RECKLESS DRIVING, VA DEFENSE

Charged With Reckless Driving in VA? 

Reckless Driving Defense From Our Offices in Fairfax, Lynchburg, Manassas, Richmond & Virginia Beach

The following is a discussion of some of the different ways a person who is driving in Virginia may be given a reckless driving ticket in VA. If the following scenarios seem all too familiar, take comfort in the fact that you are not the only person to ever have received a Virginia reckless driving ticket. Drivers all throughout Virginia are frequently given tickets for reckless driving in Virginia.

This isn't a trivial offense. A Virginia reckless driving charge is a very serious moving violation. In fact, it is a class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia. You ask what a class one misdemeanor is.  A Virginia class 1 misdemeanor is the highest level of misdemeanor criminal act a person can be convicted of in Virginia. The maximum statutory penalty for a Virginia class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia is up to twelve (12) months in jail, and or up to a $2500 fine. There are even more potential headaches of being convicted of a reckless driving charge in Virginia. You could lose your license for up to six months, lose your job because you were convicted of reckless driving or even lose your security clearance. You can be charged and convicted of reckless driving, even on federal property such as the George Washington Parkway commonly referred to as the GW Parkway, the military bases such as Fort Belvoir, Quantico Marine Base, federal parks, etc.

It can happen in a mere instant. Most people who are charged with reckless driving in Virginia are amazed how easily they can be charged with this offense. Perhaps you're distracted and you are simply not paying attention to your speed. Next thing you know, you are being charged with reckless driving for traveling in excess of twenty (20) miles over the speed limit (46.2-862).

Who doesn't recall going out for a drive on a beautiful sunny day with not many cars on a clear stretch of road and mistakenly traveling in excess of eighty (80) miles per hour? Suddenly you hear the sound of a siren behind you and realize you are being told to pull over. You pull over to the shoulder and the trooper walks up to your car and asks you "Do you know how fast you were going?" If you are like most people, you know you might have gone a little too fast, but you are not sure of your exact speed. Unfortunately, the police officer has clocked your speed by lidar or radar. You tell him you are sorry and ask if he could cut you a break this time. The trooper does not respond to your plea and writes you a Virginia uniform summons for driving in excess of 80 miles per hour regardless of the posted speed limit. You realize as you sign for your Virginia reckless driving ticket, you just received a ticket for reckless driving in violation of 46.2-862. As you sit on the side of the road and look at the ticket, you realize the day is not so beautiful anymore and you now have to go to court. You cannot prepay this ticket.

Your mind is elsewhere and you inadvertently move into another car's lane of travel causing that driver to swerve. Next thing you know, you are being pulled over for reckless driving. The state trooper charges you with violation of VA Reckless Driving Code Section 46.2-852. This violation is the catchall version of reckless driving in Virginia.

On a side road & about to get on a busy highway - you didn't bring your car to a full stop before entering the freeway. This is a violation of the Virginia reckless driving statute of 46.2-863.

You are in a rush to work and you pass a stopped school bus loading some children. Next thing you know, you are being stopped for passing a stopped school bus and receive a Virginia citation for reckless driving in violation of 46.2-859. You know that you are good person and that you would never intentionally pass a stopped school bus. You even have children of your own. The bad news is the police officer doesn't care whether you are good person or not or whether you have children of your own. Neither does the judge. The bottom line is as far as the court, the cop and the prosecutor are concerned, you broke the law in Virginia regarding reckless driving.

Can you imagine being charged with reckless driving in Virginia simply because the police officer observed you spinning your wheels before you entered the main road? You know you did not intentionally spin your wheels. Why should you be blamed for the fact that the road was wet? Unfortunately, spinning your wheels before entering a main road is a potential violation of a reckless driving law in Virginia.

Remember doing doughnuts in an empty parking lot and having a police officer coming by and at worst telling you to get out of there. Unfortunately today, juveniles don't have it so lucky and they will probably get charged with reckless driving in Virginia. For that matter, even an adult can receive a Virginia uniform summons for reckless driving in violation of 46.2-864 for driving in a reckless manner in a parking lot, if the officer believes that the driver endangered life, limb or property.

Recently, police officers have been charging a lot of young drivers with racing. Racing is a form of reckless driving in Virginia (46.2-865), which carries even more serious consequences and penalties than reckless driving by speed (46.2-862). Virginia Code Section 46.2-865 states the following shall occur in regards to the enhanced penalties if a person is convicted of racing: When any person is convicted of reckless driving for racing, in addition to any other penalties provided by law the driver's license of such person shall be suspended by the court for a period of not less than six months nor more than two years. In case of conviction the court shall order the surrender of the license to the court where it shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of § 46.2-398.

