Traffic Lawyer in Virginia Beach

Regardless of whether you plead not guilty or no contest your lawyer could still try to get your reckless driving charge reduced. Here are the most common reductions in order from most favorable to least favorable, but any reduction from reckless is always a great thing. 

Reduction #1 - The Court finds you guilty, but still decides to Dismiss the charge upon payment of court costs. The criminal charge goes away. There are no fines besides the court costs. This will not carry points on your driving record. This will not even show up as anything on your driving record.

Reduction #2- The Court amends the charge to a Non-Moving Violation. The criminal charge goes away. This will carry a fine on top of the court costs. This will still show up on your driving record; however, this generally never carries any points on your driving record. 

Note: the two most common Non Moving Violation Reductions for Speeding are:

Defective Equipment § 46.2-1003.

Defective Speedometer § 46.2-1080

Reduction #3 - The Court amends the charge to a Speeding Infraction of 9 mph over. The criminal charge goes away.  This will carry a fine on top of the court costs. This will still show up on your driving record. This will carry minus 3 points on your driving record, which is much better than reckless driving which carries minus 6 points on your driving record. 

Reduction #4- The Court amends the charge to a Speeding Infraction of 19 mph over. The criminal charge goes away.  This will carry a fine on top of the court costs. This will still show up on your driving record. This will carry minus 4 points on your driving record, which is much better than reckless driving which carries minus 6 points on your driving record. 

Reduction #5- The Court amends the charge to a Speeding Infraction of 20 mph or more over the speed limit but takes it out of the criminal reckless code section. The criminal charge goes away.  This will carry a fine on top of the court costs. This will still show up on your driving record. This will carry minus 6 points on your driving record which is the same points you would lose as the reckless driving charge but AT LEAST IT’S NOT CRIMINAL NOW.

Reduction #6- The court amends the charge to Improper Driving § 46.2-869

“Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this article, upon the trial of any person charged with reckless driving where the degree of culpability is slight, the court in its discretion may find the accused not guilty of reckless driving but guilty of improper driving. However, an attorney for the Commonwealth may reduce a charge of reckless driving to improper driving at any time prior to the court's decision and shall notify the court of such change. Improper driving shall be punishable as a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $500.”

Here, the criminal charge goes away.  This will carry a fine on top of the court costs. This will still show up on your driving record. This will carry minus 3 points on your driving record, which is much better than reckless driving which carries minus 6 points on your driving record. 

You might be reading this and say “Wait a minute….why is Attorney Matthew Barbero saying that Improper driving is the worst reduction despite the fact that it only carries -3 points on the driving record whereas reduction #4 carried -4 and reduction #5 carried -6?” You are correct in noting that. The fact that Improper driving is only -3 points on the driving record is a GREAT BENEFIT; however, the reason I rank it last is due to the specific language in the above code section that says: 

“upon the trial of any person charged with reckless driving where the degree of culpability is slight, the court in its discretion may find”

I find that language problematic because it means that in order to get an improper driving conviction it means that you were originally charged with reckless driving and it also means that the court found enough evidence to convict of reckless driving, but simply chose not to because the culpability was slight. That is why I rank it last; however, it is really up to the person. If you are someone who cares more about the DMV points then how it “looks” then you should put this option right after the 9 mph over option, but if you care how it looks it’s better to take a hit on the DMV points than to get an improper driving. However, remember a reduction from reckless driving to improper driving is still a GREAT result since it’s reduced out of criminal and only carries -3 points, it’s just the least desirable result in my opinion. PS my mentor Tom Hunter enlightened me to the downsides to improper driving, so shout out to him.