Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles isn’t infallible. And neither are their computers. In fact, they’re just as fallible and prone to problems as the rest of us.

The current computer outage they’re having highlights that in a painful way for people needing to renew their license right now. Apparently you’re in for a long wait.

These problems are one reason that I scrutinize my clients’ driving records for potential inaccuracies. And I argue that we shouldn’t rely on DMV records to prove something the courts did (such as proving notice for driving on suspended license cases). After all, the courts have the best records about what they did. Right?!

DMV is only as accurate as the people that work there and the technology they use. Many of the people I’ve interacted with for clients have been surprisingly helpful, but everyone’s fallible.

Some of my clients end up doing community service due to their traffic cases, whether it is court ordered or simply in preparation for trial. One question many of them have is: what counts as community service?

Court community service must be done at a non-profit organization. This means that you cannot simply volunteer for a business and call it community service. A non-profit organization is a group like a charity, school, church, or government body.

Easy non-profit examples include:

• Salvation Army
• Goodwill
• SPCA
• Public library

For people in the Fredericksburg area who need community service, these organizations should work fine for court-related purposes:

• Fredericksburg Area Food Bank
• Rappahannock Goodwill Industries
• Greater Fredericksburg SPCA
• Central Rappahannock Regional Library
• Spotsylvania County Parks and Recreation
• Stafford County Parks and Recreation
• Fredericksburg Parks and Recreation

If you are my client and are doing community service, please contact me to confirm that the group you selected qualifies for court. Do this before volunteering to ensure that you don’t have to redo your volunteer hours. I am always here to answer your questions.

The Virginia traffic code refers to “highways” quite a bit. Many of the offenses specified in the code have to take place on a “highway.”

Quite often I hear from potential clients and people who represent themselves in court: “But I wasn’t even on a highway!”

I’m sad to report that defense usually isn’t going to fly.

When used in the Virginia traffic code, “highway” is a specialized word. It doesn’t carry the meaning we use in every day speech. It is defined in Virginia Code 46.2-100:

“Highway” means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the Commonwealth, including the streets and alleys, and, for law-enforcement purposes, (i) the entire width between the boundary lines of all private roads or private streets that have been specifically designated “highways” by an ordinance adopted by the governing body of the county, city, or town in which such private roads or streets are located and (ii) the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place used for purposes of vehicular travel on any property owned, leased, or controlled by the United States government and located in the Commonwealth. (emphasis added)

Essentially, a “highway” is any public road.

With all that said, there IS a time when the “highway” defense could be used. Not all areas where cars drive are “highways.” This issue doesn’t normally arise in routine traffic infraction matters; however, it does come up in higher stakes cases like driving on a suspended license. If your driving took place in a private parking lot or something of that nature, it may be a defense to a charge that requires a “highway” as an element.

Just remember that if you’re charged with something like “improper stopping on a highway” (46.2-888), that can be charged on any road. It could be a small residential street or an interstate. They’re all highways.

There’s no shortage of ebooks on fighting traffic tickets. Some of them are good resources, and some are simply wrong.

I recently read the National Motorists Association’s ebook entitled “Fight That Ticket!”, and I’m a bit surprised by its inaccuracies. To be fair, their ebook is intended as a general guide for anyone in the country. No book could be 100% accurate for fighting a ticket in every jurisdiction.

But I do think some of the content is dangerously wrong. That’s what prompted me to write about it. Here are some general observations I’ve had.

Laws vary drastically

The ebook starts off by claiming that “the majority of the principles and recommendations discussed here are applicable to any type of traffic law violation.” It does have some disclaimers that laws vary among jurisdictions and that you should use it at your own risk.

But I think Fight That Ticket too easily dismisses the differences. Simply put, traffic defenses and procedures vary drastically from county to county even within a single state like Virginia. They even vary from judge to judge. It’s unlikely that techniques that might work in New York will carry the day in Nevada.

Not every ticket should be fought

Page five of Fight That Ticket claims in bold: “everyone should fight every traffic ticket they possibly can.”

What?!

