A man jogging along Yeonas Drive in Vienna, Virginia was hit and dragged 25 feet by the vehicle. Although he sustained a variety of injuries to his lower body, the pedestrian is expected to recover fully. He was taken to a local hospital and released. The driver of the vehicle was charged with reckless driving.

In Virginia reckless driving is a class three misdemeanor requiring a court appearance and, if convicted, resulting in a permanent criminal record. With legal aid it often doesn’t come to that. We recommend that you contact an attorney to assist you in getting a reckless driving infraction reduced to a lower charge.

While there are many attorneys in Fairfax County who can assist you, I hope you’ll consider contacting us at the Gordon law Firm. We’ve helped thousands of people get their Virginia reckless driving charges reduced and I am confident that we can assist you in doing the same.

We offer a fast, free and confidential consultation, so call me, Alex Gordon at 703-218-8416 or email us at: thegordonlawfirm@gmail.com and get help today.

If there is one thing that I have learned in all my years as an attorney, it is that bad things sometimes happen to good people. When that happens, we’re here to help you get back on track.

35 year-old Michael Sawyer is accused of running a red light at the intersection of Hampton Highway and Yorktown Road in Newport News, Virginia causing a multi-vehicle accident. Sadly, the worst victims of the accident were Sawyers’s own children.

His two year-old, who had been riding in Sawyer’s 2001 Chevy Malibu without a car seat, was thrown from the vehicle. A seven year-old riding in Sawyer’s vehicle, also not properly buckled in, was injured as well.  Both children were rushed to Riverside Hospital in Newport News.

In all, three vehicles were involved in the accident: Sawyer’s Chevy Malibu, a Chevy Sienna van and an unidentified pick-up truck:

Sawyer is now facing running a red light, reckless driving, and failure to secure a child in a child restraint. Police have indicated that alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

Clinton Tribble, Staunton Police

Staunton authorities received a tip on the location of wanted man, Clinton Tribble of Hite Road in August County. Two investigators headed to the location in question and spotted Tribble’s Chevrolet S-10 pick-up on Old Greenville Road. The officers attempted a traffic stop but Tribble fled, kicking off a four-mile chase.

In the course of the pursuit, according to the officers, Tribble repeatedly slammed on his breaks in an effort to crash the police vehicle. Tribble subsequently lost control of his truck and ran in to a ditch off of Stingy Hollow Road.

With the truck stalled, officers approached the truck with weapons drawn. Tribble ignored police orders to get out of the truck, keeping his head down and attempting to re-start the engine. Tribble succeeded in getting the truck started and took off heading directly at the officers, forcing one to dive out of the way to avoid being struck.

As the truck sped away, one of the officers managed to shoot out the left rear tire as well as hit the truck’s engine and gas tank but Tribble managed to drive another two miles before pulling over and surrendering.

Tribble was wanted on multiple warrants for obtaining money by false presences related to stealing checks and selling tools stolen from family members to a local pawnbroker as well as thee charges of grand larceny in connection with the same case.

To that list he can now add eluding, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license and a n attempted capital murder charge. Police suspect that Tribble was under the influence of the street drug “bath salts” at the time of the pursuit.

A stimulant with euphoric effects – and paranoia inducing side effects – the drug known as “bath salts” is generally some derivative of  methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).

Recently made illegal in Virginia, various formulations of the drug is can be found in gas stations and convenience stores across the country under names like under names like Ivory Wave, White Dove and Cloud Nine  and “not for human consumption,” skirting state and Federal controlled substance laws. Police report that their encounters with suspects believed to be high on MDPV are marked by violence and erratic behavior.

That certainly appears to have been the case with Clinton Tribble, who clearly needs more help than his likely stint behind bars is going to provide.

A video shot back in 2009 that has recently been making the rounds on YourTube has authorities in Arizona upset.  The video depicts a $2 million Buggatti Veyron luxury car being driven at high speeds out on the open road near the Mexican border.  How fast?  The author of the YouTube clip claims that the Veyron made seven runs topping 200 miles per hour.

Now the Veyron unquestionably is made for this kind of high speed driving but Arizona police are insisting that their highways aren’t.

