I got a reckless driving ticket in VA for driving 45 on 25 zone.
I am 25 and haven't had any tickets before.
I was driving on 45 miles zone and then the road suddenly changed to 25 miles zone but somehow I missed the changed speed sign and got pulled over after like 15 seconds. Since it was midnight that there was no car on the road, I did not even realize I was driving fast. Do you think it can be an excuse to drop some charges? Should I hire a lawyer? I want to know approximately how much fine will be charged....plus, the officer didn't write neither how fast I was driving nor the speed limit of the road on the ticket. He just wrote RECKLESS DRIVING GENERAL on my ticket. Don't they usually write them on the ticket?...I am terrified!..Please help me out!

lawyer.

Stop posting and call a lawyer. You will get a bunch of responses telling you what to do. Unless they say call a lawyer, in my opinion, they are worthless. I have no lawyer recommendations, but there are a bunch on this forum and elsewhere. Bottom line is you may have to spend some money now for a lawyer, like it or not. Just do it and let him/her work through your arguments. May cost more up front than you think you can afford, but in the long run, it will save you a bunch. A lawyer will probably work this down to a violation and a clean record. You probably won’t.






Jen0624 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a reckless driving ticket in VA for driving
> 45 on 25 zone.
> I am 25 and haven't had any tickets before.
> I was driving on 45 miles zone and then the road
> suddenly changed to 25 miles zone but somehow I
> missed the changed speed sign and got pulled over
> after like 15 seconds. Since it was midnight that
> there was no car on the road, I did not even
> realize I was driving fast. Do you think it can be
> an excuse to drop some charges? Should I hire a
> lawyer? I want to know approximately how much fine
> will be charged....plus, the officer didn't write
> neither how fast I was driving nor the speed limit
> of the road on the ticket. He just wrote RECKLESS
> DRIVING GENERAL on my ticket. Don't they usually
> write them on the ticket?...I am
> terrified!..Please help me out!

probably about 4 million dollars....give or take.

Yup, call a lawyer. THis will probably result in a reduced charge for the lawyer will "talk" with the prosecutor.

When searching for a lawyer, get a clear understanding of the fees and what will be done.
I don't know of any lawyer to recommend but I absolutely would NOT recommend Phillip Leiser, et al....

Jen0624 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a reckless driving ticket in VA for driving
> 45 on 25 zone.
> I am 25 and haven't had any tickets before.
> I was driving on 45 miles zone and then the road
> suddenly changed to 25 miles zone but somehow I
> missed the changed speed sign and got pulled over
> after like 15 seconds. Since it was midnight that
> there was no car on the road, I did not even
> realize I was driving fast. Do you think it can be
> an excuse to drop some charges? Should I hire a
> lawyer? I want to know approximately how much fine
> will be charged....plus, the officer didn't write
> neither how fast I was driving nor the speed limit
> of the road on the ticket. He just wrote RECKLESS
> DRIVING GENERAL on my ticket. Don't they usually
> write them on the ticket?...I am
> terrified!..Please help me out!


To answer your question directly: You'll find out in court.

To answer the question you should have asked: The fine is the least of your worries. The license suspension will be a ton worse.

To be an echo of the previous posters: It's time to lawyer up. I had a friend get a reckless driving ticket. He went to court, was found guilty, and ended up losing his license for six months. We were still in college and the suspension started at the same time as fall semester, so it wasn't so bad, but it still sucked.

YouBet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yup, call a lawyer. THis will probably result in a
> reduced charge for the lawyer will "talk" with the
> prosecutor.
>
> When searching for a lawyer, get a clear
> understanding of the fees and what will be done.
>
> I don't know of any lawyer to recommend but I
> absolutely would NOT recommend Phillip Leiser, et
> al....




Agreed. Phillip Leiser of Tyson's Corner is an unethical and dishonest attorney that scams a lot of trusting folks.

Here's how it works.

You call a lawyer and have a first time meeting.
You present your ticket and your version of the infraction.
You pay the lawyer at least an estimated $800 up front.
The next time you see the lawyer is at the court house on the day of your case.
The lawyer probably has 3 other cases that day and they are probably the same if not higher priority than yours. Who paid him the most.

