Legal Question in Traffic Law in South Carolina

Please excuse any delay in answering your question. I am a criminal defense attorney with an office in Horry County, but I practice in all of the surrounding counties including yours. I normallly would respond immediately to your question. However, this web site has a delay in relaying the questions to the attorneys. That can be avoided in the future if you email me directly at [email protected]

I would suggest going back and double checking the name of the violation you were charged with. I have never heard of "thoughtless operation." We have a traffic violation called "Careless Operation." That is a zero point violation. If that is what you have, then since there has already been some confusion regarding your ticket, I would further advise you to double check with the court that your charge does in fact have zero points or not.

As to whether or not the fine can be reduced, courts around the state operate differently as to fine amounts. So do judges and police officers. That too you need to double check.

As to you appearing in court, I'm very sorry, but I cannot advise you on that. There are legal matters that people can handle themselves without an attorney. At the same time, I've seen what appeared to be a very simple matter get complicated fast in court when a person was not represented by an attorney. That applies to traffic tickets as well as other things.

I have to advise you to consult with and consider retaining an attorney.

Attorney Robert J. Johnston

Horry County, SC

843-946-0099

Email: [email protected]