Reckless Driving in Virginia Beach: Penalties and Options

Reckless driving in Virginia Beach is a Class 1 misdemeanor — the same class as a first DUI — carrying up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 (Va. Code § 18.2-11). It is a criminal charge, not a traffic infraction, and it cannot be paid off by mail. Anyone charged is required to appear in the Virginia Beach General District Court, the court with exclusive jurisdiction over traffic and misdemeanor cases from the city under § 16.1-123.1.

What Counts as Reckless Driving

Virginia’s reckless driving statutes cover more than one way to commit the offense. Two matter most on a Virginia Beach highway:

• The general rule (§ 46.2-852): driving “recklessly or at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person,” regardless of the posted speed limit. This covers dangerous driving that isn’t simply about speed — weaving through traffic, driving too fast for wet roads, and similar conduct.
• Reckless driving by speed (§ 46.2-862): driving 20 mph or more over the posted limit, or over 85 mph on any Virginia highway regardless of the limit. This one is charged on the number alone — no bad driving beyond the speed itself is required.

The speed threshold matters precisely: driving 81–85 mph on a highway with a 65 mph limit is a speeding infraction with an extra $100 fine, not reckless driving. It takes 86 mph or more, on any limit, to cross into reckless driving by speed on that basis alone — or 20 mph over whatever the posted limit actually is, if that threshold is lower.

Penalties and Points

	Amount
Maximum fine	$2,500
Maximum jail	12 months
Court costs on conviction	$61 (fixed by § 16.1-69.48:1)
DMV demerit points	6 points, on your record 11 years
Possible license suspension	Up to 6 months, at the court’s discretion

Reckless driving generally carries 6 demerit points, which stay on a Virginia driving record for 11 years — far longer than most violations. A conviction is a Class 1 misdemeanor, which means it becomes part of a criminal record, not just a driving record.

Beyond the fine and jail exposure, the court may suspend a driver’s license — the statutes allow anywhere from 10 days to 6 months depending on which specific reckless driving section applies (§§ 46.2-392, 46.2-393) — and may require an alcohol safety action program if the court has reason to believe the offense was alcohol- or drug-related. For reckless driving by speed specifically, § 46.2-393 also lets the court order enrollment in the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program instead of a suspension, for 60 days to 6 months; if the speed was over 100 mph, the court must order that enrollment unless it suspends the license instead. None of this is automatic; it is up to the judge.

Reckless driving becomes a Class 6 felony only in a narrow circumstance: the driver’s license was suspended or revoked for a moving violation at the time, and the reckless driving was the sole cause of someone’s death (§ 46.2-868). For the overwhelming majority of reckless driving charges, the offense is a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Reckless Driving in Virginia Beach: You Cannot Prepay the Ticket

Unlike an ordinary speeding ticket, reckless driving cannot be resolved by mailing in a fine. Because it is a misdemeanor rather than a traffic infraction, Virginia’s prepayment rules exclude it entirely — a driver (or an attorney appearing on their behalf, where the court allows it) must appear in Virginia Beach General District Court on the date listed on the summons. The amount of any fine is set by the judge at that hearing, not by a fixed schedule.

Can the Charge Be Reduced?

Yes, sometimes. A judge — or a prosecutor, before the judge rules — can reduce reckless driving to improper driving where “the degree of culpability is slight” (§ 46.2-869). Improper driving is only a traffic infraction: a maximum $500 fine, no jail exposure, and 3 demerit points instead of 6, on the record for 3 years instead of 11.

There is no way to guarantee a reduction, and any page that promises one is not being honest with you. In practice, a first offense with no crash, no alcohol involved, a speed not far over the threshold, and a clean driving record is the kind of case most likely to end in a reduction or a fine-only outcome — while very high speeds (roughly 90 mph and up, and especially over 100 mph), a crash, or a prior record make jail time or a license suspension realistic outcomes. How a specific court and judge handle a specific case varies, and nothing here predicts an individual result.

What Happens in Court

Virginia Beach General District Court decides a reckless driving case by judge alone — juries are not available at this level. The officer testifies to the speed reading or the conduct observed; the driver or an attorney can cross-examine and present evidence, including a speedometer calibration record, a clean driving history, or proof of a completed driver improvement clinic. The judge typically rules and sentences the same day.

A conviction can be appealed to Virginia Beach Circuit Court within 10 days for a completely new trial, with a jury available (§§ 16.1-132, 16.1-136) — General District Courts keep no transcript, so an appeal is not a review of the first hearing but an entirely fresh one. A driver convicted without appearing has a narrower option: § 16.1-133.1 allows the same judge to reopen the case within 60 days, for good cause, rather than starting over in circuit court. For how the appeal process works in more detail, see appealing a Hampton Roads conviction to circuit court, and for how a traffic docket is run day to day, Newport News’s dedicated traffic division. Because a conviction here is a criminal record, not just a driving record, most drivers facing this charge are well served by having a Virginia traffic attorney review the specific facts before the court date.

Related Charges in Hampton Roads

For other charges that commonly come up alongside or instead of reckless driving, see DWI in Virginia Beach, speeding tickets in Virginia Beach, and hit and run in Virginia Beach.