In Virginia, you can even be charged with reckless driving if the prosecutor can prove that you had faulty or defective brakes and this resulted in the driver not being able to maintain proper control. (46.2-853)

Simply driving too fast (highly subjective standard) for traffic conditions can result in being charged with reckless driving in Virginia in violation VA Code Section 46.2-861.

Turn without giving the proper signal and you can be charged with reckless driving in Virginia. That means you make a left hand turn and fail to turn on your left turn blinker and lo and behold you may be charged with reckless driving in violation of VA Code Section 46.2-860.

Please keep in mind, that if you are stopped by the police, each and every one of these situations can bring a charge of reckless driving in Virginia.

And according to the law, causing actual harm or damage isn't necessary - it's the driving behavior that counts.

Straightforward Legal Advice from a SRIS, P.C. lawyer who defends reckless driving.

If you've been charged with reckless driving in Virginia, we urge you to seek legal representation. At SRIS, P.C. our experienced reckless driving defense attorneys will give you a realistic picture of what you may face in court. We'll be honest and upfront with you, spelling out the implications of having the case plea bargained vs. taking the matter to trial.

We will discuss some, if not all of the following issues regarding your case:

• your driving record and the impact it can have on the disposition of your case.
• how old or new your car is and whether you may have speedometer calibration issues,
• whether you encountered a situation that was an emergency and therefore you acted instinctively
• the marking on the school bus and whether the marking on the school bus meets the criteria stated in the Code
• what the weather conditions were at the time of the alleged offense
• whether there was some kind of physical barrier that obstructed your view of the school bus
• whether the accident was actually a result of reckless driving
• how did the officer measure your speed: radar, pace, lidar
• can the officer prove that his equipment was properly calibrated per the code
• whether you knew that your brakes were faulty or your speedometer was not working properly prior to being charged, etc.

The attorneys of the Law Offices of SRIS, P.C. have been very successful in negotiating plea bargains on behalf of our clients charged with reckless driving in Virginia, if we determine that the client interest's would be best served by plea bargaining vs. taking the case to trial. However, the client is the only one who can determine what is best for them and we always defer to our clients regarding plea bargaining vs. trial.

Need to consult with one of our lawyers? Please don't hesitate to call us at (888) 437 7747, or by email or via our on line form .

In Virginia, our offices in Northern Virginia are located in Fairfax & Manassas (703) 278-0405. In Central Virginia , our office is in Richmond (804) 201-9009 & in the Hampton Roads/Tidewater area , our office is in Virginia Beach (757) 512-5002.  Our office that serves the clients of Southwest Virginia, Shenandoah Valley, parts of Southern Piedmont & Central Virginia is our Lynchburg Office.  It is centrally located to better serve the clients in the western part of Virginia. 

Our reckless driving defense lawyers and staff in Virginia, speak the following languages in addition to English: Tamil, Spanish, Hindi, Telugu, Cantonese, Mandarin, Malaysian & French.

The following case provides an excellent analysis of what constitutes reckless driving in violation Virginia Code Section 45.2-852.  The following is some of the Court's analysis and conclusion:

25 Va.App. 352, 488 S.E.2d 651
Court of Appeals of Virginia,
Richmond.
Linda Eugene HALL
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
Record No. 1782-96-2.
Aug. 5, 1997.

Linda Eugene Hall (appellant) appeals from her bench trial conviction by the Circuit Court of the City of Hopewell for violation of Code § 46.2-852 (reckless driving). The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether the evidence is sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant drove a vehicle recklessly on a highway in violation of Code § 46.2-852. We find that the evidence is insufficient and reverse.
Although the record contains two references to Code § 46.2-853, the parties agree that appellant was convicted of violating Code § 46.2-852. Thus, our inquiry here is focused upon the application and interpretation of Code § 46.2-852.
Code § 46.2-852 provides:

Reckless driving; general rule.-Irrespective of the maximum speeds permitted by law, any person who drives a vehicle on any highway recklessly or at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person shall be guilty of reckless driving.

For reasons not disclosed in the record, the prosecutor elected not to proceed on the charge for which appellant was arrested and amended the charge to reckless driving. To support a conviction for reckless driving in violation of Code § 46.2-852, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable **653 doubt that the accused drove the vehicle in a reckless manner "so as to endanger the life, limb, or property" of another.

