Prince George General District Court is at 6601 Courts Drive, Prince George, VA 23875.

• Mailing address: P.O. Box 187, Prince George, VA 23875
• Clerk’s Office: (804) 733-2781 or (804) 733-2783
• Fax: (804) 733-2678
• Clerk’s office hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The courthouse on Courts Drive holds the General District, Juvenile and Domestic Relations, and Circuit courtrooms. Prince George’s General District and Juvenile courts are combined and share a clerk’s office. The Circuit Court, which handles felony trials, jury trials, and appeals from General District Court, has its own clerk at (804) 733-2640, open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

On continuances, read this carefully. The clerk can grant a first continuance for traffic infractions only. Everything else, including reckless driving, goes to the judge. Reckless driving is a criminal misdemeanor, not an infraction, so the clerk cannot move your date over the phone. People get this wrong because they assume a speeding ticket and a reckless charge work the same way here. They do not.

The date and time printed on your summons is what controls.

Prince George County sits southeast of Richmond and carries an unusual amount of through traffic for its size:

• Interstate 95, the East Coast north-south corridor, running through the county south of Petersburg
• Interstate 295, whose southern terminus is at I-95 in Prince George County
• U.S. Route 460, running east toward Waverly and Suffolk
• U.S. Route 301

Most of the reckless driving charges in this court come off I-95 and I-295, and most of those drivers were passing through the state with no easy way to come back for court.

Traffic and criminal matters including:

• Reckless driving
• Speeding tickets
• DUI/DWI
• Hit and run, and eluding
• Driving on a suspended or revoked license
• Driving without a license
• Underage alcohol possession
• Public intoxication
• Assault and battery
• Petty larceny and shoplifting

No. The General District Court handles traffic infractions, criminal misdemeanors, and some civil matters. It also conducts preliminary hearings on felony charges, which then proceed to the Circuit Court if certified.

General District Court does not conduct jury trials. All cases there are decided by a judge. If you are convicted and want a jury, you have an automatic right to appeal to Prince George Circuit Court within 10 days, which gets you an entirely new trial.

Reckless driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor, not a ticket. Under Va. Code § 46.2-862, you are charged with it at 20 mph or more over the posted limit, or any speed in excess of 85 mph regardless of the limit.

On I-95 and I-295, the second number is what catches people. Both are posted at 70 through Prince George, so the 20-over line is 90 mph. But the 85 mph rule arrives first. At 86 mph you are charged with a criminal offense while doing 16 over the limit.

Penalties on conviction:

• Up to 12 months in jail
• Fine up to $2,500
• 6 DMV demerit points
• Lasting criminal record
• License suspension of 60 days to six months, at the court’s discretion under Va. Code § 46.2-393
• It cannot be prepaid. The case requires a court appearance.

Two different record clocks. The demerit points stay active for 2 years from the date of the offense. The conviction itself stays on your Virginia driving record for 11 years.

New as of July 1, 2026: on a reckless driving by speed conviction, the court may order enrollment in Virginia’s Intelligent Speed Assistance Program instead of suspending your license. That means a speed-limiting device on any vehicle you own or operate, at your expense, for 60 days to six months. Over 100 mph, the court must order it unless it suspends your license instead.

The main route on a reckless driving charge is a reduction to improper driving. Under Va. Code § 46.2-869, a court may grant it where the defendant’s culpability is slight based on the facts. It can also arrive by agreement with the Commonwealth.

The difference is what a conviction leaves behind. An infraction sits on your driving record. A criminal traffic conviction creates a criminal record that follows you onto background checks for employment, housing, and security clearances, and it does not roll off on its own.

A police officer cannot write a ticket for improper driving. It exists only as a reduction. Whether it is available depends on the speed, the driving record, the conditions, and how the case is presented.

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

It depends on the charge.

For prepayable traffic infractions such as most speeding tickets, you may enter a written appearance and waive the court hearing under Va. Code § 19.2-254.1, and an attorney can handle the matter without you present.

Reckless driving is different. It cannot be prepaid and it requires a court appearance. Some Virginia courts will grant a waiver of appearance for out-of-state defendants, but that is at the judge’s discretion and cannot be promised in advance.

DUI and other criminal misdemeanors generally require you to appear in person.

If you were passing through on I-95 and cannot easily return to Virginia, raise it early. That is the fact that supports asking for a waiver, and it needs raising well before your court date.

First offense:

• Class 1 misdemeanor
• Mandatory minimum $250 fine (up to $2,500)
• License revoked for one year (mandatory, not discretionary)
• 7-day administrative suspension at the time of arrest
• Mandatory ASAP (Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program)
• Ignition interlock required for a restricted license
• Additional mandatory jail: 5 days if BAC is 0.15 to 0.20, 10 days if BAC is above 0.20

Second offense within 10 years, under Va. Code § 18.2-270, with the mandatory minimum depending on how close the offenses are:

• Within less than 5 years: jail of not less than one month, with 20 days as a mandatory minimum the court cannot suspend
• Within 5 to 10 years: jail of not less than one month, with 10 days as a mandatory minimum
• Mandatory minimum $500 fine either way
• Three-year license revocation

No diversion. Virginia has no first-offender program for DUI. ASAP is not an alternative to a conviction. It is a requirement that follows one, and completing it is a condition of getting a restricted license.

Driving on a suspended or revoked license under Va. Code § 46.2-301 is a Class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to 12 months jail, a fine up to $2,500, and 6 demerit points. On conviction the court will generally add a suspension matching the length of the original one. If the original had no fixed end date, the court may add up to 90 days.

A third or subsequent offense within 10 years carries a mandatory minimum 10 days in jail that cannot be suspended.

Worth knowing: under Va. Code § 46.2-301(G), if you have no prior violations of that section in the past 10 years, the court has discretion to dismiss the charge if you show proof of compliance on or before your court date. Getting reinstated before court can matter, and it is one of the few places where acting early changes the outcome directly.

Because several things that help are only available before your court date, and they take time.

• Speedometer calibration has to be done soon after the ticket, while the vehicle is in the same condition. Waiting undermines it.
• A driver improvement course takes time to complete and is presented as something already done, not something promised.
• A suspended license charge can be dismissed under § 46.2-301(G) if you show proof of compliance on or before your court date. Getting reinstated takes weeks.
• Evidence goes away. Dashcam footage overwrites. Witness memory fades. Calibration and maintenance records get harder to obtain.
• Waiver of appearance, if you are out of state, is a motion that needs raising well ahead of the date rather than the week of.

None of this guarantees an outcome. It is the difference between a case that was prepared and one that was figured out in the hallway.

Weiland Button offers free consultations for anyone charged in Prince George County.