Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Re: Reckless Driving

Believe it or not your +5 balance is the most

important thing in your favor. You should talk

to the prosecutor before court begins (you could

mail him a letter but that requires sorting

through the bureaucracy to figure out who will

be on duty that day), and offer to plead guilty

to going say 79. Since it is only a 4 MPH swing

in light of your +5 points they are very likely

(at least up here in my Counties) to agree to

that. Your explanation adds to that possibility.

Therefore, you should document that as much as

possible. Try to get someone else in the company

who is credible (official) (if not your boss)

to explain in the most dramatic and compelling

possible terms why there was the possibility of

danger to the entire office, in light of past

events where former employees have gone in and

shot up the office, etc., and you feared for your

coworkers, etc., etc. Get this in writing if

possible as a letter or whatever. (An affidavit

would be great but you might not be able to

persuade them to do that).

Also, if you have an older car, have the speedometer checked.

With all of that, you would have a good shot at

getting them to accept a guilty plea of 79 MPH,

in which you pay the fees, and you will only pay

a speeding ticket, that's all.

HOWEVER... it is still an extremely serious

charge, which will put a criminal conviction on

your record for the rest of your life, and could

result in the loss of your driver's license for

(typically) 90 days, and has the potential for

up to 1 year in jail (typically 30 or 60 days

with all but 5 or 10 days suspended).

Therefore, although I think you have a good shot

at getting a plea deal at 79 MPH, you would be

well advised to get a local attorney who works

in such matters. If you can take a couple of

hours from work, go to the court in December

(call and ask when the same type of cases are

heard) and watch some of the attorneys and

approach those who seem to know what they are

talking about. (OTherwise it is very hard to

find an attorney knowledgeable about that

particular kind of legal case just from the yellow pages, where there is no information as to

whether they work regularly on such cases.)