I always try to be up front with callers who have tickets. Sometimes there’s nothing I can do for them. I know the local judges and prosecutors fairly well, and I can usually tell if a case is hopeless from the start.

Why should that case be fought then? In my opinion, some traffic matters are better off just being paid. Be done with it.

Of course, I always recommend consulting with a local, experienced traffic attorney first. A lot of times we can do something to reduce or dismiss the ticket. But there’s no sense in waging a losing battle.

Many Virginia tickets go to trial

One incorrect assumption throughout Fight That Ticket is that tickets don’t normally go to trial. Maybe that’s true in some states, but it’s flat out wrong in Virginia.

Traffic tickets are initially handled in Virginia’s General District Courts. These are the lowest level trial courts. They are designed to handle lots of cases every single day. The courts I practice in for Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Fredericksburg might handle a couple hundred traffic cases each on a busy day. And many of those are trials.

Even when a client hires me to fight their ticket, we typically go to trial. Contrary to what Fight That Ticket claims, trying a speeding ticket (or even a reckless driving charge) is not expensive at all. It’s included in the court costs you have to pay if you are convicted (even if the charge is reduced).

Hire a local attorney

Fight That Ticket claims that local traffic attorneys aren’t your best option to actually fight a ticket:

If you want an attorney to seriously fight a ticket, one who will go to trial, hire an attorney who does not normally work in this jurisdiction and who is not fearful of the consequences of irritating prosecutorial staff. (page 18)

That’s insulting to me and the countless traffic attorneys in this country who fight every day for our clients. We don’t sell out our clients to keep from upsetting the status quo. I have never done that. I am not afraid to plead not guilty, question the officer, put on evidence, and argue that the judge should dismiss a ticket.

I recommend that you should hire a local traffic attorney whenever possible.

A trial is not expensive

Several times Fight That Ticket refers to the high cost of a trial, and it even claims that hiring an attorney for a trial costs “thousands of dollars.”

Not in Virginia. As I mentioned above, going to trial doesn’t increase the costs you pay to the court. If you are found not guilty, you pay nothing. If you are convicted, you still pay basically the same amount of court costs as if you prepay the ticket.

And maybe some attorneys charge thousands for traffic defense, but most that I know do not. A basic traffic case (even for reckless driving or driving on suspended) is usually less than a thousand dollars.

Watch out

I haven’t even dug into the substantive inaccuracies in Fight That Ticket. The first volume has lots of information about discovery (obtaining information about the case). And let’s just say that Virginia’s discovery laws are extremely lacking.

The best advice for anyone who gets a ticket is to consult a local traffic attorney. Skip the ebooks.

State Troopers and deputies really have heard it all. And they get the same sob stories over and over.

That’s why this article that my wife found seems pertinent for drivers too:

Complaints that fail: 5 e-mails to avoid

The article is focused on the travel industry and the pointless complaints customers send in. They’re basically shooting themselves in the foot instead of resolving their problem like they want.

My favorite for traffic stops is the “special circumstance.” Just like every traveler has special circumstances, so does every driver. There’s some critical incident happening. Or you’re on the way to someone’s funeral. Most drivers have a story about why they’re different.

Please don’t misunderstand me. Circumstances matter. But that’s typically something we need to present to the judge or prosecutor. It’s almost never going to stop the officer from writing a ticket once he has you pulled over.

I encourage anyone who is stopped to be polite to the officer. We’ll present the circumstances at court.

This is completely silly, but too funny. Thanks to my wife for sending it to me!

In Virginia, any speed over 80 mph is considered reckless driving, which could land you in jail. Fortunately for many of my clients, the Fredericksburg area courts don’t typically impose jail sentences except at super high speeds, like 100 mph.

But this speeding grandma would certainly be spending some time in jail. She was going 102 mph because she was late for her hair appointment.

A good traffic attorney may be able to help her minimize her jail sentence, but I’ll bet she’s going to do at least a couple days. 102 is crazy fast!

Do you have an air freshener hanging from your rear view mirror? You may want to remove it. An innocent air freshener could provide a valid reason for the police to stop your car, even if you are not doing anything wrong. Here’s why.

