November 5, 2026

Anyone who drives US-1 through Youngsville or takes US-401 from Louisburg toward Raleigh knows the moment. You come over a rise, spot a patrol car in the median, and look down at the speedometer a second too late. Nothing happens, and on the drive home you wonder what that ticket would have cost. The fine is usually the cheapest part. What a North Carolina speeding ticket really costs depends on a short list of numbers in state law and the state’s insurance rules: 10, 15 and 25 miles per hour over the limit, plus three actual speeds, 55, 75 and 80 mph. A driver a mile or two under one of those lines might get off with a minor hassle. A driver just over it can be looking at years of higher premiums or a suspended license. Franklin County’s traffic cases are heard at the courthouse at 102 S. Main St. in Louisburg, which is where tickets that aren’t simply paid get resolved. Grant Scheuring, an Oxford-based defense attorney who handles cases there, has posted an overview of how speeding ticket cases move through Franklin County court, including how PJCs and insurance points come into play. North Carolina keeps two scorecards A speeding conviction is recorded in two places, and each one counts it differently. The first is your license record at the Division of Motor Vehicles. Most speeding convictions add 2 points. Speeding at more than 55 mph adds 3, and so does going over a posted school zone limit (G.S. 20-16). Twelve points in three years gives the DMV grounds to suspend a license. At 7 points, the DMV may offer a driver improvement clinic that takes 3 points back off. The second is your insurance record under the Safe Driver Incentive Plan, the state system insurers use […]