Reckless driving is a class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia. It is on the similar stage of offense as DUI is. An individual who gets caught up in an accident or speeds a little too fast is accused of a misdemeanor with the same charges as DUI.
Virginia has various types of reckless driving. To comprehend your case, you primarily have to begin with the ticket itself. It is the piece of paper you received from the officer that usually says “Virginia Uniform Summons” at the top. In the majority of cases, these are yellow carbon copies.
The summons will show the section of the Virginia Code (or local ordinance) that you’re charged with violating. There are fourteen different types of reckless driving, but they do not all come up often in court.
Reckless Driving By Speed
Most reckless driving tickets are based exclusively on speed. In Virginia any speed over eighty miles per hour or above speed limit, qualifies as reckless driving. As some interstates in Virginia have seventy mile per hour speed limits, you could be driving for going only eleven miles per hour over the limit.
Failure to Maintain Control
When an accident occurs, the State Police usually charge the person they believe caused the accident with failure to maintain control. This shows why you should read your ticket vigilantly. Many people get a ticket that just says ‘’failure to maintain control” only to be astounded when they later on find out it’s for reckless driving.
Passing a stopped school bus- If an officer thinks you passed a school bus while it was stopped for loading/unloading children, you might get a reckless driving ticket. The code section for this account requires the Commonwealth to verify a figure of definite things, counting the color of the bus. Judges definitely take these sorts of tickets sincerely, due to the possible danger to children.
General
Even if your driving actions do not fit one of the numerous detailed definitions of reckless driving, you might be charged under the catch-all statute if you are driving supposedly endangered people or property. This section can be charged in a broad range of situations from doing wheelies on a motorcycle to passing in a ‘’no passing” zone.
Significantly, you should not get too focused on the term ‘’reckless driving’’. In Virginia, you do to have to be candidly driving in a reckless style to be charged with ‘’reckless driving’’. You can be charged with this offense merely due to exceeding the speed limit by a chosen amount, even if you were otherwise driving 100% safely.
In spite of which version your ticket says, it is still an illegal charge. That means you will have a court date, be asked to enter a plea, and there will be a trial. The Commonwealth has to verify that you are accountable beyond a reasonable doubt. It is not like you have seen on Law and Order, but it is a real trial which affects your life.