Windshield obstructions

Virginia law specifies that drivers cannot have anything in the windows or windshield that obstructs the clear view of the highway. The Code says:

It shall be unlawful for any person to drive a motor vehicle on a highway in the Commonwealth with any object or objects, other than a rear view mirror, sun visor, or other equipment of the motor vehicle approved by the Superintendent, suspended from any part of the motor vehicle in such a manner as to obstruct the driver’s clear view of the highway through the windshield…

Now you may be wondering how a tiny little air freshener could possibly cause a problem. Actually, officers don’t usually write tickets for air fresheners or other small items hanging from the mirror. It would be hard to prove that they actually obstruct the driver’s view.

But the law of traffic stops creates a complication.

Traffic stops

To stop a vehicle in Virginia, the police must have a “reasonable articulable suspicion” that the vehicle (or its occupants) violates the law. This doesn’t mean that the vehicle must actually violate the law.

Basically, the police are empowered to stop vehicles to investigate whether or not a violation is actually present. They must have a reasonable suspicion about why they stopped a particular vehicle, but the suspicion doesn’t have to turn out to be correct.

Where does this leave us?

Dangling object stops

Since some air fresheners or other dangling objects may violate Virginia law, a traffic stop based on a dangling object will usually be upheld as a valid stop. In some instances, a super small item (like a graduation tassel) could be ruled an invalid basis for a stop. But I wouldn’t count on it.

You could be driving along, legally going about your business. A police officer could see that pine tree air freshener the car wash gave you last week. Now he’s pulling you over.

That’s not a problem if you truly are completely legal. But what if you had one drink too many with dinner? Or what if you forgot to pay a ticket and your license is suspended without your knowledge? That pine tree just caused a lot of problems.

How many cars have you seen driving around with a chipped or cracked windshield? Do you drive one of those cars?

You really should get your windshield fixed. A cracked windshield basically begs the police to pull you over. It’s an easy (and legal) reason for a traffic stop, where they can try to fish for a more serious charge.

The Virginia Official Safety Inspection Manual, Section 19 VAC 30-70-210, page 210-2, paragraphs 7 and 8, lays out the standard for unacceptable windshield chips and cracks. The basic rule (as I understand it) is that you can’t have any chip or crack larger than 1.5″.

If your windshield doesn’t meet that standard, it won’t pass a state inspection. And you can be ticketed for defective equipment under Virginia Code § 46.2-1003:

It shall be unlawful for any person to use or have as equipment on a motor vehicle operated on a highway any device or equipment mentioned in § 46.2-1002 which is defective or in unsafe condition.

A defective equipment charge is only a traffic infraction, which you can even prepay. However, you should think twice before doing that. Prepaying is pleading guilty. If you get the windshield fixed before court, you may be able to bring the receipt to court and get the judge to dismiss the charge.

There may even be a defense to a cracked windshield charge. The chip, star, dent, or crack must actually be in violation of the rules. I’m honestly not convinced that all law enforcement officers actually know the rules.

The bottom line: Get your windshield fixed now. You don’t want to get pulled over for a little problem like this and end up facing a serious charge like driving on a suspended license or DUI. And if you’ve been ticketed for a cracked windshield, call a lawyer.

An ironic story just came up in the news. A man headed to prison to serve his DUI sentence in Vermont, but he was drunk. And he drove himself.

What a mess! Now this guy is facing a charge of second offense DUI, and he still has to serve the time for the first offense.

A similar outcome would happen in Virginia. Driving anywhere while intoxicated risks you being charged with Virginia DUI.

Where this guy also went wrong (other than driving under the influence of alcohol) was reporting to jail with alcohol in his system. In the Virginia courts where I practice, the judges specifically tell defendants that they cannot show up to jail with any alcohol or illegal drugs in their system. If you violate that rule, any suspended jail time can become active. Instead of serving 5 of 60 days, for example, you may have to serve all of the time.

The moral of the story: don’t drive drunk, especially on your way to jail.