The lawyer enters the courtroom and opens the manila folder of your case as he sits down, probably the first time since he has seen you at the initial meeting.
The lawyer talks, the judge reduces your sentence to a high level speeding ticket.

You now have to attend 2 SAFE DRIVING programs and pay for each, don't know the cost these days. Points may be given on your license, not 100% sure, depends how bad the reckless was at the time.

Lawyers are scumbags and could give a crap about the average citizen. He got his $800 estimated bucks for this bullshit process.

The judge and the lawyer will be drinking together that same night.
Fuck it. That's how the system works.

Oh, and with the lawyer - you can't get brain surgery for a dollar and a quarter.
Get a good lawyer.

Agree with the above except you don't have to get a lawyer, especially if you don't have the $800. However, if you get stuck with a reckless, you may be paying more than $800 over time to the insurance company. I just got a reckless and the courts only want like $240 bucks. As far as the increased insurance premiums, there are ways to avoid that. Had I gotten a lawyer and forked over the $800 it is a crap shoot weather it would be reduced or not. Eitherway, I would still have about $200 court cost and $800 lawyer cost so it really is about deciding between the lesser of two evils. At least I can live with the fact that I am providing as little financial support as I can to our kangaroo justice system.

In a case like the OP (albeit, old), where the margin for reckless was right at the limit coupled with the speed limit change at nighttime the judge may cut you a break and reduce it to § 46.2-869 IMPROPER DRIVING. You may need to request this from the judge (or prosecutor if they even assign one to your case). Best way to find out if you might get a break is to look at the court docket a few months in advance and find a day when they are holding traffic court. Go and watch what the judge does for similar cases as yours and decide from there if the $800 to the attorney is worth it. Some judges are a-hole golfing buddys with the prosecution and going in there without hiring one of his defense attorney golfing buddies to represent you will just piss him off more. Golfing ain't cheap.

I got a reckless driving ticket when I rear ended someone. I hit an older model SUV. My front end was gone and the bumper of the SUV was bent down some. The cop just shook her head seeing how the SUV hardly had any damage. Seriously, not even the tail lights were broken. Anyway.......

I got a reckless driving ticket. Cop told me that since I had a clean driving record that the judge may just give me a reduced sentence. About a week after the accident I got mail from tons of lawyers about my ticket. I never even contacted a lawyer. The mail just arrived. Guess the lawyers must have been scanning the tickets handed out.

I went to court without a lawyer. Pleaded guilty(if you rear end someone your guilty). Judge reduced the ticket to something like "unlawful lane change" or whatever. Paid $120 in court fees and walked out.

So.......if you have a clean driving record(meaning no points whatsoever) then forget the lawyer. Plead guilty. Pay the fine. Walk away with more money in your pocket than you would have if you went to the lawyer. Your car insurance will go up a bit but that is expected.

And a little more traffic court advice. Make sure to look at your safe driving points on the DMV website. Hopefully you are in the positive. If you are not, then take a state-approves driving course. The courses are offered online and once completed you have to take the final test at an official testing station (ie some old dusty computer in the back of a UPS store).

Taking the course can be played in two ways. If you haven't taken the course ever (or in the last several years) then you are eligible to get +5 driving points upon successful completion of the course. They will mail you a certificate which you can then take to the judge to show how much of a good boy or girl you have been. The other option is you don't take it before court and the judge may offer to reduce or dismiss the charges upon completion of a driver improvement course and no further tickets in x amount of time. When the judge orders you to take the improvement course you do not get +5 points. So it can be advantageous to your safe driving points if you take it before court. Some judges don't mind this as it shows incentive, others get pissy because they don't want you to have the +5 and want to feel like they wear the daddy pants by ordering you to take the course. I think the course can only be taken for +5 point every 2 or 3 years.

The courses are a complete joke, easy to pass, and do little to nothing to actually improve somebody's ability to drive. Unless they start including driver sims in the computer, I don't have any idea how they expect to improve driving by having someone sit in front of a computer screen answering multiple choice questions. Kind of like me hoping to improve my batting average by taking the SATs. But that is the system we have so you can either play it or be played by it.

