Reckless Driving in Virginia: Penalties, Points and Insurance

Virginia treats reckless driving as a crime, not a ticket, and it doesn't take much: 20 mph over the limit, or anything over 85 mph, is enough.

What counts as reckless driving

Virginia's general rule (Va. Code § 46.2-852) covers driving "recklessly or at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person." Speed alone is enough under § 46.2-862: you're guilty of reckless driving if you drive

• 20 mph or more over the posted speed limit, or
• faster than 85 mph, whatever the limit.

So 86 mph in a 70 zone is reckless driving in Virginia, even though it's only 16 over.

Virginia also lists a series of specific acts that count as reckless driving no matter how fast you were going (§§ 46.2-853 to 46.2-864), including driving a vehicle that isn't under control or has faulty brakes, passing on a curve or the crest of a hill, passing two vehicles side by side, passing at a railroad crossing or intersection, passing a stopped school bus, failing to signal, driving too fast for conditions, failing to yield when entering a highway, and driving recklessly in parking lots or church, school or business driveways.

Criminal penalties

Reckless driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor (§ 46.2-868): up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500, or both (§ 18.2-11). If you were holding a phone in violation of Virginia's handheld law at the time, there's a $250 mandatory minimum fine. It becomes a Class 6 felony if you were driving on a license suspended or revoked for a moving violation and your reckless driving caused someone's death. On top of that, the court may suspend your license for 10 days to 6 months (§ 46.2-392), and it can grant a restricted permit for that period, though not for commercial vehicles.

Racing is punished more heavily

Racing (§ 46.2-865) is reckless driving with a mandatory license suspension of 6 months to 2 years; the court can order an Intelligent Speed Assistance program for the same period instead. Racing that causes serious injury is a Class 6 felony, and racing that causes a death carries 1 to 20 years, with a mandatory suspension of 1 to 3 years (§ 46.2-865.1). Aggressive driving (§ 46.2-868.1) is a separate offense: a Class 2 misdemeanor, or Class 1 if you meant to injure someone.

Points and your driving record

The Virginia DMV assigns 6 demerit points for reckless driving convictions, including speeding over 85 mph, 20+ over the limit, racing, passing a school bus and driving too fast for conditions. One exception: reckless driving for failing to stop before entering a highway is a 4-point violation. The points count for two years from the offense, but the conviction stays on your DMV record for 11 years. For comparison, a plain speeding ticket for 20+ over that isn't charged as reckless stays for five. You can offset points with safe driving points: one for each clean year, up to five, awarded each April, or five at once by completing a driver improvement clinic (unless a court ordered the clinic).

Young drivers face extra steps. Any demerit-point conviction for an offense committed at 18 or 19 requires a driver improvement clinic. Under 18, a first conviction means a clinic within 90 days, a second a 90-day suspension, and a third a revocation for one year or until age 18, whichever is longer. Adults who pile up points get an advisory letter at 8 points in 12 months, a required clinic at 12, and a 90-day suspension followed by probation at 18.

Reduced to improper driving

The outcome people in Virginia most often negotiate for is a reduction to improper driving (§ 46.2-869). A court can find it when the driver's culpability is slight, and the prosecutor can agree to it at any time before the decision. The difference is large:

For an insurer, that's the difference between a major violation visible for over a decade and a minor one that drops off after three years.

If you're not from Virginia

Out-of-state drivers get reckless tickets on Virginia interstates all the time, and the conviction follows them home. Under the Driver License Compact (§ 46.2-483), Virginia reports every conviction to your home state. For a misdemeanor like reckless driving, your home state then applies its own rules, which may add points or other consequences there. A Virginia court's license suspension applies to your privilege to drive in Virginia.

Sealing the record

Since July 1, 2026, Virginia lets people petition to seal many misdemeanor convictions, including reckless driving, after seven years (§ 19.2-392.12). The statute doesn't say that sealing removes the conviction from your DMV driving record, so assume insurers can still see it there for the full 11 years.

What it does to your insurance rates

Average annual full-coverage premiums (100/300/100 liability, $500 deductibles) from Insurance.com's Virginia high-risk analysis, updated August 2026. Percentages are our calculation from those figures; the median increase across these insurers is 52%. *USAA is only available to military members, veterans and their families.

The spread is the story: the increase ranges from +8% (State Farm) to +117% (GEICO) for the same driver. After a reckless driving conviction, comparing quotes is worth more than almost anything else you can do.

In Insurance.com's Virginia data, 6 of the 8 insurers above charge exactly the same premium after reckless driving as after a DUI, which suggests they treat both as the same class of major violation. See what a DUI costs, compared across publishers.

Two Virginia rules limit how long and how hard this hits. Under § 38.2-1904(D), insurers can't surcharge your rate above their filed manual rates because of a conviction for more than 36 months, even though the conviction stays on your record for 11 years. And once a policy has been in force for 60 days, § 38.2-2212(D) lets the insurer cancel it mid-term only for a few reasons, among them a license suspension or revocation during the policy period. A reckless driving conviction on its own isn't one of them; a court-ordered suspension is. You get 45 days' notice and can ask the Commissioner of Insurance to review the cancellation.

Related: FR-44 and SR-22 in Virginia · Car insurance after a DUI in Virginia

More Virginia guides

• Car insurance after a DUI in Virginia
• FR-44 and SR-22 requirements in Virginia
• DUI under 21 in Virginia
• Driving without insurance in Virginia
• Driving with a suspended license in Virginia
• Car insurance for teen drivers in Virginia
• Car insurance for senior drivers in Virginia