Triad City Beat: “Under current North Carolina law, the DMV is required to revoke or suspend a driver’s license for failure to pay a traffic fine, penalty or court costs and the driving privilege remains suspended until the driver resolves their failure to comply, or FTC status. The law also includes a provision that allows defendants to restore their licenses if they demonstrate to the court that their failure to pay the fines “was not willful” and that they are “making a good faith effort to pay,” but most of the time, neither the courts nor the DMV lets defendants know about this right, according to prior reporting by TCB.
Data analyzed by researchers at Duke University shows Guilford County has the most instances of failure-to-comply cases in the state, resulting from unpaid fees and fines from criminal cases. These FTCs have led Guilford County to rank second amongst counties with the most driver’s license suspensions in the state while Forsyth County ranks fourth.
According to the 2020 data from Duke, Guilford County has 74,441 actively suspended drivers — about 17.6 percent of the population. Forsyth County has 56,861 or 19 percent of the population. The two largest counties in the state — Wake County and Mecklenburg County with 1.1 million people each — have much smaller suspension rates. Wake County has 107,313 suspension or 10.7 percent of their population, while Mecklenburg has 36,919 or just 4.4 percent of their population. The data also shows that of the 1.3 million people who have had their driver’s licenses suspended in the state, 66 percent are for failure to appear in court while 21 percent are for failing to pay traffic fines or court fees.”