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Manassas Reckless Driving by Danger to Life, Limb, or Property

Reckless driving by danger to life, limb, or property is a serious charge in Manassas. Essentially, this charge means that any manner of driving that potentially endangers the life, limb, or property of another person is reckless driving, and therefore automatically a criminal misdemeanor. If you find yourself facing a reckless driving charge, it is important to contact an experienced Manassas reckless driving attorney, as this charge has the potential to seriously impact the rest of your life if you are convicted.

Reckless Driving by Danger to Life, Limb, or Property

This particular section is a catch-all section where officers can put any manner of driving behavior into as long as they can prove that the driving behavior was recklessly causing a danger to life, limb or property.

Essentially, it means that someone is guilty of reckless driving, regardless of their speed or what they were doing, as long as the behavior of their driving amounted to endangering life, limb or property.

This charge also happens to be very vague, so it can apply to a wide variety of cases. For example, accidents, speed-related offenses, and even speeding at an undetermined speed, which is when an officer cannot determine how fast a driver was going, can fall under the broad category of reckless driving by danger to life, limb, or property.

How Officers Determine Whether it was Reckless Driving

The officer can just determine that someone’s driving was dangerous, especially if it didn’t fall into any of the other category. The catch with that is that in court, the officer has to prove that your driving was dangerous enough to present a risk to life, limb or property, and he has to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

Issuing a citation is easy. Whether it will stand up in court is a whole other issue. Sometimes, officers will issue citations for things that aren’t actually illegal at all, but they believe to be a violation based on their perspective of the events. In instances such as this, a defense attorney can illuminate all of the flaws with the citation and potentially get the charges reduced, if not dismissed outright.

How Common is this Charge?

This is the second most common type of reckless driving, behind reckless driving by speed. It’s really important to hire a lawyer because the consequences are very serious for any type or reckless driving charge. This is charged as a class 1 misdemeanor, which is a criminal offense, as are all reckless driving charges, and it’s important to thoroughly evaluate the facts underlying this particular charge and figure out the best way to fight in court against the allegation.

An attorney can not only help you do this, but they can ensure that what you’re being accused of is actually a crime in the first place. It’s not always possible to beat the charge, but oftentimes, if it’s questionable, then it can be reduced to improper driving, which is just a traffic infraction and carries much less serious consequences. Another alternative is that your lawyer can negotiate the final punishment so that the results are more manageable.

Impact of These Charges on a CDL

Any type of reckless driving charge can affect a commercial driver’s license. Commercial driver’s licenses can be disqualified if someone obtains too many serious violations within three years. Reckless driving is considered a serious violation. Two convictions within this timeframe lead to a 60-day disqualification. Three convictions within this timeframe leads to a 120-day disqualification. During a disqualification, someone holding a commercial driver’s license is not allowed to operate a commercial vehicle. Someone can face disqualification of their commercial driver’s license even if they were driving their own personal vehicle at the time that they were charged with reckless driving. This is something that commercial driver’s license holders should keep in mind at all times because even when they’re not on the job, they could be risking their job in their own personal time.

Reasons to Hire a Manassas Reckless Driving Attorney

The reason to hire a lawyer is because this is a very serious offense that a lawyer is going to best be able to navigate through in order to determine whether the conviction should stand. Reckless driving is not something that should be taken lightly by anybody, as jail time and a permanent criminal conviction are potential consequences.

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