElwee goes to court throughout the State of North Carolina, and can often handle matters in other counties.

Give us a call at 336-995-0060 and tell us a little bit about your ticket. This usually takes just a few minutes. You can pay us over the phone, or we’ll email an invoice that you can conveniently pay online.

When you hire McElwee Law Firm, we meet with the district attorney to negotiate a reduction or dismissal of your ticket.  Once an agreement is reached, we appear before the presiding judge and “enter a plea” on your behalf to make it official. 

For the average traffic violation, your appearance in court is not required.  We go for you.  This is how the vast majority of tickets are handled.

More serious violations, however, such as very high speeds or reckless driving, may require you to personally appear with the attorney when the plea is entered by the judge.  We always negotiate with an eye toward keeping license and insurance points off your record.  Once the matter is resolved, we follow-up with your result and provide you with a link to go online and pay any costs.

No.  Most tickets can and should be reduced to eliminate or reduce their effect on your license and insurance.  Sometimes the citing officer may advise you to pay off your ticket instead of going to court.  This is almost always prejudicial to you, as even a charge of “nine over” carries points and puts you at risk of a serious insurance hike in the event you get another ticket.  Remember, law enforcement officers are not attorneys, and do not always have your best interests at heart when advising you to pay a ticket.  Give us a call and we’ll let you know what we think. We don’t charge a fee to talk on the phone and help you figure it out.  We only charge if and when you decide to hire us to go to court.  We’re here to help.

What sets our firm aside from the others is the ease of the process. With one short phone call you get professional representation at an affordable price without the hassle most folks associate with going to court. We’ve been handling traffic tickets in northwest North Carolina for over twenty years, and we’ve refined our service to an artform. Check out our Google reviews, and see for yourself!

In the past, court costs usually had to be paid in person at the courthouse. This meant you would either have to go there yourself, or the attorney would need to estimate your costs on the front end and collect them from you. This created tedious extra steps and uncertainty in the process. These days, you are able to simply go online and pay your costs directly to the court without having to go there yourself or deposit money with your attorney while you wait. We immediately provide you with the exact amount of costs, and a link to pay them, as soon as your case is over. Streamlining the process and avoiding extra hassle is our goal!

In the vast majority of cases there will be a way to shield your insurance from any negative effect. Our primary goal is to have your ticket dismissed or reduced to a non-moving violation. This keeps your insurance squeaky clean. If you have prior convictions on your record, then we will try to reduce the speed of your current ticket to a level that has no impact on your insurance. You might also be eligible for a “Prayer for Judgment Continued” or “PJC” which is essentially a “one free pass” that judges in North Carolina can sometime grant. Every situation is different, but the vast majority of non-DWI traffic charges in North Carolina can be reduced or dismissed. Give us a call and tell us your situation. Whatever it is, we’ve likely seen it before and will know exactly what can be done.

Most likely your ticket will either be dismissed, or you’ll have the opportunity to enter a plea of “responsible” to a lesser charge that has no effect on your license.  Very many moving violations are eligible for reduction to a non-moving violation, in which case your license is completely unaffected. 

In fewer cases, your charge might be reduced to a “lesser speed” that carries license points, but not insurance points.  License and insurance points are different, and it is often possible to receive license points without any impact on your insurance.  License points stay on your license for three years and then go away. 

We are extremely familiar with North Carolina’s license and insurance point scales, and can advise what your most likely outcome will be.  Give us a call, and we’ll be happy to let give our opinion of what can and cannot be done with your ticket. 

Call us and we’ll help get it fixed.  The court’s number one priority is to resolve cases and move them out of the system.  This is particularly true with traffic violations.  If you’ve missed your court date, there is often forgiveness built into the system to allow you a chance to come back to court and get your case resolved.  We deal with this issue very often, and can help. 

Check our record and reviews! We’ve appeared for thousands of clients over the years and take pride in our excellent representation. In many cases we are able to meet with the prosecutor and negotiate a reduction or dismissal of your ticket ahead of the court date!

A Prayer for Judgment Continued or “PJC” is a mechanism, unique to North Carolina, whereby you are convicted of an offense but the court defers judgment.  Sometimes the court will defer, or delay, its judgment until a certain date in the future.  For most traffic cases the PJC will be “dispositional”, meaning the case is essentially resolved and there is no future date so long as certain conditions are met.  North Carolina imposes limitations on how often and under what circumstances you can use a PJC.  We consider using a PJC as a “last resort” when other means of resolving your case are unavailable or exhausted.  Give us a call and we will take a look at your driving record and let you know if seeking a PJC is a good option for you. 

For almost all traffic tickets the answer is, “Yes, absolutely,” you should hire an attorney to resolve your ticket. The only exception is if you are charged with a very minor non-moving violation that cannot possibly affect license or insurance. Mishandling your traffic ticket, or ignoring it, can sometimes lead to severe unintended consequences.

By hiring an attorney, you eliminate the uncertainty of trying to deal with the ticket yourself. Your attorney will know how to get your ticket dismissed or reduced in such a way that your license and insurance are protected as much as possible. A local attorney, who knows and understands the tendencies of the prosecutors and judges where you were pulled over, will often give you the best odds.

Hiring an attorney also takes away the inconvenience factor. Thousands of traffic tickets are written across North Carolina every day. Traffic court dockets are notoriously loaded with hundreds of cases, and in most counties going to traffic court involves waiting in long lines for a few precious moments with an overworked prosecutor who might or might not give you a decent offer. If you hire an attorney, then you avoid the lines and aggravation. Most importantly, you can feel confident in sending an experienced advocate to resolve it for you.

We charge $70 to appear and take care of your ticket. For that price, you get an experienced attorney and you can avoid the uncertainty and hassle of trying to deal with it yourself.