The lawyer recommendation is the safe and virtually guaranteed course of action. And it will go just as the above person indicated.

If you want to take a chance on it going wrong you can represent yourself following the advice give above and/or speak to a the prosecuting attorney yourself the day of the case. But this is risky since there is no guarantee you will have a chance to speak to the attorney or that you might muck something up with judge when your case is heard.

In sum: expensive safe solution = lawyer, cheaper riskier solution = rep yourself

You do not want to plead guilty to reckless. It's not a traffic citation. It's a criminal misdemeanor in Virginia.

This is one of the relative few traffic situations where a lawyer probably isn't a bad idea as noted above. (No offense to lawyers!)

If your record is otherwise decent, both traffic and criminally, it is likely they will allow you to plead down to "Improper Driving" which is just a catch-all. You will get points and you will pay a fine but it will not go on your criminal record.

It would also be a good idea to take a Virginia traffic course (which I believe you can do online). It shows you

And remember, 20+ over or 80+ mph at any time is reckless in Virginia by statute. The cop can cut you a break but he doesn't have to and it's a lot less common for them to do so than with "regular speeding". Regardless the legislature set that threshold not the cops. So keep it below that threshold.

FfxU General Counsel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You do not want to plead guilty to reckless. It's
> not a traffic citation. It's a criminal
> misdemeanor in Virginia.
>
> This is one of the relative few traffic situations
> where a lawyer probably isn't a bad idea as noted
> above. (No offense to lawyers!)
>
> If your record is otherwise decent, both traffic
> and criminally, it is likely they will allow you
> to plead down to "Improper Driving" which is just
> a catch-all. You will get points and you will pay
> a fine but it will not go on your criminal
> record.
>
> It would also be a good idea to take a Virginia
> traffic course (which I believe you can do
> online). It shows you
>
> And remember, 20+ over or 80+ mph at any time is
> reckless in Virginia by statute. The cop can cut
> you a break but he doesn't have to and it's a lot
> less common for them to do so than with "regular
> speeding". Regardless the legislature set that
> threshold not the cops. So keep it below that
> threshold.

*It shows you are taking responsibility for your actions. They will look favorably on that.

https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/drivers/#pcbased.asp

The courses are a complete joke, easy to pass, and do little to nothing to actually improve somebody's ability to drive. NOT TRUE.

You will learn other ways to avoid a reckless driving ticket in the future.

Driving thru a parking lot 1 mph or more with someone on the hood of your car is reckless driving.

Stopping on a highway if your car is able to go 1 mph or more for whatever reason is reckless driving. Theses are a couple you wouldn't think of.

If you learn when you are young it helps, or if nobody explained them to you.
You learn.

Knowing a Judge personally is the best person you can have a friendship with in life. Mark that down. The lawyers are pawns who get favors returned by judges.

Bullshit - the lawyer (depending on who you get) may be a safer option, but there aren't any guarantees other than the sum you will have to pay them.

Best bet is to let them fine you, suspend your license, and keep driving anyways. Hell, just turn in your license and keep driving. The worst they can do is just throw you in jail, fine you, and suspend the license you no longer have. It worked out well for Douglas Vladimir Monge Baires and Walter Antonio Canales Reyes.

notalawyernotaspeeder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In sum: expensive safe solution = lawyer, cheaper
> riskier solution = rep yourself

BoredLegalAdvice Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bullshit - the lawyer (depending on who you get)
> may be a safer option, but there aren't any
> guarantees other than the sum you will have to pay
> them.
>
> Best bet is to let them fine you, suspend your
> license, and keep driving anyways. Hell, just
> turn in your license and keep driving. The worst
> they can do is just throw you in jail, fine you,
> and suspend the license you no longer have. It
> worked out well for Douglas Vladimir Monge Baires
> and Walter Antonio Canales Reyes.
>
> notalawyernotaspeeder Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In sum: expensive safe solution = lawyer,
> cheaper
> > riskier solution = rep yourself

Isn't that the Tooehey method?

The fees lawyers charge will be higher than the fines and court costs for most traffic offenses. Even if the lawyer gets you off, you come out behind.

