Reckless Driving by speed in VA, advice please.

[TJSwoboda]

Looking at the truncated thread title on the main page: "Reckless Driving by Speed in..." My mind automatically completes it with "Virginia." Let's check the thread, and... Right I am. Good to hear it worked out. Move to Illinois, where this would have been a simple speeding ticket (you just lose other freedoms instead).

 

[SVTORANGE]

Glad it worked out for you :beer:

 

[oldmodman]

Update:

My lawyer went to the hearing. Sent me a letter saying it was lowered to a speeding ticket, 74 in a 55. $186 fine.

Total cost of doing 78/55 in VA = $786 :bash:

Congratulations!
Your attorney turned a possibly serious encounter with the law into a relatively minor one.

We may all (almost everyone) hate attorneys, but without one the judge will seldom take you seriously, and may even punish you more if you try to defend yourself in front of them without one.

 

[phinhead34]

Wow great it worked out for you. I got a 100 in a 50 here in Florida and my court date is on Oct.4 I got an attorney and hope I am as fortunate as you were.

 

[lastexit99]

My brother was in a similar situation you are in. We were traveling through Virginia around Richmond at around 3AM. Were our way to our family vacation in NC, and there appeared to be noone else on the road. He slowly started bumping up the speed on the cruise control, he was over 100MPH when apprearing behind us was a cop who had been pacing us with his lights off. When he pulled us over he said we were going 101MPH, that's what the ticket was written for.

The fine was HUGE, my brothers license was suspended in VA for a period of time, but no other state seemed to know about the ticket, and after his suspension period he had to pay a sizable fee to reinstate his license. I remember there was talk about him having to go to court but he wound up not goign and just paying the fee.

I would still recomend the Lawyer.

 

[vfast]

it's all about the money...you should see the million dollar mile on 295 here in va.. 1 mile stretch of road that made last year over 1 million in speeding tickets
Hopewell's "Million Dollar Mile" threatened by budget amendment - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News, Weather, Traffic & Sports

 

[quad]

it's all about the money...you should see the million dollar mile on 295 here in va.. 1 mile stretch of road that made last year over 1 million in speeding tickets
Hopewell's "Million Dollar Mile" threatened by budget amendment - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News, Weather, Traffic & Sports

They should just turn it into a toll road managed by a private party. The roads will be better - guaranteed.

 

[silver03svt]

it's all about the money...you should see the million dollar mile on 295 here in va.. 1 mile stretch of road that made last year over 1 million in speeding tickets
Hopewell's "Million Dollar Mile" threatened by budget amendment - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News, Weather, Traffic & Sports

They should just turn it into a toll road managed by a private party. The roads will be better - guaranteed.

But it wasn't the Commonwealth of VA that was reaping those benefits. It was the City of Hopewell. They were out everyday and night on the 1 mile stretch of I-295 that ran through their city writing people for 5 or more MPH over the limit. It has pretty much ended though after it was found out that the city was dealing with the budget shortfalls using these funds, and paying officers overtime to write the speeders.

 

[vfast]

no it's the commonweath wanting a piece of the pie

 

[vfast]

here in Henrico they use asst. district attorneys on speeding tickets...all about the money...and they help defense lawyers as well

 

[silver03svt]

no it's the commonweath wanting a piece of the pie

Wrong again. The hopewell officers were writing under the city code sections, so the Commonwealth saw absolutely ZERO of that money.

here in Henrico they use asst. district attorneys on speeding tickets...all about the money...and they help defense lawyers as well

No. They only use the Assistant Commonwealth's Attorneys in criminal cases and occassionally a traffic case if active jail time is being pursued by the officer/Trooper. Ask me how I know this.

 

[11GT50]

My brother was in a similar situation you are in. We were traveling through Virginia around Richmond at around 3AM. Were our way to our family vacation in NC, and there appeared to be noone else on the road. He slowly started bumping up the speed on the cruise control, he was over 100MPH when apprearing behind us was a cop who had been pacing us with his lights off. When he pulled us over he said we were going 101MPH, that's what the ticket was written for.

