Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Hello.

First of all, thanks for looking into my situation.

I was pulled over in Arlington County for speeding (5-10 mph?), but was issued a citation for Failure to Pay Time and Attention (14.2-16). The officer claims that he was giving me a break as the citation does not carry points nor gets reported to the DMV, which I am grateful for.\

A bit about myself: 20 y/o male, college student, and have clean driving record since I had my provisional (never pulled over either). I wish to keep my record clean for as long as a can, especially now since this might hinder my application process for my local volunteer firedepartment.

I have thought about it and it seems that I only have 3 options to manage this situation:

1) Go to court and face the consequences:

-Should I plead guilty or no contest?

2) Take a traffic school course, then go to court:

-A few of my friends advised that I should take this course that lasts about 8 hrs and costs ~$55, and present it to court with the hope of the ticket becoming dismissed. Is this likely to happen?

3) Lawyer up:

-As I am broke, I might be able to ask my father to provide me with an attorney that happens to be a friend of.

I appreciate you reading all this, thanks for the help.


Asked on 5/15/14, 7:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

I would recommend option #2 and see the prosecutor assigned to your case before court starts to determine what s/he may be willing to offer you. (Alexandria is the only jurisdiction in the area as far as I know that currently offers first time offenders the option of completing a driver's improvement course in lieu of pleading guilty. The course can even be completed online and when proof of the completion is presented to the clerk's office the case is then dismissed. As for Arlington, I'm not sure what they may now offer in this regard--if anything.)

Read more
Answered on 5/15/14, 8:59 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Traffic Law questions and answers in Virginia