This is the first question, and in Virginia it is not rhetorical. Some things that look exactly like tickets are criminal charges.

The answer is the code section printed on your summons. Not the description the officer wrote on it. Not what it looks like. The number.

Traffic infractions are civil violations. They carry a fine, possibly demerit points, and no jail. Speeding, most equipment violations, and most sign violations live here. Many can be prepaid.

These are Class 1 misdemeanors, which are crimes:

• Reckless driving, in all fourteen of its forms, §§ 46.2-852 through 46.2-865
• DUI, § 18.2-266
• Driving on a suspended license, § 46.2-301
• Hit and run, § 46.2-894, where there is injury or more than $1,000 in property damage

A Class 1 misdemeanor carries up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. It is the same class as assault and battery. It cannot be prepaid, and a conviction is a criminal record, not a driving record entry.

If the code section on your summons begins with 46.2-85 or 46.2-86, you are very likely holding a criminal charge, whatever the ticket says in words.

No. Read this section carefully, because it is the single most misunderstood charge in Virginia.

Va. Code § 46.2-853 reads: “A person shall be guilty of reckless driving who drives a vehicle which is not under proper control or which has inadequate or improperly adjusted brakes on any highway in the Commonwealth.”

Faulty brakes is reckless driving in Virginia. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor: up to 12 months in jail, a fine up to $2,500, 6 demerit points, and 11 years on your driving record.

And here is why people get caught. Officers frequently write “improper brakes,” “faulty brakes,” or “failure to maintain control” on the summons. The words “reckless driving” may appear nowhere on it. Court records sometimes list it as “op improper brakes.” Everything about the paperwork suggests an equipment ticket.

It is not an equipment ticket. It is not correctable. Fixing the brakes does not resolve the charge. If you prepay it, you have pleaded guilty to a criminal offense.

Check the code section. If it says § 46.2-853, that is a reckless driving charge, no matter what the description line says.

What these cases turn on: whether the brakes were actually inadequate, whether you knew or reasonably could have known, whether the condition contributed to anything, and whether the charge can be reduced to improper driving under § 46.2-869.

Virginia has four misdemeanor classes, and the difference between them is not a matter of degree.

So “a misdemeanor means up to a year in jail” is only true of Class 1. A Class 3 or Class 4 misdemeanor carries no jail at all. Public intoxication, § 18.2-388, is a Class 4: a fine of up to $250 and nothing else.

Where the traffic charges fall:

• Class 1: reckless driving, DUI, driving on a suspended license, hit and run with injury or over $1,000 damage
• Class 2: eluding under § 46.2-817(A), no operator’s license on a first offense under § 46.2-300
• Traffic infraction: speeding, improper driving under § 46.2-869, most equipment and sign violations

All of the misdemeanors are crimes. The class tells you the exposure, not whether you have a criminal record.

Fewer than most people think, and the triggers are specific. “An accident causing injury” is not a felony by itself.

• Hit and run, § 46.2-894: a Class 5 felony where there is injury or death, or more than $1,000 in property damage. Note that last one. Property damage alone can be a felony, and a bumper clears $1,000 easily.
• Felony reckless driving, § 46.2-868(B): a Class 6 felony, requiring both that the driver was driving on a license suspended or revoked for a moving violation and that the reckless driving was the sole and proximate cause of a death. Both. Injury alone is not this offense, and a death alone is not either if the license was valid.
• Racing, § 46.2-865.1: a Class 6 felony for serious bodily injury to someone not involved; 1 to 20 years for causing a death
• Eluding, § 46.2-817(B): a Class 6 felony, but only where the driving interferes with or endangers the law enforcement vehicle or endangers a person. The base offense in § 46.2-817(A) is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
• DUI, third offense within 10 years: a Class 6 felony, § 18.2-270(C)(1)
• Driving on a DUI-related suspension, § 18.2-272: a Class 6 felony on a third offense within 10 years
• DUI manslaughter, § 18.2-36.1: up to 10 years, or 20 if aggravated

Note what is not on this list. A third conviction for driving on a suspended license under § 46.2-301 is not a felony. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor with a 10-day mandatory minimum.

Some are. The ones this firm handles mostly are not, and the distinction matters more than the definition.

