Reckless Driving Virginia

Is Reckless Driving a Misdemeanor?

Reckless driving in Virginia is a criminal misdemeanor. Many people are shocked to learn that under Virginia law, you are guilty of committing a criminal misdemeanor for driving 11 mph over the speed limit for 81 mph in a 70. Yes, reckless driving is a criminal misdemeanor.

When the legislature created the law for reckless driving by speed, the speed limit was 65 mph. However, the speed limit changed to 70 but the reckless driving law has not changed. So now if you are driving 11 mph over the speed limit, you are guilty of a criminal misdemeanor.

To violate the law and for your charge to be a misdemeanor, you have to do one of the following:

1. drive OVER 80 mph so 81 mph or more, OR

2. drive 20 mph or more over the limit

Therefore, 81 mph in a 70 IS misdemeanor reckless driving but 79 mph in a 60 mph zone is NOT.

Is Reckless Driving a Criminal Offense?

Once again the answer is yes. Reckless driving is a criminal offense because it is a misdemeanor. The primary distinction between criminal offenses versus non criminal is whether your charge is a misdemeanor or not. Misdemeanors show up on criminal background checks. Traffic infractions only show up on driving records.

In Virginia, reckless driving by speed is a class 1 criminal offense. That means that not only is reckless driving a criminal offense, but it is the most serious misdemeanor. The range of punishment for Virginia reckless driving is:

jail time up to ONE year
license suspension up to 6 months
6 DMV demerit points
fine up to $2500
permanent criminal record

Can Reckless Driving be Expunged in Virginia?

People email me all the time and want to know if reckless driving can be expunged in Virginia. The answer is NO it cannot. Here are two recent emails I got:

"I received a ticket for speeding over 80 in a 70 north bound on I-95 in 2017. I went to court to fight it and was unsuccessful. They hit me with reckless driving, license suspension and $500 fine that I have been unable to pay. I am seeking better wages in the trucking industry and am unable to move forward because of this misdemeanor. I have had no other traffic violation on my record for the last 10 years and yet because this happened I am unable to get a CDL license. Can you help me?"

"My son received a speeding ticket in Mecklenburg County (fast enough to be considered reckless driving). He lives in Washington, DC and hired an attorney in the County who agreed to represent him (a fee was paid to her in advance). The lawyer did handle the case appropriately to this point, unfortunately her office never communicated to my son that a course was required to be completed within 60 days of the ruling - the attorney thought her office sent this requirement to my son but admittedly her assistant sent the email to the wrong email address, thus my son never knew he had to take a class. Approximately 5 months later my son, who is 26 and a consultant with COMPANY was on a business trip and was denied a car rental and learned that the reckless driving charge was still on his record - he contacted the attorney, she realized that her office sent the email to the wrong email address and agreed to petition the Mecklenburg County Court to re-open the case - the Judge denied to reopen because the deadline to reopen (60 days) had passed since the deadline to take the class. I have a copy of an email from the attorney admitting that it was her mistake and a copy of the motion to re-open where she also accepts blame for not informing my son that he needed to take the class. Does it make sense to hire another attorney, a fiend of the court to petition the Court to re-open the case allowing my son to take the class and have this expunged from his record?"

In example number one, the person was convicted of reckless driving and could not get a CDL. In example two, the person actually HIRED a lawyer who messed up. In each case, I was NOT able to help. You cannot expunge a reckless driving charge in Virginia. Here is why:

1. In Virginia general district court you have a limited 10 day right to appeal your case. Once the 10 days are up you lose your right to appeal.

2. You have a limited 60 day window to file a MOTION TO REOPEN. Some judges will extend the 60 day window while many others will not.

3. Once you are found guilty and you are beyond 60 days since the DATE OF CONVICTION, there is nothing anyone can do UNLESS you have a judge who bends the 60 day rule.

