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Traffic Law

• Northern Virginia Traffic Law

Northern Virginia Traffic Law

Imagine you’re late for work. You’re speeding down the Interstate, weaving between the slower-moving traffic. Despite the apparent recklessness of the weaving and the speed, you maintain lucid control over your vehicle and remain wholly aware of the cars around you. When you glance at the clock on the dashboard, you realize you’re already ten minutes late and nudge your car five miles per hour faster. You’re now going over 80 mph on a 65 mph road.

Sirens blare behind you as the blue lights spin, and you realize you’re going to be even later for work than before. After pulling off on the side of the road and stopping, you wait for the officer to approach your window, running through your potential rationales for driving so fast. Suddenly, “I’m going to be late for work” doesn’t sound like such a good excuse. The officer checks your license, your title, your insurance, runs a background check, and hands you a ticket for speeding—and maybe another for reckless driving, depending on how many cars you sped past and how often you changed lanes. Normally, this—on top of the points on your license, the fee at court, and the potential embarrassment—would be enough. But the issue has become a bit more complex.

On July 1, 2007, Virginia enacted a set of new traffic violation fees. The aim was to raise revenue, but the fines are steep. In our scenario above, you could be charged up to $1,000 for driving over 80 mph—and that would be $1,000 due every year for the next three years. If the officer also charged you with reckless driving, that would be an additional $350 per year. If you additionally forgot your license at home, it would be an added $300. Your first payments would be due at your court hearing—a potential, hefty $1,650 fine.

Clearly the first step to avoiding this issue is to be aware of Virginia’s laws and to obey them. And that is certainly one of the main aims of the abusive-driver laws. In fact, during the month of July, state police issued 23 percent fewer reckless-driving citations and 11 percent fewer speeding tickets than the previous year. There were also fewer traffic fatalities compared to 2006. But many complain that the fees, which are enacted only against Virginia drivers, are unfair, especially to those who are more economically challenged.

Additionally, there are separate laws for bicyclists. While bicyclists are required to obey all the rules of the road assigned to cars, they additionally must obey rules pertaining to safety gear (for youth under fifteen years of age), where to ride (or not to ride), and how to interact with other vehicles. It is vitally important for bicyclists to obey the rules and for vehicle motorists to be aware of the bicyclists. If both parties remain aware of their surroundings and obey their specific rules, accidents such as the Catoctin man who was biking through the W&OD Trail when he was struck by a car that ran a red light can be avoided. The man was flown to the Inova Fairfax Hospital where he was diagnosed with a head injury.

Even though we all do our best to know the current laws, learn the new rules, and obey the limitations imposed, mistakes happen. We go too fast. We forget our licenses in our other (pants, coat, jacket) pocket. We forget to signal to change lanes or do a rolling stop. That’s where Thomas Robl can help. If you find yourself involved in a traffic violation, listen politely to the officer and be calm, but call 703-777-6787 as soon as possible so you can work with Thomas Robl to effectively present your case in court.

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