I received a PBJ for speeding in Maryland, my home state. I go to school in VA and got a ticket for failed to yield to a stop sign. This happened before the 18 month period of the PBJ. What are the implications of this? Should I pay off the ticket or should I attend the court date?

In Maryland Probation Before Judgment, referred to as a PBJ, is when the judge finds you guilty, but strikes the finding of guilt. This helps you so that the MD Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) does not assess points on your driving record.

You are however placed on probation by the judge for a period of time, typically six (6) months to a year for a minor traffic violation. If you compete your period of probation without any new traffic violations, you are not given points by the MVA however if you do get more tickets the offense and points are placed on your Maryland driving record.

You should have been informed by the court when you received the PBJ the terms of your probation and what would occur if you received another traffic ticket. If not you can contact the court or the MD MVA to seek clarification about the terms of your probation and if it includes out of state moving violations.

Maryland and Virginia are both members of the Drivers License Compact (DLC) so if you are convicted of failing to yield at the stop sign in VA, then their courts will inform the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration of this offense.

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The MD MVA site notes that if you received a conviction out-of-state, that state is obligated under the terms of the Driver License Compact (DLC) to notify the MVA. Upon receipt of the information, the MVA will update your driver record. For many types of violations though the MVA will only record the conviction information on your Maryland driver record and will not assess points. This does not help you however if you are trying to keep your first offense from being placed on your record and assessed points.

If you want to keep the conviction off of your Maryland driver's history and perhaps from affecting your PBJ then you should contact the Virginia court listed on your ticket to see if there is any way to reduce the ticket to something that would not be reported to MD or take traffic school to dismiss the ticket completely.

Once you get the information you need from the MD MVA and Virginia court you should be able to determine if you want to go to court in VA to fight or reduce the ticket or just pay it off.

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