The Road to Zero
Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported an estimated 10 percent increase in traffic fatalities for the first six months of 2016. NHTSA’s report was based […]
September 28, 2016
Unlawful Racing of Motor Vehicles
When I think of unlawful racing, scenes from old movies come to mind. I see guys (more specifically, James Dean and John Travolta) in white t-shirts and leather jackets behind […]
September 27, 2016
An Officer’s Reasonable Mistake of Law and Recent Court of Appeals Ruling
The United States Supreme Court in 2014 ruled in Heien v. North Carolina, 135 S. Ct. 530 (affirming State v. Heien, 366 N.C. 271 (2012)), that an officer’s objectively reasonable […]
September 22, 2016
State v. Lindsey: Another Close Call on Probable Cause for DWI
Do the following facts provide probable cause to arrest for impaired driving? An officer pulls behind a vehicle at a stoplight around 3 a.m. and sees that its registration is […]
September 19, 2016
Searches of Vehicles and Occupants Based on the Odor of Marijuana
May an officer search a motor vehicle based on the officer’s detection of the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle? May the officer search the occupants of the vehicle? […]
September 14, 2016
Three Things about NC’s Seat Belt Law You May Not Know
State law has mandated seat belt use by North Carolina motorists for more than thirty years. The seat belt law has, however, changed a bit over time. As a result, […]
August 31, 2016
HGN, the Rules of Evidence and Suppression Hearings
True or False: An officer does not have to be qualified as an expert to testify about horizontal gaze nystagmus in a hearing on a motion to suppress in an […]
August 25, 2016
When May Evidence of HGN Come on Down . . . or In?
The question I am most frequently asked these days is some version of the following: May a law enforcement officer trained in administering the HGN test testify at trial about […]
August 17, 2016
Pop Quiz on Dangerous Driving
It is almost time for a new school year to begin, so I’m feeling in the mood for a pop quiz. What driver behavior is associated with the most vehicle […]
August 3, 2016
Does State v. Ashworth Place Factors Over Substance?
The court of appeals reversed a defendant’s DWI conviction yesterday in State v. Ashworth, __ N.C. App. __ (August 2, 2016), on the basis that the trial court plainly erred […]
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Blog Authors
- Maggie Bailey
- Brittany Bromell
- Emily Coward
- Alexander Cowell
- Melanie Crenshaw
- Michael Crowell
- Shea Denning
- Sara DePasquale
- Phil Dixon
- James Drennan
- Belal Elrahal
- Whitney Fairbanks
- Bob Farb
- Rebecca Fisher-Gabbard
- Jacquelyn Greene
- Alyson Grine
- Timothy Heinle
- Jonathan Holbrook
- Joseph L. Hyde
- Kirsten Leloudis
- Caitlin Little
- Ian Mance
- Jamie Markham
- Chris McLaughlin
- Kristi Nickodem
- Alex Phipps
- M. Jeanette Pitts
- LaToya Powell
- Ethan Rex
- John Rubin
- Jessica Smith
- Meredith Smith
- Daniel Spiegel
- Tom Thornburg
- Hannah Turner
- Christopher Tyner
- Jeff Welty