What to Expect from Your Fairfax Reckless Driving Case

In Virginia, reckless driving is not a mere traffic ticket, it is a serious criminal offense that can be accompanied by large fines and jail time. As a result, it is important that you know what constitutes reckless driving and how it is handled by the court system in large areas like Fairfax. For more information or to discuss your case, contact a Fairfax reckless driving lawyer today.

Reckless Driving Cases in Fairfax County

There is a distinction between people who are charged with reckless driving that have an attorney to represent them versus people that represent themselves. For the people that have attorneys representing them, the prosecutors will make an appearance on the case and negotiate with their attorney to try to resolve the case without a trial. So, the prosecutors will engage in plea negotiations for defendants who are represented by attorney.

Those who represent themselves do not have that opportunity and must face the judge on their own and decide what plea to enter. One major distinction between Fairfax and other jurisdictions is that there are too many cases for prosecutors so they are limited to those people that have lawyers.

Fairfax Reckless Driving Case Process

A person will receive a summons and will be ordered to appear in court on a certain date. If they have already retained counsel, then the attorney will enter their appearance on the case and notify the court that they represent them.

On the first court date, the accused’s attorney, will engage in plea negotiations with the prosecutor and will also meet with the police officer. They will also meet with the officer and interview them to determine whether there are any irregularities in the way in which the officer gauged the person’s speed or observed the behavior to try to see if there is anything that can be used at trial.

Then, an attorney will try to work out a favorable disposition through a plea agreement. If that can be done, then it will be brought before the court and resolved right there. Also, there could be a trial that same day with the officer and the judge in the General District Court. Sometimes, the case is continued either by the Commonwealth or the defense for various reasons. So, it is possible that there could be more than one court date through the rest of the case.

Reckless Driving Charges Prosecuted Aggressively in Fairfax

Fairfax County takes reckless driving cases very seriously. The judges certainly do and the penalties can be very significant such as jail time and license suspension. It is absolutely true that judges will incarcerate people for speeding. Sometimes that comes to a surprise for some people that were not aware of that when they get pulled over.

There are county officers, state troopers, and airport authority police that patrol the highways in Fairfax County very closely. There are a lot of reckless driving summonses issued to people for speeding and for other types of reckless driving conduct that occurs. The main priority that they have is patrolling the highways to keep them safe. So, it is highly enforced on roads and highways in Fairfax County.

The Most Common Roadways Where Reckless Driving is Charged in Fairfax

I-495, the Toll Road, Route 50, and Route 28 in Chantilly are very common. Then in Fairfax City, there is Arlington Boulevard which is also a common roadway. There are so many different highways in the area and so many cars that you really see a wide variety of roads.