The Town of Vienna General District Court hears traffic charges on most Mondays and cases will be decided by a Fairfax County General District Court Judge. The Vienna Town Attorney handles the prosecution of these cases. If you receive a summons from the police for a ticket in the Town of Vienna, your case will be heard at the Vienna Town Hall, 127 Center St, Vienna, VA 22180. Some traffic tickets are relatively minor while others can have a much larger impact on your record. We recommend contacting our traffic attorney for a free consultation and we can advise the best way forward. Sometimes we will recommend to simply prepay the ticket and, in other cases, recommend that we contest the ticket depending on the case. In many cases we can appear for Town of Vienna Court on your behalf and handle the traffic case without you needing to appear.
Whether to Hire a Vienna Traffic Lawyer or Prepay the Ticket
Many traffic tickets in Vienna can be prepaid which means you waive your right to a hearing and plead guilty. It should be noted that any moving violation you plead guilty to will appear on your driving record as will the corresponding DMV points. In some cases we will nevertheless recommend prepaying a ticket if you are charged with a no-point violation such as Failure to Pay Full Time and Attention under Vienna Town Code 9-7. However, prepayment may not be appropriate in accident cases since insurance liability may be at issue and a traffic attorney should first be consulted. In other cases the police officer may have written you for a reduced charge at the scene so you are already in good shape. The fine schedule can be found on the Fairfax County Website which provides the total owed for the fine and court costs.
In traffic cases involving a moving violation, such as speeding or stop sign violations, we may be able get the charge lowered to avoid DMV points and insurance rate increases by agreement with the Vienna Town Attorney or through the Judge. Results will depend on your driving record, facts of the case, and any mitigation prepared for court. In any case we have, we always have our clients as prepared as possible for their court case to aid us in obtaining a good result.
Traffic Tickets in the Town of Vienna and DMV Points
The Town of Vienna Court does not control DMV points. Rather, it is the Virginia DMV that issues demerit points depending on the severity of the offense. Upon a conviction for a moving violation, the court sends an abstract of the conviction to the Virginia DMV and the DMV posts the conviction on the driving record. The demerit points are then assigned accordingly.
The way we get around DMV demerit points is through negotiation with the Vienna Town Attorney or by argument to the Judge for a reduction of the charge to something else. This works because it is not the initial charge that DMV sees but whatever the resulting charge is (i.e. what the Judge ultimately finds you guilty of). We have handled thousands of traffic cases and are very keen on what the best outcome for a case is in the Town of Vienna.
3-point violations:
- Speeding 1-9 mph above the posted speed limit (5 years on driving record)
- Impeding Traffic/Driving Too Slow (3 years)
- Improper passing on the right (3 years)
- Improper turn (3 years)
- Improper Lane Change (3 years)
- Improper U-turn (3 years)
- Improper Driving (3 years)
- Violation of right turn on red (3 years)
- Violation of left turn on red (3 years)
- Driving without lights/excessive lights (3 years)
- Fail to Obey Highway Sign (3 years)
- Stopping on a Highway (3 years)
- Evading Traffic Control Device (3 years)
- Driving Without a License (3 years)
- Hit and Run (3 years) (Damage to Unattended Property)
- Holding a Cellphone While Driving (3 years)
- Watching Television While Driving (3 years)
4-point violations:
- Speeding 10-19 mph above the posted speed limit (5 years)
- Failure to yield right-of-way (3 years)
- Following too closely (3 years)
- Improper signal (3 years)
- Disregard Crossing Guard (3 years)
- Passing stopped school bus (non-reckless)(3 years)
- Failure to obey traffic signal (3 years)
- Hit and Run (3 years or 11 years) (Damage to Unattended Property less than or more than $500)
6-point violations:
- Speeding 20 mph or more above the posted speed limit (5 years)
- Reckless Driving (11 years)
- Driving While License Suspended (11 years)
- DUI/DWI (11 years)
- Eluding (3 years or 11 years)
- Hit and Run (11 years) (Injury to Person or Damage to Property $1,000 or more)
Town of Vienna Court Process
When you receive a summons for a traffic ticket in the Town of Vienna, your court date will be set by the police officer for approximately two months later. All Town of Vienna police officers have set court dates at typically once a month. When your court date arrives, it is recommended that you appear at least 15 minutes before the docket starts so you can be seated. You are permitted to bring your cellphone into the Vienna Courthouse but it is best to keep it on silent. If your cellphone goes off or you're seen using it during court the bailiff will likely confiscate it until the end of the docket.
When the Judge calls your name they will ask if you plead guilty, no contest or not guilty. If you plead guilty or no contest, the Judge will hear your case right away and will likely hand down a fine. It should be noted that if your traffic ticket is a misdemeanor charge you could face jail time and a loss license to drive in addition to a fine. If you plead not guilty then you are asking for a trial and your case will be "passed over" and heard towards the end of the docket with the other contested cases.
If you have a lawyer for your case, then your court experience will be different. The Judge will not call your name during the docket because your lawyer will be with the Town Attorney going over the case. The case will then either be resolved by plea agreement or will go to trial at the end of the docket. In many of our traffic cases, our clients are not even present for court and we simply call them to let them know how things are going.
If the Judge finds you guilty of anything, you may be required to pay a fine and court costs. The clerk window is just outside of the courtroom where payments can be made or a payment program arranged. In all cases you have at least 30 days to pay the fine and court costs so payment can be made later. However, it is still recommended you see the clerk before leaving so you can obtain information on how to make payment either online, by mail, or by phone. For our clients we provide this information by email to them.
We Offer a Free Initial Consultation to Discuss your Traffic Ticket for the Town of Vienna
The Letnick Law Firm, PLC has handled thousands of traffic cases and we routinely appear in the Town of Vienna Courthouse. We know your case is important to you and it is important to us. We have over 150 reviews from prior clients because we care about our clients objectives. We pride ourselves in what we believe to be our important duties in a case - good communication, good results.