Virginia Beach Reckless Driving By Accident Charges

Many people do not understand what a reckless driving by accident charge actually means, and how it differentiates from other reckless driving charges. In the text below, a Virginia Beach reckless driving lawyer explains the minutia of a reckless driving by accident charge and how it relates to other reckless driving charges. To get more information on reckless driving charges, do not hesitate to call our local Virginia reckless driving attorneys.

What Is Reckless Driving By Accident

Reckless driving by accident is referring to general reckless driving which is a general category of aggressive driving that officers can put a whole number of behaviors into, one of which happens to be due to the occurrence of an accident. Reckless by accident just means that the driver was operating his vehicle in a reckless manner that endangers life and property that led to an accident

Difference From Reckless Driving By Speeding

The manner in which reckless driving by accident is proven by the officer is different from speeding, because the evidence that is provided for a reckless driving by accident conviction generally is a lot more interpretive than reckless driving by speed. This is mainly because most of the time the officer didn’t actually witness firsthand what happened that he’s alleging with reckless behavior. Whereas in reckless driving by speed the officer firsthand witnesses the driver driving at the excessive speed clocked in with an equipment and then testify firsthand as to what he saw in court. In reckless driving by accident there is an assumption that needs to be made and the evidence that is admitted is typically not as strong as what will be admitted to prove excessive speeding.

How Reckless By Accident Is Charged in Virginia Beach

In reckless driving by accident cases the officers often will charge whoever they believe is at fault in an accident. Usually this happens if the officer believes that a citation is necessary and there’s no other traffic offense that fits the situation better. It’s possible that the accused wasn’t actually driving recklessly but if there’s been property damage or someone was injured then the officer may feel obligated to charge somebody with something. Some of the police stations in Virginia Beach have an office policy of charging someone with a reckless driving if there has been an accident. A lot of times whether to charge someone is not up to the officer’s discretion even if the officer believes that there was no guilt involved.

Effect On CDL Holders

This charge can affect the commercial drivers’ license the same way that any reckless driving charge would. It’s considered a serious violation for purposes of commercial drivers’ licenses which can lead to disqualification for a certain time period depending on how many other serious convictions the CDL driver has gotten. Two convictions within three years typically leads to a 60 day disqualification, and three or more convictions in three years results in a 120 day disqualification. A disqualification means that you can’t drive the commercial vehicle. For someone who operates commercial vehicle as part of their job, this can be an absolute detriment that can cause them to lose the ability to work.

Importance of Hiring An Attorney

The reason that someone should hire a lawyer for this type of offense for reckless driving by accident is because there is so much room for a strong argument in these cases in particular, that most of the time it’s not difficult to get the case  thrown out. I wouldn’t say it’s harder or easier to defend yourself in these cases than reckless speeding but there is a lot more that goes into it that a lawyer would know and  that can make a big difference.

The mere happening of an accident is not proof that someone was driving recklessly and a lawyer is in the best position to argue that the behavior of the driver didn’t amount to reckless driving. This is because an attorney knows how to provide a strong cross examination of the officer that pulled over the defendant or issued the summons, which is really crucial in reckless driving by accident cases. The result depends almost exclusively on the arguments presented in these cases because most of the time the officer didn’t witness the event that he is alleging occurred. If someone isn’t aware of the exact type of information that needs to be proven by the officer then it would be harder for them to defend themselves.