Virginia Traffic Ticket Guide
What a Virginia traffic summons actually is, what it costs, and what paying it means
What a Virginia traffic ticket costs, which charges can be prepaid, what prepaying admits, and what happens when a fine goes unpaid.
Every page cites the Code of Virginia, links to the official text, and shows the date it was last checked. How these guides are researched.
Your Ticket
What the Virginia summons in your hand is, which charges can be settled without a court appearance, and why a ticket is not a criminal charge.
- Virginia Traffic Tickets: Your Three Options After a Summons
A Virginia traffic ticket is a summons with a court date: prepay and be convicted, appear and ask for a reduction, or contest it. Some cannot be prepaid.
- The Prepayable Offenses Information Sheet in Your Virginia Courthouse
Virginia's prepayable offenses information sheet is the Supreme Court's statewide fine schedule — and six kinds of charge can never appear on it.
- Traffic Infractions in Virginia: Not a Crime, Still a Conviction
A Virginia traffic infraction is neither a felony nor a misdemeanor (§ 46.2-100). The fine is capped at $250 unless the section names its own figure.
Fines and Payment
What a Virginia traffic fine can legally be, the fixed court costs added to it, how payment works, and what the court does about a fine that is never paid.
- How Much Are Traffic Tickets in Virginia? The Arithmetic
Most Virginia traffic tickets are capped at $250 by Va. Code § 46.2-113, plus $51 in fixed court costs. Speeding is charged per mile per hour over the limit.
- Pay a Fine Online in Virginia — and What Paying It Admits
Pay fines online in VA and you plead guilty: Va. Code § 16.1-69.40:1 gives it the same force as a judgment, and the same DMV points as a trial.
- Virginia Court Fines: Who Sets Them and What If You Cannot Pay
Virginia court fines are set by the judge within a statutory cap, with fixed costs added. An unpaid balance is a debt now — it no longer suspends a licence.
Traffic Laws and Offenses
Where Virginia's traffic laws sit in the Code, how offences are classified and enforced, and what two much-searched charge names really mean.
- Virginia's Driver Responsibility Law: What It Is and Is Not
Virginia's abusive driver fees were repealed in 2008. The driver responsibility law that still applies is the insurance rule in Va. Code § 46.2-706.
- Improper Control or Improper Driving? What Virginia Really Charges
Improper control driving in Virginia is really improper driving, Va. Code § 46.2-869 — a traffic infraction with a fine of no more than $500 and 3 DMV points.
- Virginia's Traffic Laws: Where They Live and What They Cost
Virginia's traffic laws are Title 46.2 of the Code. Where a section names no fine, § 46.2-113 caps it at $250, and $51 in court costs is added.
- Primary and Secondary Traffic Offenses in Virginia
Virginia's Code names the traffic offenses an officer may not stop you for — seat belts, tint, teen licence rules. Everything else is a primary offense.