Portsmouth Speeding Ticket Lawyer

The Portsmouth police are very serious about their highway enforcement, making Virginia one of the toughest states on speeders. However, a Portsmouth speeding ticket lawyer, can help a person out by explaining their charges to them and helping them determine what they should do to have the best possible outcome. To discuss your case and what steps may be taken consult with a defense attorney in Portsmouth today.

Types of Speeding Offenses

In Portsmouth, the two main types of offenses are speeding, which is an infraction, and reckless driving, which is a criminal offense Class 1 Misdemeanor. The difference is that an infraction only affects a person’s driving record and comes with a fine and demerit points. A criminal charge, on the other hand, comes with the possibility of jail time on top of the demerit points and fine. Both of these result in demerit points, so there is a possibility that either one could cause a person’s license to be suspended if there’s an accumulation of too many points.

Enforcement

The most common ways that officers in Portsmouth prove that somebody was driving too fast is by using radar and LIDAR equipment and by pacing vehicles. Radar and LIDAR equipment are speed-tracking guns that the officers use to determine a vehicle’s speed. Pacing, on the other hand, is when the officer is following the targeted vehicle and matches the vehicle’s speed with the targeted vehicle to see how fast the driver is going.
Reckless driving encompasses a whole bunch of other driving behaviors, including excessive speeding. Reckless driving is not exactly a speeding ticket, but there is a form of reckless driving that is charged due to excessive speeding. Other jurisdictions—more often than not—do not have reckless driving by excessive speeding.

Virginia treats speeding differently by treating it much more seriously than other jurisdictions. When someone is going 20 mph or more over the posted speed limit, or 80 mph anywhere in the Commonwealth, then they run the risk of being charged with a Class 1 Misdemeanor which warrants the attention of a speeding ticket lawyer in Portsmouth immediatly.

What to Expect

A person should expect that what appears to be a speeding ticket could be something more complex and serious than just an infraction. In Portsmouth, since there is reckless driving by excessive speed, it is possible that what they believe to be a speeding ticket is actually a criminal summons for reckless driving. A person should make sure when they get their ticket that they are completely aware of exactly what they have been charged with. It could be reckless driving or it could be speeding, which should be specified directly on the ticket.

For a speeding ticket, a person is not required to appear in court. They can instead plead guilty to the charge and prepay the fine online so that they avoid having to go to court at all. This is different from reckless driving because reckless driving requires the defendant to appear in court in person to answer to the charge. For a reckless driving charge, a person cannot prepay and they are unable to plead guilty except in person.

Hiring a Lawyer

It is advantageous for a person to have a Portsmouth speeding ticket lawyer because there are a lot of little loopholes and defenses that people might not automatically know about. It’s important to have an attorney who can guide a person and explain exactly what needs to be done so that they can be successful in court. A speeding ticket attorney in Portsmouth can also help a person understand the possibilities of having their charges reduced or dismissed. Sometimes it is not possible to have a case dismissed outright, but there are a lot of things that a defendant can do to have the damages mitigated in court.

If a person is facing a speeding ticket in Portsmouth and they would like to contest it, then they can hire an attorney to go to court on their behalf so that they don’t have to return to Virginia at all. This is really great for out-of-state drivers because then they don’t have to decide whether they need to go back to Virginia to contest the ticket or plead guilty online to the ticket. A Portsmouth speeding ticket attorney can give a person the convenient possibility of preserving all of their options and saving them time and money.