Arlington County Reckless Driving

Though Arlington County is but a 15 to 20 minute drive from Fairfax County, the courts are completely different. Each general district court throughout Virginia has its own way of handling cases, so things like court dates, continuance requests, and more can differ a great deal depending on where your case is heard. We hope that the information below will help you, and if you have questions you can always call us for a free initial case evaluation to explore your options further.

If you’re here to find information about where Arlington General District Court is located or other court-related details, click here or scroll down.

Arlington County may allow you to negotiate without an attorney. In Arlington County, reckless driving cases are assigned a prosecutor who may be willing to negotiate your charge directly with you. In this case, you are a pro se defendant, which means that you’re advocating on your own behalf. Typically you will need to contact the officer who issued the charge because the prosecutor will want to speak with both of you. However, since you are likely less experienced than a traffic defense attorney, it’s always suggested that you have an attorney represent you for a serious criminal traffic charge like reckless driving. A good attorney will have years of experience under his or her belt in reviewing evidence and arguing on your behalf.

Driver improvement may be an option in Arlington County. This jurisdiction has its own Driving Behavior Management Program, led by Art Von Herbulis. that meets for two hours, one night per week for three weeks. An Arlington prosecutor or judge may offer this to you with a reduction in charge, and it is intended to mitigate aggressive driving and at-risk driving in the future. However, this is not a DMV-arranged Driver Improvement Clinic, so you will not receive five (5) safe driving points on your driving record.

A restricted driver’s license may be granted – but it’s not guaranteed. As with other courts, Arlington County may grant you a restricted driver’s license if you apply to the court and appear before a judge. They are difficult to obtain and it may be helpful to have an attorney help negotiate this as part of your case.

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Arlington General District Court is located west of Rosslyn and a block and a half away from the Courthouse Metro Station.

Mr. Steven Robert Spurr serves as Arlington General District Court’s clerk, and he can be reached at sspurr@courts.state.va.us or (703) 228-4591. The Commonwealth Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church is Theophani (Theo) Stamos.

Reckless driving cases are heard Monday through Friday in Courtroom 3C. Your time slot will depend on which law enforcement agency charged you; for example, Arlington County Police, Virginia State Police, Arlington Sheriff, and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police all have different days and times for their cases. Be sure to check your documents carefully before appearing in court.

If your court date is coming up soon and you have not yet hired your defense attorney or you’re still debating what to do, you should call the court to file a continuance request. Continuances are granted by a judge on motion.

If you are considering pre-paying your fine, please note that reckless driving cannot be pre-paid due to the nature of the offense.