Virginia Aggressive Driving Course

Virginia RADEP is an aggressive driving course. Many people are confused about this. Is there a 4 hour aggressive driving course or is there a 12 hour school? The following blog post will answer common questions people have regarding what the Virginia aggressive driving course is and where to take it. Also, should you take the aggressive driving school and if so, WHEN should you take driving school? I will answer all of these questions in depth. As an experienced Virginia reckless driving lawyer, Leavitt & Martincan advise about these important issues.

Virginia offers a 12 hour RADAP driving school. The 12 hour driving school in Virginia is frequently referred to as "RADEP." RADEP stands for Reckless/Aggressive Driver Education Program. The entire course is 12 hours. However, it is a bit misleading. The Virginia aggressive driving course is really only 4 hours. The remaining 8 hours are the standard Virginia driver improvement course.

So if a judge orders RADEP, or aggressive driving, they are usually requiring BOTH the standard 8 hour driver improvement course PLUS the 4 hour aggressive driving course. Every RADEP provider will provide access to complete both courses.

When deciding on an aggressive driving course, it there are important considerations. You need to first of all make sure that you can enroll in and finish the driving school in a timely manner to comply with any court orders.

There are generally two options, and in some courts there is a third option. The first two Virginia aggressive driving courses are in person. The third option is not a Virginia driving school, but it is online and some judges accept this for out of state drivers. So you really have to know your courts.

There are many places that offer the 12 hour Virginia aggressive driving RADEP course. The Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program, or "VASAP" for short, offers the Virginia reckless/aggressive driver education program. You can go to their website here and search for a location. Then you need to verify they offer the course and find out when the course is.

The problem with the VASAP reckless and aggressive driving course is timing. VASAP courses tend to fill up quickly, and they just don't provide the level of on demand service that private driving school companies do. VASAP is a government funded organization, and as such they are often slower than private companies.

Many lawyers, and some judges, do not know that private companies also offer the Virginia aggressive driving course. Again, the aggressive driving school in VA consists of a 4 hour aggressive driving course PLUS an 8 hour regular driver improvement course.

When a judge orders "aggressive driving" they are ordering the 12 hour course. Many private companies offer this Virginia aggressive driving course. Here are some good options for Richmond and Northern Virginia:

Richmond: ALL WISE DRIVING SCHOOL offers courses frequently and they seem to do a great job. If you are in the Richmond area, I highly recommend ALL WISE.

Northern Virginia: AA DRIVING ACADEMYhas locations all over northern Virginia and they seem to do a great job as well. If you are near northern VA and need to do the 12 hour driving school then this is your place.

You have to be careful here. Some judges do not allow online driving school. Virginia DMV does not offer a 12 hour online RADEP driving school for aggressive driving.

However, SOME judges accept courses that are online for reckless and aggressive driving courses. So you need to be VERY careful here. These driving schools that are online usually offer certificates of completion that are emailed to you. This can save a lot of time.

This right here is probably the most common question people ask and can get led astray by the internet. The internet causes the most convictions for Virginia speeding tickets and reckless driving tickets for this reason alone.

I was on REDDIT and someone posed a question about a Virginia reckless driving ticket. And people either responded by saying "you're going to jail, hire a lawyer" or "just do driving school and they will dismiss it." Both of those responses are highly troublesome.

Driving school varies from court to court. Virginia law says that judges have discretion to send someone to driving school to reduce or dismiss a speeding ticket. However, they do not have to. There are VERY important rules you need to know before you sign up for driving school.

The reason for this is that you may actually do HARM to your case. Every court is different and every judge is different with how they treat driving school:

1. some courts don't consider driving school
2. some courts won't accept online driving school
3. some courts won't let you do driving school if you have been within the last 3, 4, or 5 years
4. some courts want you to do aggressive driving school
5. some courts want you to put a specific reason code for taking the course
6. some courts will only consider driving school at certain speeds
7. some courts will only accept certain types of certificates of completion

Yes, doing driving school can negatively impact your speeding ticket or reckless driving ticket. You may be in front of a judge who requires an in person driving school and you did it online. So the judge will not accept your certificate. In addition, since you did driving school, you disqualified yourself because many judges will only allow you to complete driving school once every five years.

The most common way this can HURT your speeding ticket is if you put the wrong reason code. There are many different reason codes for taking Virginia aggressive driving school and driver improvement. However, if you put the WRONG code it can HURT your case.

I have seen many judges get aggravated when people try to "play lawyer" and go up there with a driving school certificate the judge doesn't accept. Even out of town lawyers do this. You cannot treat a case in Emporia, or Greensville or Richmond, or Sussex the same as you treat a case in northern Virginia or Virginia Beach. Yet many lawyers and "pro se" defendants present these bad certificates every week and they often get dressed down in court.

You really need to know the specific court you are in, the judge you will likely have, and prepare your case appropriately.