Mecklenburg Traffic Lawyer

Mecklenburg law enforcement is very strict. They work with selective enforcement and they have special events relating to holidays and busier traffic weekends where they try to control the flow of traffic by pulling a lot of people over and making traffic stops.

There is a broad definition of a traffic offense in Mecklenburg County. They range anywhere from improper passing or failure to give way in favor of an overtaking vehicle, to driving through the safety zones, driving on the sidewalk, and so forth. The most frequent traffic offenses issued in Mecklenburg are speeding, reckless driving by speed, and by driving behavior, and failure to move over for the emergency vehicles.

If you are facing any of these serious traffic offenses, it is important to contact a skilled defense attorney early on to build a defense. A Mecklenburg traffic lawyer is your best chance at mitigating any potential penalties you face with a conviction.

Point System

Mecklenburg follows the Virginia DMV point system, so if a person is convicted of a certain type of traffic infraction or reckless driving charge, that information is submitted to the Virginia DMV and points are assessed based on what type of a charge they are convicted of.

Points are collected by the Virginia DMV and if they accrue a certain number in a certain period of time, their license can be suspended in other various penalties imposed. A person might have points added to their driver’s license if they are convicted of a traffic infraction or misdemeanor in any jurisdiction in Virginia.

Penalties

The most frequent traffic misdemeanor in Mecklenburg is reckless driving. In Mecklenburg, the most frequent traffic infraction rising to the level of a felony that Mecklenburg traffic attorneys see would be eluding the police and that generally occurs on the interstate where people keep driving instead of stopping.

Reckless driving in Virginia is a Class 1 misdemeanor conviction and can carry up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 and a permanent criminal record in the state of Virginia. Potential penalties for a traffic violation in Mecklenburg would range from cost in court and a fine all the way up to Class 1 misdemeanor conviction that is on the table for a reckless driving charge, as well as fines and jail time.

The biggest concerns for a conviction are potential jail time, fines that can vary from a $100 between $500, and the implications of getting points on a person’s license are taken into consideration by insurance companies for years when renewing insurance policies and assessing costs.

Building a Defense

The courts in Mecklenburg are receptive to law enforcement testimony. To put on a case for dismissal,  it is important for a Mecklenburg traffic attorney to understand the areas from a client standpoint, they should be able to definitively state facts about the case and particularly, for people who are just passing through town, if they are unfamiliar with their circumstances, it can be hard for them to provide the same level of detailed information as an officer who patrols the heavy traffic areas day in and day out, so they need a local attorney’s help in their defense.

When building a defense, an attorney wants to make sure that law enforcement personnel who issued the charge are in court and still employed with the agency, if their equipment was found to be operating properly, if there was a large amount of traffic on the road, and if there was confusion as to the actual vehicle speeding. Of if they were behaving recklessly, they will want to uncover if there was any possible way that it was someone else and not the person who was actually charged.

Contacting a Mecklenburg Traffic Attorney

An individual facing a traffic charge should contact a skilled Mecklenburg traffic lawyer in almost every condition because even if a person is not looking at the implications of jail time or a significant fine, they are always going to be in jeopardy of getting points on their license that will – depending on their insurance company – have significant financial effects. Even if a person’s traffic infraction is relatively minor, if they do have a history of traffic violations, that could ultimately be the straw that breaks the camel’s back as far as adding any more points to the total on their license.

The role of the traffic attorney in Mecklenburg is to assess the facts of each individual case and from there, they would either begin to seek a finding of not guilty to get the case dismissed and if that is not possible based on the facts and circumstances of the individual case, then the attorney would mitigate the damages and essentially look to reduce charges from a misdemeanor range to something like speeding or non-moving. The number of points that are assessed for each level of traffic convictions and the number of points that a client already has in their license, whether or not they got it for a living, whether or not they have a professional license which would be affected by Class 1 misdemeanor conviction, whether there are immigration concerns, a skilled defense attorney in Mecklenburg will examine all the possible implications of a low level traffic conviction all the way up to a felony alluding.