Virginia Beach speeding offenses can be very serious and have the potential to lead to jail time. A Virginia Beach speeding ticket lawyer can help someone avoid jail and possibly avoid conviction altogether. A lawyer can help someone navigate the confusing system and possibly have a reduction in not just the charge, but the possible penalties as well.
In Virginia Beach, and throughout all of Virginia, there are two basic types of speeding offenses. These are divided into traffic infractions and criminal offenses. Traffic infractions are just basic speeding, which is when anyone is driving over the posted speed limit up to 19 miles/hour over the limit.
Criminal speeding offenses is reckless driving, which is excessive speeding. This happens when someone is driving 20 miles/hour over the posted speed limit or 80 miles/hour over the posted speed limit.
Within each type, whether it be traffic infractions or criminal offenses, the penalties increase as the speed increases with higher fines being present for traffic infractions for higher speed and then heftier fines and jail time being present for reckless driving.
Reckless driving is a type of speeding offense but it is not just a speeding ticket. There are also other types of reckless driving such as general reckless driving, or reckless driving due to driving with faulty brakes, or reckless driving from passing a school bus that is loading or unloading passengers.
In Virginia Beach you should expect a speeding ticket to be pretty serious. It can have long term and short term effects and you should not take it lightly. You should look specifically for what you are charged with. It is very common that people think that they are charged with a speeding ticket in Virginia but in fact they are charged with reckless driving.
The document is almost identical with the difference being that the speeding ticket is an infraction whereas reckless driving is a criminal charge which means that the person charged with reckless driving will be required to appear in court, otherwise they will risk having an additional charge of ‘Failure to Appear’ added if they do not appear in court to answer to the charge.
Virginia Beach doesn’t require anyone to show up to court for a speeding ticket. They give you the opportunity to just go online, prepay the ticket and admit guilt without having to be at court. This is different from reckless driving because reckless driving is a criminal charge, and Virginia Beach requires anyone accused of a criminal charge to appear in person to answer in court.
During court, police officers will typically use results from RADAR and LIDAR equipment or pacing in order to prove that someone was speeding.
The main advantage of an experienced Virginia Beach speeding ticket lawyer is having someone on your side that can explain in simple terms exactly what you are facing and what the consequences are. Sometimes just knowing in detail what you are up against can be comforting without anything else.
It is also an advantage to have an experienced lawyer because with their experience comes the ability to know which arguments are going to be effective in court and which arguments ultimately fail. It is so common for people accused of speeding to have a million excuses which are exhausted in court and don’t go anywhere with any judges.
An experienced attorney can work through what is relevant and what isn’t and can help you build a strong defense for your case.
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