Look up a North Carolina plate
See whether other drivers have filed reports against a plate.
A plate with no reports comes back clean — that is the common result, and it is not an error.
Avoidance & safety rules
- Do not follow or pursue the vehicle, under any circumstances.
- Do not try to read or photograph the plate if doing so means getting closer or driving unsafely.
- Do not engage. No gestures, no eye contact, no reply to an aggressive driver.
- Keep your distance and let them pass. Pull over somewhere public before you make a call, or have a passenger call.
- Note details only if it is safe: make, model and colour, full or partial plate, direction of travel, and the exact location or mile marker.
Does a Jerk Alert report reach the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles? No — Jerk Alert filings are community records between drivers. They never reach the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles, any other government body, or law enforcement, and they do not replace the calls in sections 1 and 2. If you are in danger, call 911. The Terms prohibit following, approaching, or identifying another driver on any Jerk Alert platform.
North Carolina bad driver reporting & safety guide
1. If it is happening now immediate danger
Emergency hotlines
- 911 — for a driver who is an active danger to other people right now. That is a police matter, and no app is a substitute for the call.
- *HP (*47) — North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Highway patrol line for dangerous driving as it happens.
It reaches a dispatcher who may send a trooper to a driver still on the road — use it while the driving is happening, and 911 for an immediate danger. NC DPS publishes it as *HP: "Motorists traveling through the state who need assistance may dial *47 which is *HP on a cellular phone." The call connects to the nearest Highway Patrol communications center. The Patrol's own site (ncshp.gov) now also directs motorists to dial 911 on a mobile phone.
2. Reporting to North Carolina law enforcement after the fact
Neither the hotlines above nor anything in this section is the licence-review route in section 3, and nothing filed on Jerk Alert reaches any of them.
Who takes the report in North Carolina
- The non-emergency line of the North Carolina municipal police department or county sheriff’s office with jurisdiction where it happened takes reports of dangerous driving that has already happened.
- Bring: the plate (full or partial) and state, the vehicle’s make, model and colour, the location, the date and time, the direction of travel, and what you saw.
- Expect a record rather than a ticket. An officer who did not witness the driving usually cannot cite for it, and what each agency acts on varies.
3. State DMV & licensing agency review
Public reporting accessYes — citizens can report dangerous drivers
A named form a member of the public can file with the licensing agency.
Who can file: Anyone. “Although anyone may request that a driver be medically evaluated” — the NCDMV's own words; requests typically come from physicians, law enforcement officers who have observed poor driving habits related to health problems, crash reports, and court orders.
Administrative fitness process
- Agency
- North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles
- Unit
- Medical Review Program / Medical Review Unit
- Form
- Request for Driver Re-examination — the NCDMV web page calls the same PDF the “Request for Medical Evaluation form”
- Where to send
- Medical Review Program, 3112 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27697-3112
- Contact
- (919) 861-3570 or (919) 861-3809 · fax (919) 733-9569
What information do I need to report a driver?
- The request must give specific information about the medical or visual condition and/or driving ability of the person concerned, and must be made only in the interest of public safety.
- Identify the driver as best you can — the form asks for name, gender and address alongside the age and licence-number fields.
- Complete the Section for Concerned Citizen to Complete — your name, phone number, address, your concern, your signature and the date.
- Advanced age alone cannot be the sole reason for a re-examination request.
- Mail it to NCDMV, Medical Review Program, 3112 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27697-3112, or fax it to (919) 733-9569 marked Attention: Medical Review Program.
Will the driver find out who reported them?
Not anonymous — an unsigned form is not accepted, and the NCDMV states that anonymous requests are NOT accepted. Note also what you will not get back: the form itself says that due to confidentiality requirements, the Division is unable to release its final recommendation to you. Nothing NCDMV publishes says whether the driver is told who filed.
What can the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles do after a report?
- A staff of licensed medical professionals reviews the medical records and statements alongside the driving record and decides what restrictions, if any, should be placed on the licence.
- Where the driver submits the requested documents in time, the Medical Review Unit reviews them within 45 days of receipt — 30 days for school bus drivers. It may request more, such as an optometrist's report, a neuropsychological evaluation or an occupational-therapy driving evaluation from its published list of evaluators.
- If the condition is stable and the driver's health care provider has documented it, the outcome may be restrictions rather than loss of licence: corrective lenses, daylight driving only, a 45 mph limit with no interstate driving, driving only to named places such as work or the doctor, or driving only within a set radius of home.
- Depending on severity the case is reviewed periodically — as often as every three months or as rarely as every three years — with updated medical documentation each time.
- A driver who does not comply with the Medical Review Unit's decision in a timely manner has their licence cancelled until they do.
- The driver may request reconsideration, which the Unit reviews within 30 days, and is entitled to a hearing before the Medical Review Hearing Board if they ask in writing within 10 calendar days of the decision. There are no hearing fees; hearings are held in Raleigh before a hearing officer and at least two physicians, are recorded and last about 30 minutes. Requesting a hearing postpones any restriction unless the driver is told to surrender the privilege.
- Drivers who disagree with the Medical Review Hearing Board may appeal to Wake County Superior Court.
Statutory authority: N.C.G.S. § 20-9 — the provision the NCDMV cites for a driver's right to contest a Medical Review cancellation before the Medical Review Board.
What this route can and cannot do
North Carolina is one of the easier states to report to if you do not know the driver personally: the form asks for their “Date of Birth or Approximate Age” and for the licence number only “if known”, so an approximate age and an address will do.
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