If your driver’s license is not from Virginia, and you received a summons for a traffic ticket in Virginia, you may be wondering if a traffic conviction in Virginia will go on your home state’s driving record. The answer depends on your particular home state and the particular offense you were convicted of. For example, your home state may not care what happens in Virginia. Virginia will gladly report traffic violations to your home state. What your home state does with that notice will be a matter of its procedures. In deciding whether you should fight lower level speeding tickets, you should check with a traffic attorney in your home state who has knowledge of your DMV’s procedures.
New York for example is very lenient with its own drivers and how they drive out-of-state. While I am not an attorney licensed in New York, the New York DMV states:
The New York State DMV does not record out-of-state convictions of moving traffic violations of New York State non-commercial licensed drivers, except for traffic offenses committed in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada.
The locality of Washington DC on the other hand was treating convictions in Virginia very harshly. For example, last year, a hard working man who had a clean driving record for 22 years was convicted of Reckless Driving in Virginia, when he was going 81 mph in a 70 mph zone in Emporia, and the DC DMV suspended his license for 6 months! This was a harsher penalty than what he would have received if he was licensed to drive in Virginia. There was a lot of public outcry and hopefully by now the DC DMV has gotten its act together.
Regardless of whether your home state’s DMV cares about lower level tickets, if you received a traffic charge that is a criminal misdemeanor charge, such as a Virginia Reckless Driving charge or a Driving on a Suspended License charge, it is important to fight the charge because it could result in a Criminal Misdemeanor conviction. This means that even if you have a New York driver’s license and you are charged and convicted of Reckless Driving in Virginia, you would still have a Criminal Misdemeanor conviction in Virginia. This may impact your employment opportunities or give you issues with obtaining or maintaining a security clearance.
What if you are licensed to drive in Virginia and you received a traffic ticket in another state? Virginia is one of the toughest states in regard to traffic enforcement and its penalties. If you have a Virginia driver’s license, the Virginia DMV will gladly record an out-of-state conviction for a Virginia license holder if it receives notice of a conviction from another state. Virginia will assess points to your record based on its point system, not on the point system of the other state.
Please call 757-932-0464 if you need a free consultation regarding your Virginia traffic case.