In North Carolina, a speeding ticket for speeding in excess of 55 mph is 3 points. Depending on the county in which you received your ticket it might be possible to take a defensive driving course or request a Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC).

A Prayer for Judgment Continued is a finding of guilt without entry of a judgment and appears to be unique to the state of North Carolina. A PJC is usually obtained after a plea of guilty in court but sometimes a judge can enter a PJC after a not guilty plea.

For Automobile Insurance purposes, one can have up to one PJC per household every 3 years that will not allow insurance premiums to be raised. For Driver's License purposes, a driver can have up to two PJCs within a 5 year period which will not result in driver's license points.

So basically a PJC is a judge-made remedy and in traffic cases, it is not a conviction so thus should not result in an increase in car insurance premiums or points on your license.

The Safety and Health Council of North Carolina, www.safetync.org, states that 16 judicial districts within 42 NC counties allow traffic violators to complete a NSC Defensive driving course in exchange for a reduction in penalties.

In some counties it might be a combination of both a driving course and PJC that allows you to do this. For example in Mecklenburg County you may elect to receive a PJC by completing a 4 hour defensive driving course.

You will need to contact the court in the county in which you received your ticket to see if a defensive driving course is available or if you can receive a PJC so that your speeding citation does not show up on your license or have insurance points assigned to it. The NC DOT might also have information available on the courses or plea of PJC.

Our article What a Ticket Can Truly Cost You can also be of help.