Amelia Reckless Driving Dismissed

Reckless driving is classified as a criminal misdemeanor that carries up to 12 months in jail, up to a $2500 fine, and up to a 6 month license suspension. There are many different reckless driving laws in Virginia but they all carry this potential punishment, at a minimum. Some of them are more severe. In[...] The post Amelia Reckless Driving Dismissed appeared first on Leavitt & Martin.

Reckless driving is classified as a criminal misdemeanor that carries up to 12 months in jail, up to a $2500 fine, and up to a 6 month license suspension. There are many different reckless driving laws in Virginia but they all carry this potential punishment, at a minimum. Some of them are more severe. In addition, if you are convicted of a misdemeanor, you have a permanent criminal record that never goes away and can never be expunged.

Virginia code 46.2-856 defines reckless driving if you pass two vehicles “ABREAST” of each other. My client was charged with passing two vehicles. However, the vehicles were not side by side, they were one in front of the other. This is clearly not “ABREAST” which means side by side. Many officers mistakenly believe that you cannot pass two vehicles in a row. However, as long as you don’t speed or commit a lane violation or other infraction then it is perfectly fine as long as the vehicles are not SIDE BY SIDE.

For this case we had to educate the officer and through our discussions with the prosecutor he agreed with our legal analysis and we were able to get the charge dismissed. Every case is unique and past results do not guarantee future results.

The post Amelia Reckless Driving Dismissed appeared first on Leavitt & Martin.