Suspended License

Driving on a suspended license is considered a serious traffic violation in Virginia. Multiple convictions can result in jail time. Please call our office for a free case evaluation. We can usually tell in just a few minutes whether you should be worried. Some driving on suspended charges are routinely dismissed or reduced by Northern Virginia traffic courts.

Speeding

If you are accused of breaking the speed limit, you have a right to appear in court, and the officer has to prove his case. If technical requirements regarding the radar, laser or speedometer are not met, the case may be dismissed. Our lawyers are familiar with these cases.

Accident Tickets

If you get in an accident in Virginia, you may be given a ticket. Traffic accidents often result in the following traffic citations:

• § 46.2-816 Following too closely
• § 46.2-821 Stop Sign Violation; Failure to Yield
• § 46.2-830 Failure to Obey a Highway Sign
• § 46.2-833 Failure to Obey a Traffic Light; Red light Violation
• § 46.2-804 Improper Lane Change; Unsafe Lane Change
• § 46.2-852 Reckless Driving; Accidents.

We regularly represent people involved in Virginia traffic accidents. Although results will vary from case to case depending on the facts, traffic tickets from accidents are frequently dismissed or reduced through negotiations with prosecutors or at trial. Call for a free evaluation of your traffic accident case.

New Virginia Traffic Laws:

February 28, 2011:

Emergency vehicles are now required to stop or sound a siren before driving past signals at intersections. Virginia traffic law never allowed emergency vehicles to break traffic laws unless they were using lights and sirens. However, this new law seems to strengthen the mandate that emergency vehicles take safety precautions, especially at intersections.

Reckless Driving - Passing a School Bus. The Virginia Legislature amended Va. Code Section 46.2-859, which makes it a class one misdemeanor to pass a school bus that is stopped to pick up or drop off children. Before the amendment earlier this year, the law made national headlines after a Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge found a driver not guilty because the law was poorly worded and confusing.

Red Light Cameras in Virginia:

July 14, 2011: Fairfax City cameras will capture drivers who run red lights at the North Street and University Drive intersection, and Fairfax Boulevard at Fairfax Circle. Violators receive warnings in July, tickets in August. Source: fairfaxcity.patch.com

March 4, 2011: Traffic cameras are installed at the eastbound and westbound approaches to Broad and Cherry streets and at Broad Street and Annandale Road in Falls Church, VA. Fines will be fined at least $50.

February 7, 2011: "No localities in the Fredericksburg area currently use red-light photo enforcement. A few places in Virginia do, including Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church.

Virginia law allows any city, county or town to adopt an ordinance establishing a red-light photo enforcement program, but the locality can install the cameras at "no more than one intersection for every 10,000 residents within each county, city, or town at any one time."

So this means your locality can't put up cameras at every intersection, unless you are living in a one-stoplight town of 10,000.

Localities are also required to post "conspicuous signs" 500 ft. before the intersection alerting motorists that a traffic-signal monitoring device is being used."

Source: fredericksburg.com

Virginia's Heaviest Traffic:

March 8, 2011:

The 24 miles of Interstate 95 south of I-395 is the most congested road in the region, an 86-minute drive during the afternoon rush that normally would take just 23 minutes.

Interstate 66 captures the top two spots for worst bottlenecks - westbound in Arlington county and eastbound in Fairfax County- followed by northbound I-395 in Arlington.

Source: The Washington Post.