Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Re: Wreckless Driving

Virginia Reckless Driving laws are some of the most severe in the United States. Virginia Reckless Driving law criminalizes the act of speeding if a driver exceeds 20 miles per hour faster than the posted speed limit. In fact, Reckless Driving is a Class 1 Misdemeanor, and as such, carries the same penalties as a DUI. When you have been charged with a criminal offense such as Reckless Driving, or any serious traffic charge, you need a committed legal team focused on obtaining only the best results for you.

There is a number of possible consequences that can result from a Reckless Driving conviction, including the restriction or loss of your privilege to drive, increases in insurance costs, fines, court costs, and even imprisonment. In many cases, your charge can be reduced to a civil penalty such as improper driving or a simple speeding, and keep your record clean.

Without any specifics, I can't say with any confidence what your likely outcome will be. I can say, however, that in a case such as this, your interests will be best served by retaining an attorney who regularly handles serious traffic cases such as this.

Re: Wreckless Driving

Mr. McCarthy is correct. This is not a "do it yourself" problem. It is the CRIME of reckless driving in Virginia (although they don't publicize it, and it is a nasty surprise) to drive over 80 MPH no mater what or 20 MPH over the posted speed limit (with some weird quirks at certain low speeds).

So at 90 MPH, you are being charged with going 10 miles beyodn the trigger point of 80 MPH and 15 MPH over the trigger point of +20 over the posted speed.

You will have to convince a judge that the police officer was MISTAKEN by a "spread" of 15 MPH in order to knock the charge down to simple speeding.

Not only is reckless driving a crime, and very serious, but trying to argue that the police officer was off by 15 MPH difference would be a difficult task for any experienced lawyer.

In other words, if you were charged with 82 in a 60 MPH zone, you would only have to persuade the court that the police officer was "off" by only 2 MPH difference.

Three things you can do in addition to getting a lawyer: (1) immediately pull your DMV record. Don't rely on your memory. Whether your driving record is good or bad can make an enormous difference in how you will be treated by the Court.

(2) If your car is not new, have a car mechanic check the speedometer. If a mechanic certifies that the speedometer is inaccurate, that can help you a lot.

(3) The last thing will probably not help, but it couldn't hurt, and it might help. You can go ahead and take a driving course. This might not be available in all Counties, and is not recognized by all Counties. You will have to do this very fast so that it will show up on your driving record when the prosecutor and the Court look at your driving record. They are not obligated to consider this.

But it is remotely possible that this will add to your points on your driving record, they will see a better score on your driving record, and they will give you more of a break. If they only look at the points, they might see you as having a better driving record. But if they stop to think about WHY, they might not feel that the driving course over-rides the actual speeding tickets or the like.