Driving Classes in Virginia Beach

In Virginia Beach, driving classes can be used by an individual to argue against a conviction for reckless driving. These classes are not guaranteed to help someone avoid conviction. However, their appearance on someone’s record is more likely to help than harm someone’s case. A Virginia Beach reckless driving lawyer can provide more insight into how driving classes can impact a reckless driving case. Call today and schedule a free initial consultation.

Driving Classes to Avoid Reckless Driving Conviction

You can take reckless driving classes in order to argue for avoiding a conviction, but it’s not 100 percent always the case. It does help a lot of times and it’s a great way to show the judge that you’re being proactive in trying to improve your driving.

The DMV website has a list of all of the acceptable centers that offer the course. Or you can Google driving improvement courses in your area and generally a whole bunch of them will come up and you can see if they’re approved by the DMV. The classes are usually offered by a private vendor so the costs vary, but generally they’re under $100 and not very expensive. The average is typically around $35-55.

If you take a general driver improvement class that doesn’t happen to be approved by the DMV the consequences are that you won’t get the 5 points on your license that taking a driver improvement class voluntarily would give you. The judge may still see it as a mitigating factor in your case, however so if that’s your only concern then it would likely be fine. Generally it’s best to take them through the DMV though because then there’s no doubt that the judge will accept it and then you’ll also get your 5 positive points. You have to pass and receive the certificate of completion in order to get the 5 positive points.

Commitment Involved in Virginia Beach Driving Classes

These classes are 8 hours long. You can take them in person for 8 hours in a row and then a final exam immediately after, or you can take them online at your leisure and divide up the 8 hours however you want. For online courses, you will have to go to a testing site to take the final exam.

Impact Driving Classes Can Have on a Case

Taking a driver improvement class shows the judge that you’re serious about trying to prevent future driving issues and it can also demonstrate that you’re being proactive in improving your own driving. Some judges will reduce the reckless driving charge if the driver has taken the driver improvement class beforehand and some judges will take it into consideration when they’re issuing penalties for the charge.

Taking Classes Outside of Virginia Beach

Your driving class can be located anywhere. If you take it in Virginia, then you receive 5 positive points on your driver’s license once you pass and receive a certificate of completion, and the class will be accepted by the judge regardless of whether it’s Virginia Beach or not. If you take it out of state then you’d have to see if the points transferred, but the act of taking the class is generally what the judge is looking at in terms of deciding whether it’s a mitigating factor in your case or not.