Bart Graves, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman told Reuters, ”We have these clowns do this from time to time… They don’t care about what could happen. They just want to toot their own horn… If he’s rich enough to own a car like this, he’s rich enough to rent a racetrack in Tucson or Phoenix… The fact is, this is a criminal act.”

While they can complain, it is not clear what other recourse Arizona authorities have in the matter. Since the taped incident took place in 2009, it is likely that the statute of limitations has run its course (in Virginia the time limit on misdemeanors like reckless driving is 1 year). The authors of the video also claims that the footage was shot in Mexico, rather than stateside making the jurisdiction of Arizon law enforcement questionable.

While it appears that no one was hurt in this particular incident (the author of the video claims “No birds, reptiles or mammals were harmed”) it is common sense that excessive speed is extremely dangerous and driving like this on roads in Virginia would put yourself and others at risk. We see plenty of young people posting pictures of speedometers pegged well over 8 miles per hour on places like Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.

This is a bad, bad idea.

These photos can be connected to you user name or email. This information can be compelled by law enforcement and connected with your other personal details. When that happens those “bragging rights” photos that you have shared online can come back to haunt you as evidence that will be used against you if you are ever caught for speeding.

Reckless driving in Virginia is serious and severe.

Being clocked at 20 miles over the limit means a trip to court and, if convicted of a reckless driving charge, a permanent criminal record. The Gordon Law Firm has helped thousands in Virginia fight to have reckless driving charges reduced and it doesn’t help matters if your online profile is full of pictures of you exceeding the speed limit.

According to the National Motorists Association, there are speed traps all over the United States. We have compiled a list of some speed traps in Fairfax County.

Along the Dulles Toll Road, you can find many county and airport police officers. They tend to hide behind the jersey barriers along the access highway and at the main toll plaza. Many of our clients that hired us for a Reckless Driving charge received it while driving on the Dulles Toll Road.
Just before Burke Lake Road on Fairfax County Parkway, police sit there and pull over motorists by flagging them down. This area is dangerous because of the speed (50mph) and the quickness of having to pull over when flagged. Please be cautious.
Main Street and Maple Avenue often have police monitoring that area right before Woodson High School.
The parking lot entrances between Humphries Drive and Braddock Road often have police officers parked there going in the east bound direction.
Exit 66 and 123 Southbound has a hill that drops down to 30mph. Many officers have pulled motorists over while going down the hill.

As a criminal defense law firm, we have had many cases of motorists being charged with Reckless Driving and other traffic offenses. Please give us a call to find out more information if you have found yourself being charged with a traffic offense.

A review of nine studies published in a British medical journal has focused attention on the relationship between marijuana use and traffic accidents has suggested that use of the drug greatly increases the risk of a potential accident. A few interesting observations from the study:

• Among impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers, and motor vehicle crash victims, marijuana is the most prevalent illegal drug that has been detected, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
• Alcohol impairs drivers’ speed and reaction time, while cannabis affects spatial location and drivers who have recently smoked marijuana may follow cars too closely, and swerve in and out of lanes.
• People who are under the influence of alcohol often recognize that they’re impaired by alcohol, but those under the influence of cannabis routinely deny being impaired in any way.

The study results, while interesting are limited in that it is based on observational data rather than controlled experimentation. With existing research there is also a lack of measurement of cannabis in the body within the first few hours of those involved in automobile crashed.

The scientists involved have called for additional research to validate the conclusions drawn from the currently available data.

A bill that would make texting or email while driving a primary offense has passed the Virginia Senate and seems on the fast track to full passage by the Virginia legislature. Currently texting is a secondary offense in Virginia – something you can only be ticketed for when pulled over for some other infraction.

The Senate bill, SB 219 concerning “Handheld personal communications devices” sponsored by Senator George Barker, a Democrat from Fairfax County, would authorize police to pull over drivers who appear to be distracted by their cell phones. If passed into law, the bill would make the follow acts a primary offense:

• Manually enter multiple letters or text in the device as a means of communicating with another person
• Read any email or text message transmitted to the device or stored within the device, provided that this prohibition shall not apply to any name or number stored in the device nor to any caller identification information.

