Driving Records
Driving records are a vital part of any Virginia traffic violation or speeding ticket case. Under Virginia Code § 46.2-943, judges may consider a defendant’s prior traffic record before sentencing. Typically, judges are inclined to reduce, dismiss, or order driving school and/or community service to avoid a conviction for those defendants with good driving records. Because the courts in Virginia generally do not compile driving records for you prior to trial, most judges expect you to provide a copy of your record to the court.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, your driving record is going to help you at trial. We want to be sure we have that to make sure you get the best possible outcome for your traffic violation, speeding ticket, or Reckless Driving case.
In most cases, a non-certified driving record will suffice*. The judges typically want to see at least the last five years of your driving history so make sure that the record length you choose is long enough*. If your state only goes back two or three years, that is typically fine, but the Courts are aware of how long most driving records are from each state.
If you are concerned about which driving record is appropriate for your case, please give my office a call to discuss. While we won’t be able to completely walk you through the process of ordering your record, we can make sure that you order the correct record. It’s super easy to give us a call to make sure you won’t have to order multiple records.
*Smyth County requires certified driving records that cover the last ten years. Once you get it, you will need to mail that document to our Southwest Office in Wytheville. Please call if you have any questions or run into any trouble obtain your driving record.
Once you receive your record, you can send it to us by email, fax, or our Document Upload tool. Again, if it’s a Smyth County case, make sure to mail it to our Wytheville Office.
Please be sure to send us your record prior to your hearing date. We will need your driving record in almost all traffic and Reckless Driving cases. Most judges will not agree to dispose of the case without your record so if we don’t have it in time for court, the judge will either require us to continue the case and reappear with your record or just find you guilty. Both of those outcomes are entirely avoidable if you send your record to us prior to court.
In some cases, we are able to obtain your record for you. Some states won’t allow us to pull the record and some judges won’t accept the records that don’t come directly from your state’s DMV or state equivalent. Keep in mind that these records are not free, so we’ll have to charge you to pull them. It’s universally cheaper for you to obtain your record on your own from your state’s DMV so we encourage you to give it a shot on your own first. If you’re still having trouble, let us know and we’ll go from there.