The Commonwealth relies upon Kennedy v. Commonwealth, 1 Va.App. 469, 339 S.E.2d 905 (1986), to support appellant's conviction. Kennedy and his family had been on the road for *355 eight hours when Kennedy ran his van off of the road into a wooded median strip. Id. at 470-71, 339 S.E.2d at 906. This Court affirmed Kennedy's conviction even though no eyewitness testimony proved Kennedy drove in a reckless manner. The Court in Kennedy stated that the circumstances of the accident were such as to give rise to an inference that the car had been driven in a reckless manner in violation of the Code. Id. at 472, 339 S.E.2d at 907.

The circumstances in which Pisarck found appellant's car were such as to give rise to an inference that appellant drove her car to the location where Pisarck found her. In fact, we have held in similar circumstances that a defendant could be convicted of driving or operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. See Propst v. Commonwealth, 24 Va.App. 791, 485 S.E.2d 657 (1997). However, the circumstances in appellant's case do not give rise to an inference that she drove her car in a reckless manner. See City of Baton Rouge v. Copley, 372 So.2d 1215 (1979); Jenson v. Fletcher, 277 A.D. 454, 101 N.Y.S.2d 75 (1950).
"[W]hile evidence of intoxication is a factor that might bear upon proof of dangerous or reckless driving in a given case, it does not, of itself, prove reckless driving." Bishop v. Commonwealth, 20 Va.App. 206, 210, 455 S.E.2d 765, 767 (1995). " 'One may be both drunk and reckless. He may be reckless though not drunk; he may even be a total abstainer, and he may be under the influence of intoxicants and yet drive carefully.' " Id. (quoting Spickard v. City of Lynchburg, 174 Va. 502, 504-505, 6 S.E.2d 610, 611 (1940)).

In Powers v. Commonwealth, 211 Va. 386, 388, 177 S.E.2d 628, 630 (1970), the Court said:

The word "recklessly" as used in the statute imparts a disregard by the driver of a motor vehicle for the consequences of his act and an indifference to the safety of life, limb or property....

The essence of the offense of reckless driving lies not in the act of operating a vehicle, but in the manner and circumstances of its operation.

*356 [3] We hold that under the facts shown by this record, the Commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was guilty of reckless driving in violation of Code § 46.2-852.

Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed and the case is dismissed.

Reversed and dismissed.

Va.App.,1997.
Hall v. Com.
25 Va.App. 352, 488 S.E.2d 651

In this case, an out of state truck driver who possessed a CDL lost his privilege to drive in Virginia and in the state that issued him his driving license due to a conviction for reckless driving based on speed in violation of 46.2-862. The truck driver chose not to appear for the trial and although he did not receive a jail sentence, he was fined a very high fine and had his license suspended.

Court of Appeals of Virginia.
Barry Wayne WICKER,
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
No. 0293-01-3.

 Code " § 46.2-862 . Exceeding speed limit.-A person shall be guilty of reckless driving who drives a motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth ... in excess of eighty miles per hour regardless of the applicable maximum speed limit."
The defendant received a summons for driving a tractor-trailer 91 miles per hour. The defendant signed the summons promising to appear for trial, but he did not. By counsel, the defendant entered a plea of not guilty and waived a jury. The Commonwealth waived imposition of a jail sentence so the trial could proceed in the defendant's absence, but it argued for a substantial fine and license suspension. The trial court found the defendant guilty, imposed a $1,000 fine, and suspended his license for nine months.
FN2. The Commonwealth concedes the defendant's license could not be suspended for more than six months, Code § 46.2-393, and asks us to vacate the excess portion of the suspension. Wheeling v. City of Roanoke, 2 Va.App. 42, 43 n. 1, 341 S.E.2d 389, 389 n. 1 (1986).
On appeal, the defendant contends the trial court erred by imposing a punitive fine and an excessive license suspension because it could not impose a jail sentence. He also maintains the suspension improperly amounted to a forfeiture of his Pennsylvania commercial driver's license. The statement of facts fails to show that the defendant preserved these issues for appeal. It contains no record of the arguments presented at trial nor the objections made to the sentence imposed. "We cannot assume that appellant's objection and reasons were proffered but not made a part of the record." Lee v. Lee, 12 Va.App. 512, 516, 404 S.E.2d 736, 738 (1991). We do not consider an objection not stated at trial. Rule 5A:18.

We affirm the trial court but remand for it to vacate that portion of the license suspension in excess of the statutory maximum.

Affirmed and remanded in part.

Va.App.,2001.
Wicker v. Com.

Dec. 18, 2001.