[jmisavage]

You're out of date as of 2020. Reckless driving is 20 mph over the speed limit or over 85 mph now. It's a class 1 misdemeanor.

Most of Virginia has 65 mph as the stated speed limit which usually drops to 55 mph around cities. There are stretches of I-95 and I-81 were the speed limit is 70 mph.

But anyone who drives here knows that the speed limit is generally considered the slowest you should go on the road. Speeding around here is common. And for anyone who lives in Richmond people run red lights all the time even in front of cops. We're all just practicing for the next Mad Max movie.

[Bedon292]

Huh, didn't know that upped that. Guess I missed that with everything else happening in the world.

Speeding is the normal, definitely. And funny that I have seen traffic flowing faster during rush hour, when everyone is going well over. And then mid day you have someone from out of state passing through slowing everyone else down.

[systematical]

Richmond police force is understaffed (many have left to Chesterfield and Henrico) and the city has serious crime problems in many neighborhoods.

[xwdv]

I regularly drive at speeds in excess of 100mph when highways are empty and waze shows no police. What would be the fate of a person caught at those speeds in Virginia?

[CodeAndCuffs]

Reckless driving in VA is a class 1 misdemeanor. Punishable by confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.[1]

That said, many things are a class 1 misdemeanor. Usually reckless driving is a fine similar to that of speeding. I've seen judges with stances like "1 day in jail for every mph over X" where X is usually 90,95, or 100. I think the most I've ever heard of was like 3-5 days for 100mph+, and even that was served on weekends.

Well, I heard of one guy who was given 3 months for 76 in a 55 by a very old substitute judge, much to the defendant's, Trooper's, and clerk's shock. The Trooper made it a point talk to the defendant and inform he could talk to the court clerk about the appeal process. The defendant appealed it down to a fine of around $150.

[1]https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter1/secti...

[throwaway0a5e]

Realistically you'd be out a grand because it'd cost you $500 of lawyer to get it plead down to a $500 non-criminal offense.

VA only cares about the money. Individual cops will stop people they see doing stuff that warrants a "that's seriously unsafe, I can't just let that slide" response but the courts just see it as a revenue stream and will gladly let people plead down as long as the total shakedown is about the same. They don't care if a large chunk winds up in the lawyer's pockets because it's a giant revolving door.

[shadowgovt]

In Virginia?

Death.

But it will be enforced by the velocity squared proportionality of kinetic energy and chronically underfunded highway maintenance coupled with old highways, not the police.

[hobs]

That's the part I chuckle at - what do you think your braking distance is at 100MPH? Most places do NOT have roads that are conducive to this as a regular practice.

[cryptonector]

What if the police use Waze though? Last time I used it -and it was many years ago- it was clearly possible to use it to find speeders using it.

[somehnguy]

Can you explain how? Waze doesn't show your speed to others on the map.

[cryptonector]

It's been like eight years. I don't recall exactly, but what I recall is that Waze showed me other Waze users on the road, including their positions, and these were updated in something close to real-time, which means one could estimate their speed. I imagine a police officer waiting to "ambush" a speeder they know is coming.

[Bedon292]

I have never seen anything close to real time updates on Waze, even 10 years ago. Its always very delayed jumps and never seeming to be actual accurate positions.

[xwdv]

If a police uses Waze to find me and catch me he can go ahead and just throw me in jail.

[bladegash]

Depends on the county and the judge. There’s a judge in Loudoun who is known for giving, at minimum, three days in jail for reckless driving. He allows for work-release so people don’t miss any days of work, but still.

[TheCoelacanth]

That's reckless driving, which is a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and up to a year in jail.

At over 100, you would have a pretty high chance of spending a weekend in jail.

[Spooky23]

Potentially a misdemeanor. Big waste of your time and money, with potential career impacts.