As it appears on the back of all citations, generally, there are three options:

• You must appear in court at the appointed time with your South Carolina drivers license if "yes" is indicated in the violation block on the front side of the citation you received.

• You may post a cash bond with the trial office prior to the assigned date of trial. If you decide to mail in your bond rather than go to the court office, You may mail a money order, cashier's check, or certified check directly to the court office. Please enclose a copy of your citation with your payment.

• You may appear in court on the assigned date and time and have a trial conducted by the trial officer.

The posting of bond before your assigned trial date in no way affects your right to have a fair trial by the judge or, if you make a written request before your scheduled trail, by jury. However if "no" is indicated in the violation block on the front side of the citation you received and have previously posted bond and do not appear on the trail date, your bond may be forfeited unless the judge has agreed to have your case heard at another time. If you fail to post bond or personally appear in court on the assigned trial date, your home stat's Motor Vehicle Division will be notified to suspend your license until you have cleared this matter with the trial court. Additionally, a willful failure to appear or post bond is punishable as a separate offense by a fine of up to $200.00 or imprisonment of up to 30 days.

You may mail or deliver the fine listed on the citation to the address listed on the citation or appear in court. If you elect to appear in court on the assigned date and time indicated on the citation, it is suggested that you bring proof that the violation has been corrected .

You may mail or deliver the fine listed on the citation to the address listed on the citation or appear in court. Come to court on the assigned date and time indicated on the citation. If you elect to appear in court on the assigned date and time indicated on the citation, you should bring proof that the vehicle was insured at the time that the citation was issued. If you bring proper proof, the citation will be dismissed.

Continuances are granted solely at the discretion of the judge assigned to the court date. All requests must be directed to the North Charleston Municipal court in writing and received at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled time of trail.

You may fax the request to 843-740-xxxx or you can mail your request to:
North Charleston Municipal Court
2536 Fourth Street
North Charleston, SC. 20406

At a very minimum you should include your name, current address, phone number, citation number(s), original court date, and detailed explanation for request. If possible, send a copy of your citation(s) along with your request.

The court office is located at:
North Charleston Municipal Court
2536 Fourth Avenue
North Charleston, SC. 29406

The FR-10 is a financial responsibility form and must be turned into your insurance company. (You should make a photo copy of this form for your records first.) Your insurance company will then verify that the vehicle you were driving at the time of collision was insured and then submit the form to the office of financial responsibility in Columbia. This process must be completed within 15 days of the date of collision otherwise you are subject to having your drivers license and vehicle registration privileges being suspended.

Reports are generally available within 72 hours of the collision occurrence and can be obtained from the records division located in the North Charleston City hall for a fee of $3.00.

In some circumstances, reports may be delayed pending further investigation such as if the collision involved a hit & run vehicle.

As a victim or witness in a collision you should determine from the investigating officer if your appearance is required. Generally, unless you have received an official subpoena, you are not obligated to appear in court, however your lack of appearance may still have an effect on the disposition of the case. Unless the officer witnessed the collision, or can present evidence determining contributing factors in the collision, your presence is needed to properly prosecute the violator. If no evidence or witnesses are presented against a violator of a citation issued in a collision, the violator's citation is likely to be dismissed due to a lack of prosecution. This may possibly be an issue that makes recovery of insurance claims difficult. It is suggested that you make an every attempt to be present for all cases for which you are a victim or a witness by asking the investigating officer if your appearance is needed.

A police officer called to the scene of a traffic collision has a duty to investigate the cause of the collision. All factual information concerning a particular traffic collision is gathered prior to determining which unit contributed to the collision. The following are examples of facts that an officer considers during the course of a traffic collision investigation:

• Statements of involved parties and witnesses
• Physical Evidence such as:
• Damage to vehicles or other property,
• Vehicle debris (i.e., glass, radiator fluid, other vehicle parts, etc.),
• Tire marks,
• Sobriety of parties involved,
• Other physical evidence (i.e., paint transfers, gouges, etc.).
After gathering and evaluating all statements and physical evidence of a traffic collision, the investigating officer forms an opinion to determine the contributing units involved in a collision.

N.C.P.D. OCA numbers are always 10 digits and begin with the year the report was generated. The OCA is located on the bottom right corner of all collision reports (TR-310 reports) and Financial Responsibility Forms (FR-10 form) in the box labeled "Internal Agency Code". An OCA may also be written on the outer edge of some citations.

If you received a citation your court date is written in the center left portion of the blue ticket in the box labeled "Trial date".

If you are a witness or victim in a collision and need to know when a trial is scheduled for the person cited for contributing to the collision, you can call the Municipal Court to request that information. Before calling, you will need to know the name of the defendant before calling. You can find this on the Green form you received at the time of collision, or by calling the N.C.P.D. Records Division at 843-554-5700 and provide the case number of the collision.
The municipal court is not able to retrieve trial dates by case number.

Non-functioning traffic signals should be treated in the same manner as a stop sign and must be stopped at.
Please be mindful that other motorists may not see the traffic signal and may not stop as required. After stopping, please proceed with caution.