An Officer arrives at the scene of an accident.  He sees that one car is stuck in the median.  He sees limited damage to the car.  He notices that it had been raining that day.  He asks the driver what happened.  The driver says that he “hit a patch of water and hydroplaned into the median.”  The officer asks him whether he had been drinking.  The driver says that he “had a few beers.”  The driver says nothing else.  The officer charges the driver with the crime of reckless driving.  The driver does not testify at all at trial per his privilege against self-incrimination.  So is this fact pattern sufficient to find the driver guilty of reckless driving? Continue reading →

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post reports that on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, the D.C. Council unanimously passed emergency legislation requiring the D.C. DMV to exercise “reasonable discretion” in determining whether to suspend one of its own resident’s driver’s license for merely receiving an out-of-state reckless driving conviction.  “D.C. Council fixes DMV’s reckless driving lunacy.”  The D.C. Council’s legislation is in response to the D.C. DMV’s ridiculous practice of summarily suspending the driver’s licenses of its residents as a result of out-of-state reckless driving convictions, including those incurred in Virginia for merely going 81 miles per hour in a 70 mile per hour zone. See our blog post on the topic at Reckless Driving in Virginia: Beware D.C. Residents.

Unfortunately, Continue reading →

Do I need to hire a lawyer to defend my reckless driving charge in Virginia? Will a reckless driving conviction in Virginiaaffect my driver’s license in Washington, D.C.? The Washington Post, as if it was on the payroll of every traffic lawyer in Virginia, essentially answers each question in the affirmative in its recent article, “D.C. Drivers Hurt by Tough Interpretation of Virginia Offenses.” Here’s why in a nutshell . . . Continue reading →