Strict liability means the Commonwealth does not have to prove you intended to break the law. Speeding is the clearest example. You were going the speed you were going. That you did not mean to is not a defense to the element.

But do not read that as “traffic charges have no defenses,” because for the criminal ones it is simply false:

• Reckless driving under § 46.2-852 requires driving that endangers life, limb, or property. That is an element, and the Commonwealth has to prove it.
• Driving on a suspended license under § 46.2-301 requires notice of the suspension. If DMV never properly notified you, that element fails.
• Hit and run under § 46.2-894 requires knowledge that an accident occurred.
• Eluding under § 46.2-817 has a statutory affirmative defense: that you reasonably believed the pursuer was not law enforcement.

And even where an element is strict, the Commonwealth still has to prove it. On a speed charge that means proving the speed: a current calibration certificate for the radar or lidar, a certified operator, and the posted limit at the point of the stop.

A moving violation occurs while the vehicle is in motion: speeding, reckless driving, failure to yield. A non-moving violation does not: parking, most equipment, expired registration.

Here is the part that actually matters in a Virginia courtroom. Non-moving violations carry no demerit points.

That is why a reduction from a moving violation to a non-moving one is worth so much. It is not cosmetic. It is the difference between 6 points and 0, and between something an insurer rates on and something it does not.

Virginia does not have “fix-it tickets.” That is California’s term for a statutory correctable-violation scheme, and Virginia’s system does not work that way.

What Virginia does have:

• § 46.2-104, failure to carry your license. If you produce a valid license that was in effect at the time of the stop, the charge must be dismissed, and the court may charge you costs of up to $10. That is the closest thing to a true correctable violation in the Code, and it is mandatory.
• Many equipment infractions can be resolved by correcting the problem and showing the court proof, which is a matter of local practice rather than a statewide statutory mechanism. Ask.

What is not correctable, and this is the whole reason this section exists:

Faulty brakes is not an equipment violation in Virginia. It is reckless driving under § 46.2-853, a Class 1 misdemeanor. Repairing the brakes does not fix the charge. See above.

Any list that puts “faulty brakes” alongside cracked windshields and broken taillights as a fix-it ticket is describing another state’s law.

There are two separate clocks, and they get fused constantly.

• Demerit points expire 2 years from the date of the offense
• The conviction stays on your Virginia driving record for 3 to 11 years, depending on the offense

Anyone telling you that reckless driving puts six points on your record for eleven years is combining two different rules. The points come off long before the conviction does, and insurers and employers look at the conviction, not your point balance.

Point values:

You also earn +1 safe driving point per year with a clean record, up to +5.

DMV thresholds for drivers 18 and over, which are three different things:

How long convictions stay on the record: reckless driving and DUI, 11 years. A 4-point speeding conviction, 4 years. A 3-point conviction, 3 years. Improper driving, 3 years.

For a traffic infraction, usually yes. Understand that prepaying is a guilty plea. You are convicted, the points attach, and the conviction goes on your record.

For a misdemeanor, no. Reckless driving and DUI cannot be prepaid. You must answer the summons.

If a court’s system somehow lets you pay a misdemeanor, understand what you did: you pleaded guilty to a criminal offense, took 6 points and an 11-year conviction, and gave up every defense you had. People discover this months later when a background check turns up a crime they thought was a ticket. It is not easily undone.

Before you prepay anything, check the code section.

Be skeptical of anyone who tells you a single moving violation will not affect your rates. Underwriting varies by carrier and by driver, and no lawyer can tell you what your insurer will do.

What is actually knowable:

• Insurers rate on the conviction, not on your demerit points. The points expire in 2 years. The conviction sits on your record for 3 to 11.
• Reckless driving is not “a moving violation” for this purpose. It is a criminal conviction that stays for 11 years, and some carriers non-renew over it.
• The charge you are convicted of is the thing that matters. Improper driving under § 46.2-869 is a 3-point infraction that comes off in 3 years. Reckless driving is a crime that sits there for 11. That is the difference a case is fought over.
• A driver improvement clinic does not remove a conviction. It adds up to +5 safe driving points, once every 24 months. It is point management, not record management.

