Summer 2025 Motor Vehicle Law Changes

Published for NC Criminal Law on August 06, 2025.

The legislature enacted a raft of changes this summer to motor vehicle and criminal law. This post examines three session laws that enhanced criminal penalties and revised regulations for motor vehicle offenses and operation. The changes cover broad ground, including changing vehicle inspection requirements, authorizing speed-measuring cameras, and heightening penalties for certain motor vehicle offenses that result in injury. Read on to learn more. S.L. 2025-47. For those interested in motor vehicle law generally, it may be worthwhile to read the entirety of S.L. 2025-47, titled “An Act to Revise Laws Concerning the Department of Transportation.” This section addresses four changes in the Act: (1) speed-measuring cameras; (2) trucks on the highway; (3) driver’s license extensions; and (4) window tint regulations. Speed-measuring cameras. Cities and counties are now authorized to install approved electronic speed-measuring systems in school zones. There must be advance warning signs within 1,000 feet of the cameras and the cameras must be regularly calibrated and tested in accordance with the newly enacted G.S. 8-50.4 (also a product of S.L. 2025-47). Violations of the speed limit captured by the system may only be enforced as noncriminal violations and will not carry license or insurance points. The civil penalty assessed is $250, which must be paid or contested within 30 days. If a person is delinquent in responding, there may be a late fee of up to $50 and the DMV must refuse to register the vehicle used in the offense. (Effective October 1, 2025). Trucks on the highway. Readers [...]