Virginia Traffic Violation Help

[jwilly]

We took a family trip to Washington, DC the week of Thanksgiving and the good ole Virginia Highway patrol decided he wanted to chat with me about my speed. Explaining that my children had asked "are we there yet" 1291 times didn't seem to wash away an 85 in a 65?

Can anyone give me some advise on the best way to proceed with this in VA? I have done some research online and everyone with helpful advice is also selling something. I'm wondering if I show on the court date if I could get court supervision, maybe take an online defensive driving course and keep this off of my record. I have been clean for almost 3 years so I'm trying to get my insurance rates down.

I guess secondly, any attorney recommendations in the area of Dinwiddle?

Appreciate any sound advice! Yeah I know, slow down!! :yahoo:

-jwilly

 

[slapnpop]

Uhm... bend over and use lots of vasoline?

anything over 70 can be charged with wreckless. With kids in the car, most judges won't look too kindly on you risking your whole family's life to "make good time." VA is all about the speed enforcement on a large level, even instituting aircraft patrol.

 

[luvtoride]

I'm pretty sure that you can suffer thru probation, pay the fine & go to some school in lieu of points... or something or other. If you get another ticket in a certain amount of time there are some repercussions... not sure what they are & not sure that this would apply to out of staters, either. Do a little more research because I am not 100% positive. Slapnpop is right about reckless driving but it's not getting caught doing anything over 70... 15 MPH over whatever the speed limit is considered reckless driving but is up to the discression of the officer if he writes you for it. There are quite a few places were the limit is 65. Get caught doing 80 will probably get you a reckless driving award. I'm not sure if the 15 over applies only in VA. One big reason why I try to do no more than about 10 over... well, most times, anyway.

 

[ponyfool]

anything over 70 can be charged with wreckless. With kids in the car, most judges won't look too kindly on you risking your whole family's life to "make good time." VA is all about the speed enforcement on a large level, even instituting aircraft patrol.

Close, Virginia's reckless law reads: A person shall be guilty of reckless driving who drives a motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth (i) at a speed of 20 miles per hour or more in excess of the applicable maximum speed limit or (ii) in excess of 80 miles per hour regardless of the applicable maximum speed limit.

Both of which would apply in this situation.

Have you checked to make sure your speedometer was working correctly? The reason I ask is, Virginia has a "faulty equipment" law where the fines would be the same, but no points and insurance doesn't care either.

I remember growing up in Virginia Beach and Norfolk as a teenager and hearing more than one person bringing in a receipt for a new speedometer cable or speedometer gear box thingee and tell the judge, "I replaced the _____ part, and now my speedometer is working properly. I am sorry I was apparently speeding, I wasn't aware. Now that this has been brought to my attention, I'll keep an eye on my speed." The judge would find them guilty of driving with faulty equipment and fine them the same as a speeding ticket. But, no points, no insurance increase. In fact, something like this was posted throughout our high school walls. If you read it carefully, you are not lying. You aren't being ethical, but you aren't lying.

And, I'm certainly not advocating it here. I'm just saying what I saw some do years ago.....

 

[NC_Yank]

:crazy: Advice.......????......huh..........ah....slow down? :yahoo:

I would just contact a local attorney in which the infraction (misdemeanor) occurred.

You're gonna dole out some greenbacks anyway, minds as well give it to some blood sucking

lawyer to get it reduced as much as possible. If you have enough greenbacks then you could probably get out if completely......maybe even write a book about it........."If I were speeding, I would have done it this way",

it worked for OJ.

NC

 

[tstaff]

J,

I'd say you should be happy to get a 85/65 in VA, rather than a "Go Directly to Jail" that we could have seen in in NC!

Tom

 

[MikeYork5]

Got to believe the 'speedo is not operating properly' defense has a poor chance of working anyplace. Tried that one in Ca. once. As I was the honcho over several car dealerships had the resources to put together what I thought was a fool proof defense. I was driving a demo at the time that was written up as a rental car so in theory I had a 'rental', calibrated speedo info, repair order for replacement of speedo unit, etc., nearly perfect I would say. It took a lot of time and effort to construct my plan but what the hey, a means to an end! In court I hardly began my 'story' before the gavil fell and my honor said something like "My York, regardless of the proclaimed speedo problem, you were still speeding correct? Guilty'. Ignorance of the law is not a defense.

 

[ponyfool]

Got to believe the 'speedo is not operating properly' defense has a poor chance of working anyplace. Tried that one in Ca. once. As I was the honcho over several car dealerships had the resources to put together what I thought was a fool proof defense. I was driving a demo at the time that was written up as a rental car so in theory I had a 'rental', calibrated speedo info, repair order for replacement of speedo unit, etc., nearly perfect I would say. It took a lot of time and effort to construct my plan but what the hey, a means to an end! In court I hardly began my 'story' before the gavil fell and my honor said something like "My York, regardless of the proclaimed speedo problem, you were still speeding correct? Guilty'. Ignorance of the law is not a defense.

You're right, in some states, it can't work. In Oregon, intent means nothing for traffic violations. In other words, it doesn't matter if you intended to run the red light or speed down the highway, if it is simply proven that you did do it by a preponderance of the evidence, you are guilty. But, at least 20 years ago, in Virginia, that wasn't the case. The faulty equipment rules allowed for such things. Like I said, it was 20 years ago, may not be the same now, but it worked every time I saw it back then.