Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Re: Reckless driving in Southampton County

Any disposition by the Virginia Court that revoked or suspended your right to operate there would likely be reported to the MA RMV which by statute would impose the same restriction here. You should retain counsel both in MA and VA to work together to limit the effects of this.

Re: Reckless driving in Southampton County

Virginia could not suspend your Massachusetts license but rather only your privilege to operate a motor vehicle in the Commonwealth since its bureaucratic state authority does not extend into Massachusetts.

It's unlikely that you would have to serve any jail time if you ended up being convicted on the reckless driving charge.(In fact it's not inconceivable that you might actually escape with

the much lesser charge of "improper driving".)

Re: Reckless driving in Southampton County

Unless there is something we don't know about, and you were actually going 104 miles per hour, I don't see how you will avoid a conviction. Your good driving record will be considered in terms of what penalty the judge will award. Typically, if you have a good driving record, the judge will impose a fine of (for example) $600 with $400 suspended for 6 or 12 months, plus 10 days in jail suspended for 6 or 12 months. That means that if you get in trouble again with a criminal conviction (not just a traffic citation) within the time period (6 months or 12 months) then you pay the extra $400 and spend 10 days in jail. But if you do not get in more trouble, then the punishment vanishes after the time period is up. However, you could run into a hanging judge who puts you in jail for a few days to make you take it seriously. Also, this will be a criminal (misdemeanor) conviction that could affect your insurance and your career.

Because you are out of state, you should request a copy of your driving record in MA (officially certified if possible) to have ready for the court. Normally, they would pull this information if you were a Virginia driver. Should you take a driver's ed class? It depends on whether that would improve your driver's record in MA under MA procedures before the trial date. If you could show a higher score or better record on your driving record, by all means do it. But I don't know how MA handles this.

Re: Reckless driving in Southampton County

If you were doing 104, you were definitely "in excess of 80 mph..."

You need counsel. Do not do this by yourself. Jail is a very real possibilty when going as fast as you were.