So. . .got pulled over for speeding in VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a lawyer. You can lose your license or even get jail time for a reckless. I own a sports car and all the people in this area know to avoid a lead foot in VA -- 15-over is a reckless charge, unlike MD where it's 30 over.

I got a reckless about 15 years ago and lost my license for a month when I showed up in court, representing myself.

But I was going 13 over.

Anything over 80 is reckless driving in the commonwealth!

As well it should be.

Exactly. I'm no Virginia fan, but 80 is not an appropriate driving speed-- ever.

What are you 90?

[Anonymous]

OP- It happened to me. Get a lawyer. Money well spent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, OP here. Not that I'm denying my speeding, but I would hardly call it reckless. It was a clear, sunny wednesday morning with hardly anyone on the road. It wasn't like I was weaving in and out of traffic, passing everyone.

For those of you who insist that anything over 80 is reckless are either 75yo geezers or have no experience driving on open, flat, empty highway. I'm from Montana where the speed limit is 75. I admit, I wasn't paying attention to my speed, and I don't tend to use cruise control (something that I will definitely be changing!)

I'll type slow because apparently you're not understanding what several pps have pointed out. Over 80 is, by legal definition in Virginia, reckless. You may disagree, but it's a fact. A policeman or judge may use discretion to lower the charge to simple speeding but 80 over is reckless. Get a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I searched the other threads. Does anyone have recommendations for lawyers in Rockbridge county, VA or the town of Lexington? Thanks!

If you were around Lexington there is ZERO chance you were in a flat, wide stretch of highway, probably 81. That wasn't some bumblefuck dessert, you were in a two lane mountain road where fatalities are very very common (I almost was one a few months ago there - some one in a large vehicle driving reckless). Glad they caught you. Slow down. You sped, you got caught. You thought the risk was worth it, this time it wasn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I searched the other threads. Does anyone have recommendations for lawyers in Rockbridge county, VA or the town of Lexington? Thanks!

If you were around Lexington there is ZERO chance you were in a flat, wide stretch of highway, probably 81. That wasn't some bumblefuck dessert, you were in a two lane mountain road where fatalities are very very common (I almost was one a few months ago there - some one in a large vehicle driving reckless). Glad they caught you. Slow down. You sped, you got caught. You thought the risk was worth it, this time it wasn't.

Desert. Not dessert. Apparently my phone is hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I searched the other threads. Does anyone have recommendations for lawyers in Rockbridge county, VA or the town of Lexington? Thanks!

If you were around Lexington there is ZERO chance you were in a flat, wide stretch of highway, probably 81. That wasn't some bumblefuck dessert, you were in a two lane mountain road where fatalities are very very common (I almost was one a few months ago there - some one in a large vehicle driving reckless). Glad they caught you. Slow down. You sped, you got caught. You thought the risk was worth it, this time it wasn't.

Precisely correct, PP.

For those of you who feel the need to constantly disparage VA for this, please do feel free to go around the long way--no need to cut through and disobey the law here. We won't miss you.

[Anonymous]

Are you new to the area? NEVER speed that much in VA. Totally a racket in redneck country.

http://jalopnik.com/never-speed-in-virginia-lessons-from-my-three-days-in-1613604053

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, OP here. Not that I'm denying my speeding, but I would hardly call it reckless. It was a clear, sunny wednesday morning with hardly anyone on the road. It wasn't like I was weaving in and out of traffic, passing everyone.

For those of you who insist that anything over 80 is reckless are either 75yo geezers or have no experience driving on open, flat, empty highway. I'm from Montana where the speed limit is 75. I admit, I wasn't paying attention to my speed, and I don't tend to use cruise control (something that I will definitely be changing!)

I'll type slow because apparently you're not understanding what several pps have pointed out. Over 80 is, by legal definition in Virginia, reckless. You may disagree, but it's a fact. A policeman or judge may use discretion to lower the charge to simple speeding but 80 over is reckless. Get a lawyer.

See, now, this is NOT true. As I posted above, it used to be the case, but now there is discretion to deem 83 (in a 70) speeding. I know, because I got a ticket for 83 (cop wrote (83) EIGHTY-THREE on the piece of paper) but the box was checked for speeding rather than reckless. And, the cop told me he could have done either, and a simple internet search later verified that is so (and that cop did not have such discretion a few years ago).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, OP here. Not that I'm denying my speeding, but I would hardly call it reckless. It was a clear, sunny wednesday morning with hardly anyone on the road. It wasn't like I was weaving in and out of traffic, passing everyone.

For those of you who insist that anything over 80 is reckless are either 75yo geezers or have no experience driving on open, flat, empty highway. I'm from Montana where the speed limit is 75. I admit, I wasn't paying attention to my speed, and I don't tend to use cruise control (something that I will definitely be changing!)

