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.
3 guides
A Virginia traffic ticket is a summons, not a bill. Under Va. Code § 46.2-936 an officer who could have arrested you released you instead on your written promise to appear, and the date printed on it is a court date until the court tells you otherwise.
These pages cover the three things that promise turns on: what kind of offence you have been charged with, whether the Supreme Court's prepayable schedule lets you dispose of it by post or online under Va. Code § 16.1-69.40:1, and what the court does if you neither pay nor appear. Every figure below is quoted from the Code of Virginia, which is the version to check before relying on anything written here.
All guides
- 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.