Driving after a DUI in North Carolina: the Limited Driving Privilege

The first days: the administrative suspension and the hearing deadline

In most states the licensing agency suspends the license at arrest, separately from any court case, and the driver has a short window to request a hearing on that suspension. Missing it lets the suspension take effect without review.

The 30-day civil revocation order is entered by the judicial official at the initial appearance (or mailed by the clerk, effective the fourth day after mailing), the license is surrendered, and the revocation begins immediately. A person may request in writing a hearing to contest the validity of the revocation at the initial appearance or within 10 days of the effective date of the revocation, to the clerk or a magistrate, on the hearing request form developed by the Administrative Office of the Courts; the request must specify the grounds. The revocation remains in effect pending the hearing, which must be held within three working days (magistrate) or five working days (district court judge) or the revocation is rescinded; failure to appear forfeits the hearing; the decision is final. No fee is stated. The separate NCDMV 12-month refusal revocation is contested by written request to t

“The request may be made at the time of the person's initial appearance, or within 10 days of the effective date of the revocation to the clerk or a magistrate designated by the clerk, and may specifically request that the hearing be conducted by a district court judge.”

Who can get it, and how soon

A limited driving privilege is a judgment issued in the discretion of a court for good cause shown. After a first conviction of impaired driving under G.S. 20-138.1, G.S. 20-179.3(b)(1) requires that the person held a valid (or less than one year expired) license at the time of the offense, had no impaired-driving conviction within the preceding seven years, was sentenced at Punishment Level Three, Four or Five, has no later impaired-driving conviction or unresolved charge, and has filed a substance abuse assessment with the court. During the 30-day pretrial civil revocation, G.S. 20-16.5(p) allows a privilege after 10 days of revocation on similar conditions. A person revoked 12 months by NCDMV for a willful refusal may apply only after six months under G.S. 20-16.2(e1).

“b. At the time of the offense the person had not within the preceding seven years been convicted of an offense involving impaired driving. c. Punishment Level Three, Four, or Five was imposed for the offense of impaired driving.”

Administrative track: a person charged with an implied-consent offense who has 0.08 or more (0.04 CMV; any amount under 21) or who willfully refuses is civilly revoked for 30 days by the judicial official at the initial appearance (G.S. 20-16.5(e)); the revocation begins when the order is issued and a limited driving privilege may be applied for once the license has been revoked for at least 10 days of a 30-day revocation (30 days of a 45-day revocation), if the person held a valid or less-than-one-year-expired license, has no other unresolved impaired-driving charge or later conviction, and has obtained a substance abuse assessment and registered for any recommended treatment. Conviction track: the person may apply for the privilege at the time judgment is entered (G.S. 20-179.3(c)) for the one-year revocation under G.S. 20-17(a)(2). Refusal: the separate 12-month NCDMV refusal revocati

“(3) The person's license has been revoked for at least 10 days if the revocation is for 30 days or 30 days if the revocation is for 45 days;”

Conditions attached to the privilege

Court judgment on application (at sentencing, or later by application filed with the clerk and served on the district attorney, G.S. 20-179.3(d)); a processing fee of $100.00 paid to the clerk of superior court, without which the privilege is invalid (G.S. 20-20.2); proof of financial responsibility furnished to the judge before the privilege is granted - an insurer's certificate or a binder/policy of nonfleet private passenger liability insurance, maintained for the life of the privilege (G.S. 20-179.3(l); NCDMV's form is the DL-123, not an SR-22); a substance abuse assessment of the G.S. 20-17.6 type filed with the court (post-conviction), or an assessment plus registration for recommended treatment (pretrial). Ignition interlock: mandatory in the privilege, with a designated-vehicle restriction, if the alcohol concentration was 0.15 or more (G.S. 20-179.3(g5)); otherwise the judge may

“Upon the issuance of a limited driving privilege by a court under this Chapter, the applicant or petitioner must pay, in addition to any other costs associated with obtaining the privilege, a processing fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00).”

Where and when it allows driving

Essential driving related to employment, maintenance of the household, education, court-ordered treatment or assessment, community service ordered as a condition of probation, emergency medical care, and religious worship. Work-related driving may be authorized during 'standard working hours' (6:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., Monday through Friday) without specified times and routes; driving in nonstandard hours requires documentation and the privilege must specify times, routes or geographic boundaries; household maintenance driving only in standard working hours; emergency medical care at any time. When the privilege includes a designated interlock-equipped vehicle, the purpose and hour limits do not apply while driving that vehicle.

“(f1) Definition of "Standard Working Hours". - Under this section, "standard working hours" are 6:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. on Monday through Friday.”

How it is issued

A court issues the Limited Driving Privilege by order, which is then presented to the licensing agency.

Official page: nccourts.gov

The statute: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-179.3 (limited driving privilege); § 20-16.5(p) (pretrial); § 20-20.2 (processing fee)

“A limited driving privilege is a judgment issued in the discretion of a court for good cause shown authorizing a person with a revoked driver's license to drive for essential purposes related to any of the following: (1) The person's employment. (2) The maintenance of the person's household.”