I'll type slow because apparently you're not understanding what several pps have pointed out. Over 80 is, by legal definition in Virginia, reckless. You may disagree, but it's a fact. A policeman or judge may use discretion to lower the charge to simple speeding but 80 over is reckless. Get a lawyer.

See, now, this is NOT true. As I posted above, it used to be the case, but now there is discretion to deem 83 (in a 70) speeding. I know, because I got a ticket for 83 (cop wrote (83) EIGHTY-THREE on the piece of paper) but the box was checked for speeding rather than reckless. And, the cop told me he could have done either, and a simple internet search later verified that is so (and that cop did not have such discretion a few years ago).

You just proved the point. It is reckless in Virginia, but police and judges have the DISCRETION to reduce the charge it to simple speeding. Not something you want to rely on when you're driving oner 80 in Virginia. But keep it up. We need the $$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have gotten stopped for going that speed but I wasn't a dick and got failure to obey a traffic sign .

Either you got one of the few nice cops - be thankful. Or you gave him a BJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for the jerks on here, it is far more dangerous to go way slower than the flow of traffic rather than with it, which was what I was doing.

Said the speeding jerk.

You get what you get.

So you are telling me you NEVER speed? You're probably the asshole who drives 5 mph under the speed limit in the left lane.

+1

They definitely sound like those assholes who sit in the left lane just to "show everyone a lesson." They are actually the ones who are going to cause an accident one day!

OP, yes, it's a racket. Definitely get a lawyer. Probably needs to be a local one (part of the racket).

Have they told you this while slowly driving in the left lane? You are projecting and getting angry at someone who may have completely different intentions if any at all.

What are these other intentions if they are illegally just hanging out in the left lane instead of using it to pass?

So you are always on a mission to prove something when driving? Guess what, it's not the case for everyone and most people use cars to get from point A to point B, their driving has nothing to do with you at all.

[Anonymous]

Virginia Governors like low highway fatality rates. Especially during holiday seasons.

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP. This may or may not be helpful, but several years ago I got a reckless driving on I-81, but near Charlottesville. I hired a VA lawyer, though he actually wasn't local to C-ville. I don't remember his name, unfortunately. Anyway, I think they have cracked down more now, but I got nothing. As in, no points on my license (which was out of state- PA), no license suspended, no fine and certainly no jail time. I do believe I had to pay about $25 in court costs.

I know another person who got a reckless driving near the VA/NC border. At first she appeared without an attorney and her license was suspended. She got an attorney and they were able to go back and have her license reinstated, at least to go to and from work, and she had to take a driving course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for the jerks on here, it is far more dangerous to go way slower than the flow of traffic rather than with it, which was what I was doing.

Said the speeding jerk.

You get what you get.

So you are telling me you NEVER speed? You're probably the asshole who drives 5 mph under the speed limit in the left lane.

+1

They definitely sound like those assholes who sit in the left lane just to "show everyone a lesson." They are actually the ones who are going to cause an accident one day!

OP, yes, it's a racket. Definitely get a lawyer. Probably needs to be a local one (part of the racket).

Have they told you this while slowly driving in the left lane? You are projecting and getting angry at someone who may have completely different intentions if any at all.

What are these other intentions if they are illegally just hanging out in the left lane instead of using it to pass?

So you are always on a mission to prove something when driving? Guess what, it's not the case for everyone and most people use cars to get from point A to point B, their driving has nothing to do with you at all.

So then it's ignorance? They are just stupidly driving along in the left lane? THEY should get pulled over. Not someone going with the flow of traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I searched the other threads. Does anyone have recommendations for lawyers in Rockbridge county, VA or the town of Lexington? Thanks!

If you were around Lexington there is ZERO chance you were in a flat, wide stretch of highway, probably 81. That wasn't some bumblefuck dessert, you were in a two lane mountain road where fatalities are very very common (I almost was one a few months ago there - some one in a large vehicle driving reckless). Glad they caught you. Slow down. You sped, you got caught. You thought the risk was worth it, this time it wasn't.

Yes to this. OP, I'm familiar with the area in which I'm assuming you were ticketed, as I am frequently on I-81 for travel down to SWVa, and I lived near that region for years. There is a huge difference between wide open, flat, straight highways out west and I-81. For that matter, there's a huge difference between the layouts of I-95 and I-81. The fact of the matter is, multiple sections of I-81 are hilly and somewhat curvy for an interstate, and through the past few decades there has been a high fatality rate in that region. Frankly, I was shocked that the speed limit on stretches of 81 was bumped up to 70 a few years back. There's just been too many accidents out there, high traffic or not. That part of 81 is heavily patrolled for a reason, particularly from Rockbridge county down through Roanoke and Christiansburg. PP's are right...you need to get a lawyer. I'm something of a lead-foot driver myself. BTDT.