Yes, and this changed recently enough that most published guidance is wrong about it.

Virginia eliminated the $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee effective July 1, 2024, under SB 951. The option to pay the Commonwealth a fee instead of insuring your car no longer exists. Every vehicle registered in Virginia must carry liability insurance meeting the state’s minimums.

Minimum liability limits increased on January 1, 2025 to $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.

SR-22 is a certificate of financial responsibility your insurer files with DMV. It is required for reinstatement after certain convictions, including DUI, and must be maintained for a set period.

Driving an unregistered vehicle is a traffic infraction in Virginia. It is a non-moving violation, so it does not carry demerit points, and it is generally resolvable by getting the registration current.

Two things worth separating out, because they get lumped together:

• Registration is about the vehicle. A license is about the driver. Driving without a valid operator’s license is § 46.2-300, a Class 2 misdemeanor on a first offense, which is a crime.
• § 46.2-300 was amended effective July 1, 2025. The court may dismiss the charge on proof that you obtained a valid license by the court date. The only exclusion is operating a commercial motor vehicle.

Often, yes, through the Driver License Compact, which covers 45 states and the District of Columbia.

• Member states report convictions to your home state
• Your home state applies its own penalties as though the offense happened there
• Virginia is a member

The five states that are not members: Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. That is not the same as no consequence. Non-member states still share information through other channels, and a failure to appear reaches you regardless.

Check the code section first. If it is a traffic infraction, you may be able to prepay, and prepaying is a guilty plea your home state will hear about.

If it is reckless driving, you cannot prepay and you must answer the summons. Virginia treats it as a crime even if the same speed is a ticket where you live, and that is the thing out-of-state drivers most consistently do not know until it is too late.

Some Virginia courts will grant a waiver of appearance on motion, based on distance and the facts. It is discretionary, it varies, and nobody can promise it in advance. Raise it early, not the week of court.

If you do not appear:

• The court can issue a capias, an arrest warrant that does not expire and surfaces at a traffic stop in another state years later
• Your privilege to drive in Virginia can be suspended, and driving here on that suspension is a separate Class 1 misdemeanor
• Virginia reports the conviction to your home state

Your case is heard where the stop happened, not where you live. On I-95 and I-85 the county lines fall between exits, and the courthouse can be an hour from the mile marker.

It depends entirely on why your license was suspended, and the difference is a felony.

Under § 46.2-301, driving on a suspended license is a Class 1 misdemeanor carrying 6 demerit points. A third offense within 10 years carries a 10-day mandatory minimum, though the statute contains an express exception for an apparent extreme emergency to save life or limb. There is no mandatory minimum fine at any tier, whatever you have read elsewhere.

§ 46.2-301(G) is the provision worth knowing about. Where you had no prior offense in the preceding 10 years, the court may dismiss the charge on proof that you obtained a valid license by the court date. It excludes CDL and CLP holders and anyone operating a commercial vehicle.

But if the suspension was DUI-related, § 46.2-301 does not apply. The charge is § 18.2-272, and:

• A third offense within 10 years is a Class 6 felony
• No restricted license is available during the revocation
• Violating the terms of a DUI restricted license is charged under § 18.2-272, not § 46.2-301

Your vehicle can be impounded under § 46.2-301.1, and that can happen at the time of the charge, before any conviction. Impoundment is not forfeiture. They are different things and get confused constantly.

Notice is an element. The Commonwealth must prove you had notice of the suspension.

• Read the code section on your summons. It determines the elements, the defenses, and the exposure, and it is frequently not the charge you think you have. § 46.2-853 is the clearest example on this page.
• Do not prepay anything until you know whether it is a crime
• Do not miss the court date. A failure to appear produces a capias, which does not expire.
• Preserve what decays. Dashcam footage, phone data, and photographs overwrite on their own schedule.
• Get a speedometer calibration if this is a speed case, and pull your DMV transcript
• Write down what you remember, now
• Say so early if you hold a CDL, a security clearance, a professional license, or a visa, or if you are not a U.S. citizen. The collateral consequence is frequently larger than the sentence.

Results depend on the specific facts of each case. Prior outcomes do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any other matter.

Schedule a free consultation with Weiland Button.