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Reckless Driving vs. Speeding in Virginia: Is This a Traffic Ticket or a Misdemeanor?
The short answer: ordinary speeding is a traffic infraction, and reckless driving is ordinarily a Class 1 misdemeanor, which is a criminal charge. Under Virginia Code § 46.2-862, driving 20 mph or more over the speed limit, or faster than 85 mph regardless of the limit, can be charged as reckless driving by speed.
The speed alone doesn’t tell you which charge the officer wrote. Your Virginia Uniform Summons does. If it says reckless driving or cites § 46.2-862, treat it as a criminal case: you can’t simply pay it online, and the decisions you make before the court date matter.
What Is the Difference Between Reckless Driving and Speeding in Virginia?
The difference is the legal classification. A traffic infraction is not a crime. Reckless driving is ordinarily a Class 1 misdemeanor under Virginia Code § 46.2-868, and almost everything else on this page follows from that.
| Issue | Ordinary speeding | Reckless driving by speed |
| Classification | Traffic infraction, not a criminal offense | Ordinarily a Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Common code section | Often § 46.2-870 or another speeding provision | § 46.2-862 |
| Speed | Any speed over the applicable limit charged as speeding | 20 mph or more over the limit, or faster than 85 mph |
| Can you prepay it? | Usually; prepaying is a guilty plea | No; it must be resolved in court |
| Maximum penalty | A fine (generally up to $250) and no jail | Up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine, either or both |
| DMV points and record | 3, 4 or 6 points depending on the speed; kept on your DMV record for 5 years | 6 points; kept on your DMV record for 11 years |
| License | No court suspension for a single speeding ticket, though accumulated points can lead to DMV action | The court may suspend a Virginia license for 60 days to six months or use the Intelligent Speed Assistance option |
| Criminal record | Not a criminal conviction | A criminal conviction; sealing is possible only by petition if you qualify |
These are legal limits and DMV categories, not predictions. The speed, your driving record, the evidence and the court all shape what actually happens.
The two speed thresholds work independently, which produces some surprises:
- 85 in a 70 is not reckless driving by speed. It is 15 over and not faster than 85.
- 86 in a 70 is reckless driving by speed because it is faster than 85.
- 75 in a 55, or 45 in a 25, is reckless driving by speed because each is exactly 20 over, and 20 or more counts.
Meeting a threshold allows a reckless charge; it doesn’t require one. Officers sometimes write ordinary speeding at a speed that could have supported reckless driving. Reckless driving also isn’t only about speed. Other statutes cover dangerous driving that doesn’t depend on a number, and a crash is a common way those charges arise; our page on reckless driving after an accident explains that situation.
How Do I Know if I’m Charged with Reckless Driving or Speeding?
Start with the summons, not your memory of the speed.
- Read the charge. “Reckless driving,” “reckless driving by speed” or an abbreviation such as “R/D speed” means a criminal charge. “Speeding” generally means a traffic infraction.
- Read the code section. Section 46.2-862 is reckless driving by speed, and § 46.2-852 is the general reckless driving statute. Ordinary speeding is usually charged under § 46.2-870, a nearby section or a local ordinance.
- Check the speed and the limit written on the summons, and whether the allegation is 20 or more over, faster than 85, or both.
- Look at the prepayment section. Virginia’s court payment guidance treats prepayment as a guilty plea and a waiver of your hearing, and it excludes reckless driving. If the prepayment area is crossed out or the summons says you must appear, you are likely facing reckless driving.
If your summons says speeding even though you were 20 or more over, the officer charged the infraction. That helps, but it isn’t a free pass: a speeding conviction at 20 mph or more over still carries 6 DMV points, though it stays on your record for 5 years rather than 11. Prepaying is a guilty plea that locks those points in.
If the summons lists reckless driving, plan to attend court unless your lawyer has confirmed that the court will excuse you. Hiring a lawyer doesn’t waive your appearance by itself. If you’re unsure what your paperwork means, a Virginia reckless driving attorney can identify the charge, the court and the next deadline.
