The Importance of Consulting With a Fairfax Reckless Driving Lawyer

Reckless driving in Virginia is a class one misdemeanor. It is important to realize that it is almost as serious as a DWI. It can have a similar effect on your license, including suspension. You can have a permanent misdemeanor on your record. You can have points on your license, which can dramatically effect insurance and your ability to get a license in the future. Reckless driving is not the same as a speeding ticket. It’s far more serious and warrants the attention of a Fairfax reckless driving attorney.

Importance of Legal Representation

In order to understand how Virginia law works, it’s crucial to have somebody who focuses their practice on Virginia law. Virginia reckless driving is unique. It’s treated very seriously. Oftentimes people face jail time for reckless driving in Virginia, so it’s not something one can take lightly. It is important to make sure you have someone on your side who is experienced in Virginia law, understands why Virginia treats it differently, and the ways in which different localities in Virginia allow people to make amends for their mistakes. A Virginia attorney is best-suited to try to resolve the case in a way in which the offender doesn’t have to have something permanent on their record.

Impact of Pleading Guilty

That’s a mistake a lot of people make because they don’t consult with an attorney. The problem is that while you may, in the short run, feel like you resolved the case and don’t have to worry about it anymore, in the long run, you’re going to have a class one misdemeanor on your permanent record and you’re going to have six points on your license. You’re not going to be able to just get rid of that. That could take a long time to fix. In fact, the permanent conviction part of it you may never be able to fix. If you consult with an attorney and try to resolve that case in a different way, you may be able to avoid having the serious impact on your DMV record, but you also may have a conviction that is not permanent and could come off your record after a number of years.

Potential Defense Strategies

There are different ways of trying to convince a prosecutor to reduce the charge to a traffic infraction, for which someone would pay a fine and have a few points on their license. After a few years, the offense would come off their driving record. That is very different than a class one misdemeanor because a class one misdemeanor for reckless driving is on your driving record and it’s on your permanent record. That’s one strategy to try and pursue: an agreement with the Commonwealth where you can get the charges reduced. There are also ways of challenging the evidence incurred, for example, in a reckless driving by speed case. There are ways to focus in on the calibrations of the police officer’s equipment or what the police officer observed in order to create reasonable doubt as to whether they actually have the necessary evidence to convict you of reckless driving. In those cases, it is possible to win a trial and convince a judge that you’re not guilty of reckless driving and have the charge dismissed.