You hire a lawyer for reasons beyond minimizing or avoiding the fine. It could be keeping a good driving record or keeping a specific charge off your driving record. It could be keeping your insurance rates down, keeping your license, or preserving restricted driving privileges. If the ticket arose from a traffic accident it could be to avoid having the traffic offense adversely affect the civil litigation in connection with the accident.

The lawyer with the manila folder may not be the attorney you want if you are actually innocent and have reasonable evidence to prove it. For the remaining 95% he is a better bet. He's in traffic court at least 50 days out of the year. He knows the prosecutors and knows the deals he can cut with them. He argued cases before the judges repeatedly and had a better idea of what facts or arguments will result in a reduced charge or reduced penalty.

As I said: You can't get brain surgery for a dollar and a quarter. You get a cheap lawyer and you are toast. So as bad as the game is, I agree - get a lawyer.

I got a reckleass general once but it was because I was trying to avoid an accident...it was a long story and I hired a lawyer to fight it. I got the charge dropped down. Hire Joseph Yoon, he's a great lawyer with reasonable fees.

I am a lawyer, and I agree that your charge is utter nonsense. However, it is a Class One misdemeanor, so you need a lawyer. (It won't be me, however.)

Anyway, the problem is that the Virginia law contemplates twelve (12) months jail for going 80 in a 70 zone, or for going 75 in a 55 zone, like on the Beltway.

We need to reform the law on Reckless Driving. It's absurd.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to charge my $600 fee to handle such Reckless Drivings in all the jurisdictions of Northern Virginia.

20 mph over the limit or higher is reckless driving. The cop knew that when he/she wrote the ticket. That is a serious charge in Virginia.

If you have a perfectly clean driving record, and if you go to court, this will likely be plead down to a lower charge -- not reckless, but still guilty of speeding at a lower mph and with points and penalties. The judge can and will quickly check your driving record to verify if your past is clean -- get a copy yourself from DMV and bring it to the court.

You really need a lawyer. You need to know how to plead - not guilty, or Nolo contendere. You will have a brief chance to negotiate with the district attorney/commonwealth's attorney to explain why you want a reduced charge before the judge finalizes the decision.

Go on and sign up for a driver's improvement course and show that documentation to the court. Wear a coat and tie. Be courteous to everyone. Sir/ma'am to the judge always. Speak clearly and look them in the eye. Ask for mercy of the court because it has never happened before and this was a one time mistake to be speeding.

I've seen many drivers (citizens) mess up all of the above and get hit with the higher charge because they do not know the court system and the options/alternatives. Heed this advice -- get a lawyer.

I've got two so I can sell you one for $25. Cash only.

Don't waste money on a dirty lawyer. Just get a faster car. Next time you see the blue lights behind you, just speed up and lose them.

It depends on who the judge is. mostly how expensive is his country club membership.



Or you could call the Law Offices of Johnda Scott. You won't have to pay anything. BUt then you may never drive again. Traffic court lawyers are because they can't do anything else. And of can't do that either.

You should call Dean Takaoka at 703-250-0358. He and his daughter Jennifer AKA Slum Bitch seem to have a bit of experience. Did I mention his telephone number? In case didn't it is703-250-0358.

"TAKAOKA ","DEAN ","O","049"," 5602","DOGUE RUN ","DR","FAIRFAX STAT","VA","08/19/2003","FOLLOWING TOO CLOSE "


"TAKAOKA ","DEAN ","O","050"," 5602","DOGUE RUN ","DR","FAIRFAX STAT","VA","11/24/2004","RECKLE/20 MPH OVER LIMIT "


"TAKAOKA ","DEAN ","O","055"," 5602","DOGUE RUN ","DR","FFX STATION ","VA","01/21/2009","GENERAL RECKLESS DRIVING "


"TAKAOKA ","JENNIFER ","A","020"," 5602","DOGUE RUN ","DR","FFX STATION ","VA","03/05/2009","75-79MPH/50MPH ZONE "


"TAKAOKA ","JENNIFER ","A","020"," 5602","DOGUE RUN ","DR","FFX STATION ","VA","05/08/2009","FAIL OBEY HWY SIGN "

> And of can't do that either.

I got too excited. What I intended to say is "And most of them can't do that either."

call me. i'm dean and i get a commission.