Pre-Trial LDP

One of the first questions every new DWI client asks is how can they drive to get to work, go to school, pick up their children from school, and/or go out with friends. Well, in most cases, you can get a Limited Driving Privilege. As the name implies, it is not an open-ended license. Your ability to drive will be restricted. Not to worry. We can help you with this process. There are basically four things required. The first two you have to get. The last requirements are an affidavit that we prepare (and you sign in front of a notary), and presentation of a completed petition to a District Court judge.

While often it is possible to get a Limited Driving Privilege (LDP) in North Carolina after an NC DWI, these Limited Driving Privileges are not available in every case and do come with restrictions.  With the help of an experienced NC DWI lawyer, however, the process gets alot easier than if you try to handle this aspect of a DWI case on your own.

All Limited Driving Privileges are subject to the condition that the driver may only drive when essential.  What is essential driving can be enumerated.  Usually, a driver will be limited to what is necessary for the driver’s own employment or education, essential to the driver’s household, and driving to emergency medical care.

Time of day restrictions can be applied to any of these essential purposes, e.g. household trips can be limited to normal work hours.  Driving may also be limited to a specified area, specified routes, or to specified locations.  Any deviation from a standard workweek or from standard needs will need to be supported by reliable documentation from an employer for such deviations of the standard hours to be available.

In addition to limits on what driving is allowable under the privilege, LDPs will necessarily require that the driver abstain from consuming any alcohol while driving or have any alcohol in their blood while driving. Violation of these conditions will result in an immediate revocation of the Limited Driving Privilege, possible revocation of conditioned probation, and even a possible subsequent DWI. At that point, no LDP will be available to you, and a subsequent DWI will count as a Grossly Aggravating Factor and most probably result in mandatory jail time upon conviction or plea.

In short, a Limited Driving Privilege is just that. It is a limited allowance to get where you absolutely need to be. If abused, the privilege will be rescinded and much harsher penalties will result.