Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Re: Traffic violation

Well your son is a juvenile, so there is already some protection there.

Yes, basically, it means that it will not show up AS A CONVICTION.

If he gets in trouble again, the prosecutor and the court (future court) might be able to see that he caught a break this time already, and feel that he should not get a break again. So they can see that he had a charge dropped down like this.

However, with regard to the outside world, he would NOT be convicted of anything. It would be almost like he was found NOT guilty. So he would not have to report that he was found guilty of anything (even though it is only a traffic ticket anyway, not a crime).

However, you should impress upon him that the more tickets or even charges he racks up the more harsh the court will be each time.

People don't realize that if they get a lot of speeding tickets -- thinking they are "only" tickets -- that the record and pattern looks VERY bad to the judge. Then if they get in trouble and NEED a break, they will get slammed very harshly. So it DOES matter -- a LOT.

A driver needs that margin for error in case something really bad happens, they get charged with DWI or reckless driving (over 80 MPH or more than 20 miles over the speed limit) or gets in an accident and is charged with not having the car under control.

If you burn up your "grace period" lots of speeding violations, it won't be there when you really need it.