Are Traffic Laws Heavily Enforced In Newport News?

Yes and some traffic violations are actually criminal offenses which are considered Class 1 misdemeanors which mean that they can result in a criminal conviction that is punishable by up to 12 months in jail and up to a $2500 fine. These are the most serious types of misdemeanors and obviously a big deal if you are pulled over for a traffic violation and this is what you end up charged with. These traffic violations include reckless driving, driving on a suspended and DUIs.

Reckless driving encompasses a whole variety of driving violations which according to Virginia Court include operating a motor vehicle in a reckless manner that endangers life, limb or property or at a speed that is similarly deemed reckless. Reckless driving includes speeding 20 miles over the speed limit, driving over 80 miles/hour, passing a stopped school bus while it is either unloading or loading passengers, passing an emergency vehicle that has its lights on, dragracing and driving too fast for weather conditions, among others. It is a very serious offense which can result in a criminal conviction and also 6 demerit points on your driver’s license.

Driving On a Suspended License

Driving on a suspended license is another traffic violation that is a criminal offense. Someone’s license maybe suspended for a whole array of reasons including accumulating too many driving record points, being convicted of a DUI, falsifying information to the DMV, felonies where a vehicle was involved, failing to pay court fines or child support, being convicted of reckless driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident that you were involved in or failing to complete a driving program.

A conviction of driving on a suspended license usually comes with an additional suspension on top of the original suspension that was the basis of the original charge. If someone is convicted of driving on suspended they will have a second suspension added to the first one that is either for the same amount of time of the first or for 90 days if the first one was for an indefinite period. This means that if your license was suspended for a year and you drive anyway and you are convicted of driving on your suspended license, you have your license suspended for a second year that will begin at the end of the first year term. Driving on a suspended license gets worse and worse with each subsequent offense. There is also a mandatory minimum of 10 active days in jail for a 3rd offense or any that may occur after that.

Driving Under the Influence

One final example of a traffic violation that is also a criminal offense is a DUI. Driving Under the Influence is obviously very serious and it is treated as such. A DUI conviction typically results in a one year license suspension, mandatory ASAP classes, an ignition interlock system put into the driver’s vehicle, hefty fines and a jail sentence.

Just like driving on a suspended license, the punishment for a DUI gets worse with each subsequent offense. For a first time DUI conviction there is a mandatory 5 days in jail. Any subsequent offenses carry higher mandatory minimums depending on how long it has been since the previous DUI.

A conviction of any of these examples can affect security clearances, insurance and many, many aspects of someone’s life.

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