Receiving a reckless driving ticket in Chesterfield can be scary. Lawyers may be hounding you and telling you you’re going to jail if you don’t call them right away. Don’t call a lawyer just yet. Instead, understand how the court system works with a reckless driving ticket. You may not even need a lawyer!
To help you learn about the case, you can download my free book on reckless driving. Let me show you what the book has in it.
What is Chesterfield reckless driving?
In Virginia, reckless driving is a class 1 misdemeanor. This means that it’s a crime on the same level as driving under the influence or possession of marijuana. Yes, you read that right. Most reckless driving tickets are given for speed, which puts speeding on the same level as driving under the influence.
Reckless driving tickets can even be issued for other violations that aren’t explicitly defined as reckless driving. Chapter 1 of my book goes into more details about what constitutes as reckless driving.
What possibilities might there be in Chesterfield for reckless driving?
Because reckless driving is treated as a crime in Virginia, you could be facing a pretty hefty fine or even jail time. Chapter 2 explores all these different consequences, but before the court can punish you, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you’re guilty of your reckless driving charge. This means you absolutely have the opportunity to defend yourself.
Chapter 3 will discuss which defenses you can use in these cases. For example, the Commonwealth must be able to prove that you were, in fact, the driver of the vehicle and that the incident occurred on a legal highway (rather than a private road that doesn’t count under most reckless driving laws). If you are able to prove that you weren’t the driver or that you were driving on a private road, you could get the charges dismissed.
However, you must be careful with your defenses. Some just don’t work. Chapter 4 will tell which defenses you should avoid in Chesterfield.
What other possibilities are there in Chesterfield?
You may want to have a free consultation with an attorney to discuss more of your options. You don’t have to hire a lawyer to have a free consultation. This would just help you further know the legal defenses of your particular case.
Other options, however, are included in my book. Chapter 5 discusses what else you can do in your Chesterfield reckless driving case. Sometimes judges will order you to a driver improvement clinic instead of finding you guilty of reckless driving.
There is, of course, the possibility that you’ll lose your case and aren’t happy with the outcome. If that happens, you have the option of appealing your case. This means you can get a new trial in the Circuit Court with a different judge. Chapter 7 will outline how you go about appealing your case.
Do I need to hire a Chesterfield reckless driving lawyer?
This is an important question and one you can better answer after reading the book. The decision is ultimately yours, but if you decide to get a lawyer, make sure you hire one that is good for your case. Chapter 8 will give you questions you ought to ask a potential lawyer to help you hire one that will work best for you.
All this information is right here, for free! All you need to do is fill out the form below, and a copy of the book will be emailed to you within seconds!