Penalties and Consequences: Reckless Driving vs. Speeding
For ordinary speeding, Virginia Code § 46.2-113 caps a traffic infraction at a fine of $250 unless another statute sets a different penalty, and there is no jail. Prepayable speeding fines are set per mile per hour: the Fairfax County General District Court prepayment schedule, for example, lists $6 per mph over the limit, $7 in school and highway work zones, an extra $100 for 80 to 85 mph in a 65 zone and a separate processing fee.
For reckless driving, the Class 1 misdemeanor range in Virginia Code § 18.2-11 allows up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500, either or both. Those are ceilings, not a forecast. No single sentence fits every speed or every court.
DMV points and record time are different
Virginia DMV assigns 3 points for speeding 1 to 9 mph over, 4 points for 10 to 19 over and 6 points for 20 or more over. Reckless driving is also a 6-point offense. Our DMV points guide explains how points add up.
Points stay active for 2 years from the offense date. The conviction stays visible on your DMV record longer: 5 years for speeding and 11 years for reckless driving.
License suspension and Intelligent Speed Assistance
For reckless driving under § 46.2-862, Virginia Code § 46.2-393 lets the court suspend driving privileges for 60 days to six months. If you are licensed in another state, that takes the form of an order not to drive in Virginia, and your home state decides separately what the conviction means there. The court may order Virginia’s Intelligent Speed Assistance program instead of a suspension, and above 100 mph it must order the program unless it suspends the license. Our Virginia ISA guide explains how the device and the restricted license work.
Insurance, background checks and sealing
Insurers set their own rates, but a reckless driving conviction is generally treated as more serious than a speeding ticket, and a 6-point conviction that stays on the record for 11 years gives them more to see.
A speeding ticket is not a criminal conviction. A reckless driving conviction is, and it can appear on criminal background checks. It isn’t sealed automatically, but it can be sealed by petition under § 19.2-392.12 if you meet the requirements, including a seven-year waiting period for misdemeanors. Virginia State Police list reckless driving among the offenses commonly eligible for petition sealing, and our page on record sealing in Virginia explains the process.
Employment, professional licensing, immigration, military and security clearance questions depend on your situation. Tell us which of those matter before you agree to any outcome.
What Should You Do if You’re Charged with Reckless Driving?
Begin with the charge and the evidence, then decide on preparation. Here is how we approach it:
- Keep the summons and confirm the court date. Don’t ignore the case or assume online payment is available.
- Preserve what you have: photographs, dashcam or phone video, messages and the names of anyone who was in the car. Don’t edit or delete anything.
- Find out how your speed was measured. We review radar and lidar evidence, including tuning-fork and device records, the timing and identification of any calibration or testing, whether the Commonwealth has an admissible certificate or true copy, and whether the officer can establish accuracy through independent testing or other admissible evidence. A missing or defective calibration sheet does not automatically end the case. In some MWAA lidar cases, for example, the Commonwealth may offer testimony that the device was independently tested at an MWAA station before the shift even if no separate calibration sheet is offered. Virginia Code § 46.2-882 governs how some speed measurements are proved, and our guide to fighting a reckless driving charge covers radar, lidar and pacing in more detail.
- Understand what a speedometer calibration can and can’t do. It tests your car’s speedometer, not the officer’s device. A report showing your speedometer read low can help explain why you didn’t realize your speed, but it doesn’t change the speed the officer measured. Our speedometer calibration guide explains when one is worth getting.
- Separate defenses from mitigation. An evidence problem may support dismissal or a lesser finding. Your driving record, a driver improvement course, documented circumstances or other preparation may help with the outcome. None of them guarantees a reduction.
