NC Traffic Law Blog

There are many benefits of using a Prayer for Judgement (PJC) in North Carolina. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, there are other options for resolving a speeding ticket, but sometimes - through the advice and counsel of your attorney - it may be determined that a PJC is the best course of action in your particular case. In that instance we’re going to be looking at why do we want to use a PJC. That’s broken out into two different areas.

1. the license point impact, and
2. the insurance point impact.

Initially, we would like to be able to use the PJC in a particular case because of the fact that if the PJC is granted by the court, then no points are issued against your license. License points are how the DMV keeps track of your driving history, and after you’ve received a certain number of drivers license points in a three year period, you may in fact be eligible for suspension of your license. The PJC is very beneficial for resolving a traffic citation in that it prevents the accumulation of any drivers license points for that particular offense. For example, if you were charged with speeding 20 mph over the limit, that charge would likely cause you to receive three license points. A PJC for that citation would then result in no license points being assessed and your license would not be in any further jeopardy of potentially being suspended for total points accumulation.

Secondly, we need to look at insurance points. North Carolina has a specific insurance commission that regulates insurance policies in this state. When thinking about a Prayer for Judgement Continued, the second reason why it is beneficial is because it prevents any insurance points from going against you as a result of a particular citation. So let’s jump back to the above example of a speeding charge of 20 mph over the limit. That would lead to 3 license points but 2-4 insurance points. If a PJC was granted by the court in that instance, no insurance points would accumulate as a result of that particular citation. It’s obviously very beneficial because it’s keeping your driver’s license points down, but also it’s keeping your insurance points down. For many of our clients, that’s what they’re really concerned about - because each insurance point leads to an increase of your insurance premium. Every single insurance company in North Carolina has slightly different policies, but a PJC would prevent any insurance points from being accumulated, so long as you have not previously used one - and no one on your family policy has previously used one in the past three years.

A PJC can be a very beneficial outcome for North Carolina license holders, because it prevents any accumulation of driver’s license or insurance points.