4. In Virginia, you can only expunge something you were found NOT GUILTY of. You cannot expunge the record where you were found GUILTY. And the reason people ask for expungements is for GUILTY findings. In Virginia, that's not possible.

Will a Reckless Driving Show up on a Background Check?

reckless driving shows up on background check

Reckless driving in Virginia DOES show up on a background check. I know because I have taken MANY calls from people who have had job offers rescinded because this DOES show up on a criminal background check. There is confusion with this question and you will find different answers. The reason is that the term "background check" or "criminal record" is a gray area.

When criminal defense lawyers talk about "criminal records" they can get pretty narrow minded. If you define "criminal record" to ONLY mean what the POLICE report then defining "criminal record" narrowly may work. In reality, when clients and potential clients ask me about the term criminal record they do so in a BROAD SENSE. They want to know if it will impact them for jobs, employers, immigration, etc.

When people ask me if this will show up, they want to know if someone will be able to find this. The answer is, YES. It is not difficult to find this if you are convicted. Employers use third party companies like Lexis Nexis and others. These companies scour the internet, as well as official DMV records, and other public records. The third party background checks are pretty comprehensive. They are not always fully accurate but they will absolutely pick up on reckless driving in Virginia as well as other misdemeanors.

Virginia reckless driving WILL show up on criminal background checks. It does leave you with a permanent criminal record. If you do not disclose a conviction on a background check then you do so at your own risk. And reckless driving frequently prevents people from advancing in careers that are subject to background checks.

Is a Speeding Ticket a Misdemeanor?

Maybe. Speeding is a broad term that covers regular speeding and reckless driving by speed in Virginia. It is important to define terms to answer this question:

SPEEDING = EITHER SIMPLE SPEEDING (traffic infraction, not reckless driving) OR RECKLESS DRIVING BY SPEED (misdemeanor)

A speeding ticket is a misdemeanor IF it is written as reckless driving by speed in Virginia. Simple speeding is written under Virginia law 46.2-870 through 46.2-878. There are multiple Virginia speeding laws. These are all traffic infraction for simple speeding if the law section is withing the range 46.2-870 through 46.2-878.

Reckless driving by speed is a speeding ticket that IS a misdemeanor. It is based on speeding, but it is a misdemeanor. The law section for reckless driving by speed is 46.2-862. You need to look at your ticket and if it says 46.2-862 then you are charged with a speeding ticket misdemeanor reckless driving and NOT simple speeding.

Misdemeanor speeding tickets in Virginia are written for driving EITHER:

1. 81 mph in a 70 or higher, OR

2. 20 mph or more over the speed limit

As long as you were driving BOTH less than 81 mph AND 19 mph or less over the speed limit then you are charged with simple speeding. That is a traffic infraction and not a misdemeanor.

Examples of speeding tickets that are misdemeanors: 81 mph in 70, 80 mph in 60

Examples of simple speeding tickets that are no a misdemeanor: 80 mph in a 70 mph, 79 mph in a 60 zone

Read your ticket and look for the Virginia LAW SECTION because that is what determines if you have a speeding ticket misdemeanor or not.

Will a Speeding Ticket Affect My Police Application?

Applicants to the Virginia police academy often want to know if a reckless driving ticket or speeding ticket will impact their police application. These questions don't have easy black and white answers.

Every different police department will have different criteria for hiring decisions. There is no uniform set of hiring criteria to determine if a speeding ticket will affect a police application or not. On the one hand, speeding tickets do not help. When police departments such as the Virginia State Police and other law enforcement agencies do background checks they will look at driving records.

Police officers are in a position of public trust. They are entrusted to drive better than most citizens as the nature of their work requires that they engage in high speed chases some of the time. Police regulate public roads and highways, and being safe is very important. Counties and cities would face potential liability if they knowingly endangered the public with a bad driver.

That said, a single speeding ticket should not impact a police application. If that were the case, police departments would SEVERELY limit who could get a job. Most people have had a speeding ticket in their lives.