The VLW Blog

The outcome of a fatal Fairfax County crash highlights the difficulty of getting a reckless driving conviction based on texting at the wheel. A 2009 law that makes texting while driving a minor traffic infraction actually weakens the case for a reckless driving charge, prosecutor Ray Morrogh tells The Washington Post. Lawmakers promise to seek [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell suggests a smaller slice of local fines and fees going to the state budget than a General Assembly proposal, but he also wants a comprehensive study of the traffic enforcement issue that has pitted local officials against state bureaucrats and legislators. At the heart of the dispute is local traffic court money, [...]

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Responding to a scathing report from AAA Mid-Atlantic about Hopewell’s ticket-writing program, city leaders touted the safety benefits of the sheriff’s traffic unit at a Thursday city council meeting. Protecting lives, arresting felons and intercepting drug traffic are all advantages gained from the traffic program, according to Mayor Christina Luman-Bailey. “How could anyone who supports [...]

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Local governments are fighting back against a Senate plan for the state to take a cut of local traffic fines. It’s an issue with immediate implications for communities that depend heavily on money from traffic tickets. Other localities say it could start a worrisome trend. The Senate Finance committee approved a measure that would capture [...]

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Two measures designed to curb the cash flow from enforcement of local laws aimed at errant drivers have run out of gas at the General Assembly. Senate Bill 500, sponsored by Sen. John Watkins, R-Midlothian, would have prohibited the use of local traffic laws on Interstate highways. The bill appeared to target operations of the [...]

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A bill to broaden Virginia’s "move-over" law has advanced in the House of Delegates. The current law requires drivers to move to the left when approaching a stopped police, fire or rescue vehicle with flashing lights. (Slowing down generally is not enough , despite what some highway signs say.) A bill to expand the move-over [...]

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The Virginia Court of Appeals says today that improper driving is not a lesser included offense of reckless driving by speed. The defendant, accused of driving more than 80 miles per hour, presented a jury instruction based on Virginia Code Sec. 46.2-869, which allows a conviction for improper driving rather than reckless driving “where the [...]

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A traffic judge was lenient in the jaywalking case of a man who tried to help geese cross the Fairfax County Parkway. According to The Washington Post, Jozsef Vamosi pulled his car to the side of the busy road during morning rush hour, and stepped out into the road to steer the geese to safety. [...]

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A driver’s answer to an officer’s “incidental” question in a convenience store parking lot can’t come into evidence, a Roanoke City Circuit Court says. In Commonwealth v. Fuller, a uniformed, shield-wielding officer pulled his patrol car up beside Lloyd Jasper Fuller and saw he was not wearing a seat belt. “Fuller’s face registered considerable surprise, [...]

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As we noted on this blog in a post last month, the 2007 General Assembly set up a system to whack bad drivers with new hefty fines in the transportation bill. Most of the new-statute stories in the general press before the July 1 effective date have focused on the new fees. See, for example, [...]

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