What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Virginia
Hello,
After reading a few of these threads on here, I hadn't realized that reckless driving was a criminal offense!
Anyway, here's what happened:
I was driving down 81S through moderately heavy traffic while stupidly eating at the same time. As I looked down for a second I swerved off the road into the median and then kept over-correcting until I ended up flipping the car twice and landing about 2 inches from the other side of traffic. The cops didn't get there until after the accident. No other cars were involved. He wrote reckless driving - failure to maintain control of the vehicle on the ticket - nothing was written about speeding.
I have a clean driving record - except for one speeding ticket in SC - I was going 83 in a 55 - considered reckless driving there, but didn't have to go to court for this, just paid it through the mail. Is there any way the court can find out about this? Should I get a copy of my driving record?
The officer also told me that it would make me look good in court if i went to driver improvement before the court date (this Wed), which I have done.
I don't have an attorney (I didn't realize this was such a big deal in VA), but I do plan to dress nicely and stuff.
Also, my friend in the car sustained a minor injury (hairline fracture in her neck - had to wear a neckbrace for 4 wks), but the officers present do not know of our injuries, just that no other vehicles were involved. However, since we were on business using a state vehicle (we work for VA Tech), it was covered under worker's comp. If it comes up, would it be OK for me to just say we went to the hospital to make sure everything was OK, and we were released that night (implying nothing major). I guess I should rephrase that in a more court-like manner.
Thanks very much for your help. Sorry this was so long.
Hello,
After reading a few of these threads on here, I hadn't realized that reckless driving was a criminal offense!
Anyway, here's what happened:
I was driving down 81S through moderately heavy traffic while stupidly eating at the same time. As I looked down for a second I swerved off the road into the median and then kept over-correcting until I ended up flipping the car twice and landing about 2 inches from the other side of traffic. The cops didn't get there until after the accident. No other cars were involved. He wrote reckless driving - failure to maintain control of the vehicle on the ticket - nothing was written about speeding.
I have a clean driving record - except for one speeding ticket in SC - I was going 83 in a 55 - considered reckless driving there, but didn't have to go to court for this, just paid it through the mail. Is there any way the court can find out about this? Should I get a copy of my driving record?
The officer also told me that it would make me look good in court if i went to driver improvement before the court date (this Wed), which I have done.
I don't have an attorney (I didn't realize this was such a big deal in VA), but I do plan to dress nicely and stuff.
Also, my friend in the car sustained a minor injury (hairline fracture in her neck - had to wear a neckbrace for 4 wks), but the officers present do not know of our injuries, just that no other vehicles were involved. However, since we were on business using a state vehicle (we work for VA Tech), it was covered under worker's comp. If it comes up, would it be OK for me to just say we went to the hospital to make sure everything was OK, and we were released that night (implying nothing major). I guess I should rephrase that in a more court-like manner.
Thanks very much for your help. Sorry this was so long.