- Know the possible outcomes. Depending on the proof and the facts, a case may end in dismissal, an amendment to ordinary speeding, a finding of improper driving under § 46.2-869 (a traffic infraction with a maximum $500 fine) or a reckless driving conviction. No result can be promised in advance.
Calibration and testing evidence can change a case. We have obtained dismissals when the documented calibration or testing occurred after the offense, when it fell outside Virginia’s six-month validity period, or when the Commonwealth could not establish accuracy through independent testing or another admissible method. These outcomes turned on the evidence in those cases and do not guarantee or predict the result of another case.
The court on your summons changes the process
Virginia’s reckless driving law is statewide, but who you deal with depends on the court. In Fairfax County General District Court, a prosecutor handles reckless cases when the driver has a lawyer, and we meet with the prosecutor and the officer while court is in session. An alleged speed of 90 mph or more raises the stakes there and calls for more preparation. Appearance can be waived in most of those cases, depending on whether the speed was 90 mph or higher and on the driving record, and the court requires your written authorization.
In Arlington, cases below 100 mph are usually heard without a prosecutor: the officer, the defense attorney and the judge. We can speak with the officer before the docket is called, but officers can’t make plea offers, so any proposed resolution goes to the judge. At 100 mph or higher, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office gets involved.
For local details, see our pages on reckless driving in Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County, Arlington, Alexandria and Stafford.
If your summons says speeding
If you only have a speeding ticket, you can usually prepay it, but prepaying is a guilty plea and the points follow. Contesting it can make sense when points matter for your license, your insurance or a commercial license, or when the speed was high enough to carry 4 or 6 points. In Fairfax, an officer will sometimes recommend amending a speeding ticket to a county ordinance. That is a recommendation the judge can accept or reject, not a plea agreement, and we explain how any proposed amendment would affect your driving record before you agree to it. For Fairfax tickets, our traffic ticket page explains the local process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 86 in a 70 reckless driving in Virginia?
It meets the § 46.2-862 threshold because 86 is faster than 85. Whether you were charged with reckless driving or speeding depends on what the officer wrote, so check your summons.
Can I prepay a reckless driving ticket in Virginia?
No. Virginia’s courts exclude reckless driving from prepayment, so the case has to be resolved in court. In many cases a lawyer can appear for you, but don’t skip the date until your lawyer confirms the court has excused you.
Is reckless driving a felony in Virginia?
Usually not. Reckless driving is ordinarily a Class 1 misdemeanor. Under § 46.2-868(B), it becomes a Class 6 felony only when someone driving without a valid license, because of a suspension or revocation for a moving violation, drives recklessly and causes another person’s death as the sole and proximate result.
Can reckless driving be reduced to speeding or improper driving?
Sometimes, but not automatically. It depends on the evidence, the speed or conduct, your record and the court. Section 46.2-869 allows an improper driving finding when the degree of culpability is slight, and improper driving is a traffic infraction with 3 DMV points. Our page on how to help your lawyer get a reckless driving charge reduced explains what you can do before court.
Can a lawyer appear for me on a reckless driving charge?
Often, yes. In Fairfax County and Arlington, appearance can be waived in many reckless cases, depending on the speed and your driving record, and the court needs your written authorization. Some cases are better handled with you present, including higher-speed cases and some younger drivers. Don’t miss court until your lawyer confirms the court has excused you.
Will a reckless driving conviction stay on my record forever?
Not necessarily. DMV keeps a reckless driving conviction on your driving record for 11 years, and the points stay active for 2. The criminal record is separate: it isn’t sealed automatically, but an eligible conviction can be sealed by petition after a seven-year waiting period if you meet the other requirements.
Talk with NOVADefenders about the charge
If your summons lists reckless driving or § 46.2-862, we can review the charge, the court, your driving record, the speed evidence and what each possible outcome would mean for your license. Call 703.273.6431 or contact NOVADefenders for a free consultation before your court date.
Reviewed by attorney Benjamin Schaefer | Updated October 4, 2026