Some argue that the wording of the bill puts police officers in the difficult circumstance of having to quickly analyze what a driver is doing with their device when making the decision to hit the blue lights.

Others have suggested that, if passed, the new law might inadvertently pre-empt more serious charges such as reckless driving, lessening existing penalties for drivers whose attention has wandered away from the road.

The other major issue with anti-texting legislation is that there are myriad things that can distract drivers when behind the wheel, wether it be a tasty snack, fighting children or even a particularly vivid daydream.

Singling out certain ways that we use mobile devices as a banned behavior should require a high standard for targeting that one activity amongst many others that might undermine safe driving. That said, there are studies of the effects of smart phone usage on driver behavior that should give us pause.

You might be surprised to discover that in addition to the $6/mile fine for each mile over the posted limit you’ll pay for a Virginia speeding ticket you’ll also face a hefty administrative fee that can make an expensive ticket even more painful. Those fees can stack up to more than $60. In this day and age of instant electronic transactions, one has to wonder where money goes. That’s exactly what Roanoake Times columnist, Dan Casey decided to figure out.

Puzzling it out meant a call to the Virginia Supreme Court. Casey asked exactly what went into those “processing fees” that add up to more than someone making minimum wage earns in a day. Turns out the “process” isn’t much more than opening the payment envelope and depositing the check. Why so expensive? According to Paul DeLosh, the Virginia Supreme Court’s director of judicial services the fees are mandated by the Virginia legal code.

Now you’re getting the picture. About 16 years ago the Virginia General Assembly established the processing fee, which has increased in cost over the years and had additional fees added as time went on.  According to Casey, here’s how the current $66 fee breaks down by the actual parts of the ticket paying process:

Of the total, $39 is for the clerk to open the envelope and so on. But speeders or other drivers nabbed by police are also getting nicked:

• $3 for the Virginia Crime Victim-Witness Fund;
• $1 for the Regional Criminal Justice Training Academies Fund;
• $2 for the Courthouse Construction/Maintenance Fund;
• $4 for the Intensified Drug Enforcement Jurisdiction Fund;
• $2 for the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Victim Fund.

That’s $51 so far but the fees aren’t over.  According to Casey there is a separate state law that allows for a “local option” fee, which for folks in Roanoke County adds another $15 for a grand total of $66 in “processing fees” on traffic tickets. By contrast in Fairfax County we get off a little easier with a processing fee of only $62 for traffic violations.

I highly encourage you to check out Mr. Casey’s full column at Roanoke.com as this post has barely hit the highlights of his adventure in Virginia’s state bureaucracy.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that if you find yourself on the wrong side of speeding ticket or reckless driving charge, we can help.  In particular, reckless driving is a serious charge in Virginia requiring a court appearance. We’ve helped thousands of people in Northern Virginia get these charges reduced and I know that we can help you too.

We offer a FREE CONSULTATION, so contact me, Alex Gordon at 703-218-8416or  via email at: thegordonlawfirm@gmail.com.

Via the wonderful Letters of Note:

When Auckland resident Justin Lee received this speeding ticket back in 2004, he noticed a typo: according to said notice, the infringement in question had taken place 30 years beforehand, in 1974. To elaborate any further would ruin the story, so I’ll just let you read the highly enjoyable letter written by Lee in response.

We’ll do likewise.  Click through to Letters of Note for one of the more entertaining things you are likely to read this week.

Basil Knick of Mineral, Virginia was assisting a tractor trailer that was backing out of a parking lot in Reston onto Fox Mill Road when he was struck by a vehicle being driven by Darryl Barnes of Sterling, Virginia.

Barnes, who reportedly did not see Knick in the road, was charged with failing to pay full time and attention.  Other factor such as alcohol or excessive speed do not appear to have contributed to the accident, although an investigation of the crash is still in progress.

The 69 year-old Knick was flow to a hospital after the accident but was later pronounced dead. Barnes was not inured in the collision and remained in Reston at the scene of the accident .

This tragedy is a chilling reminder of how drastically a person’s life can change in an instant.  We should remember that for most of us driving a car is the most dangerous thing we’ll do on any given day. Dropping your guard, as a driver or pedestrian, is one of the fastest paths to disaster.

So be careful out there.