The fine was HUGE, my brothers license was suspended in VA for a period of time, but no other state seemed to know about the ticket, and after his suspension period he had to pay a sizable fee to reinstate his license. I remember there was talk about him having to go to court but he wound up not goign and just paying the fee.

I would still recomend the Lawyer.

I'm curious as to why you guys thought it would be a good idea to cruise at 100+ mph. I mean, I can see hitting it every once in a while for s's and g's, but to stay up there for a sustained period of time?

Yeah, you guys deserved that one....

 

[alex3610]

But it wasn't the Commonwealth of VA that was reaping those benefits. It was the City of Hopewell. They were out everyday and night on the 1 mile stretch of I-295 that ran through their city writing people for 5 or more MPH over the limit. It has pretty much ended though after it was found out that the city was dealing with the budget shortfalls using these funds, and paying officers overtime to write the speeders.

I thought this was still going on. Hopewell Sheriff had hired around 30 part time officers working about 30 hours per week doing nothing but traffic details on 295. Emporia and Greensville Co. on 95 is the same deal. They give overtime at an almost unlimited rate long as they are on the interstate writing tickets. As you stated, the individual jurisdictions have passed local ordinances that mirror the state laws and cite people under the local ordinance keeping the revenue stream local as well.

The most troubling thing to me about Hopewell was the percentage of tickets written to out of state drivers. Maybe it is just a function of the locals all know about the speed trap. Or they cut a break to VA residents. Or are they targeting out of state drivers because they are more likely to just pay the fine AND they don't vote in the state? Who knows.

Growing up in NJ where it was very difficult to get a reckless ticket, it is a bit of a shock how easy it is to earn one in VA. Can't even run a radar detector here either. Also, if I remember reading right, red light cameras are coming soon to the city of Richmond. Stark contrast to other areas of the law here where personal freedom from the government is proudly protected. Bottom line, watch your speed in VA!

 

[silver03svt]

I thought this was still going on. Hopewell Sheriff had hired around 30 part time officers working about 30 hours per week doing nothing but traffic details on 295. Emporia and Greensville Co. on 95 is the same deal. They give overtime at an almost unlimited rate long as they are on the interstate writing tickets. As you stated, the individual jurisdictions have passed local ordinances that mirror the state laws and cite people under the local ordinance keeping the revenue stream local as well.

The most troubling thing to me about Hopewell was the percentage of tickets written to out of state drivers. Maybe it is just a function of the locals all know about the speed trap. Or they cut a break to VA residents. Or are they targeting out of state drivers because they are more likely to just pay the fine AND they don't vote in the state? Who knows.

Growing up in NJ where it was very difficult to get a reckless ticket, it is a bit of a shock how easy it is to earn one in VA. Can't even run a radar detector here either. Also, if I remember reading right, red light cameras are coming soon to the city of Richmond. Stark contrast to other areas of the law here where personal freedom from the government is proudly protected. Bottom line, watch your speed in VA!

It still may be, but they have cut back if so. And most of the traffic on that part of 295 is out of staters. Without looking at exact numbers, I'd be willing to bet that 70-75% of those are written in the summer travel season. I see it up on 95 in Hanover County. Fri-Sun, 75% of the vehicles are from out of state somewhere. It's not that Hopewell is targetting our of state drivers, it's out of state drivers not realizing that 10MPH over in a 70 MPH zone in VA will get you a Reckless Driving ticket.

 

[Mach1USMC]

I was in a similar situation in NC..... fortunately I had been on this board for several yrs and immediately new the answer would be get a lawyer (thank you FORDSVTFAN!!). My lawyer cost $350, on his advice I went to traffic school which cost $145 IIRC, the ticket got was reduced to 3 over. I paid court costs, a small fine and got ZERO POINTS. No hike in insurance. And got my command out of my face. (They wanted to NJP me and suspend my base driving privileges for a month:rollseyes)

Needless to say it was WELL worth the money spent. Another word of advice. Don't just get any lawyer. Get someone who has an established record in the community, has seen these cases before, and has a good relationship with the DA's office. ALL that works in your favor.