Ticket for improper brake lights in Virginia?

I was pulled over for speeding on I-495 in Virginia. The arresting officer told me I would've been charged with reckless driving, but he gave me a warning instead and gave me a ticket for a broken brake light (law section 46.2-1014). I was relieved that I didn't get charged for speeding but worried about fixing the brake light all day. When I got home, I tested all the lights on the back of my car and everything looks perfect. Is it possible he gave me a ticket to add to his quota without having to screw me over with a reckless driving charge? And how am I supposed to prove I fixed something that wasn't broken in the first place? Is a receipt for a new bulb good enough to get the fines dismissed? Do I need to take my car to the shop and have them change out a bulb that isn't broken? Or should I just pay the $92 fine and be done with it?Ticket for improper brake lights in Virginia?If the break lights are fine, what is there to fix?



I would go to the station and ask for a court session. You state your reason being that your break lights were not broken. If the cop knows better, he will not show up. If he doesn't show up, the ticket is erased and you don't have to pay for it. But if he does, you explain yourself to the judge and let him decided.



There's no need to get a lawyer. It's just a little session where you and the cop tell your sides of the story and perhaps come to an agreement if he is kind enough.



The cop cannot mention your speeding either. Then he would be the irresponsible one for not 'handing you the ticket'. The fact that he didn't give you one serves 'you weren't speeding'.Ticket for improper brake lights in Virginia?It sounds like the officer was being nice and not charging you with reckless driving. Officers will sometimes write tickets for something light break lights or expired inspection and not charge for moving violations because moving violations carry points and that gives your insurance agency an excuse to raise your rates.

As for the %26quot;quota%26quot;; ticket quotas are not premitted and I have never heard of any department in VA that even has any type of informal quota. Besides if the officer had a quota why would he have not written you for reckless? reckeless is a much better charge with a higher fine.

Lastly as you are saying your break lights are fine make sure that both your parking lights and your brake lights are working including your third break light; this includes all the bulbs lighting up.

If all your break lights are working properly than you should plead not guilty and take a picture of all your working lights for the judge. However if the officer is going to testify that your lights were not working at the time of the stop you will most likley be found guilty.

Lastly the only other thing I can think of is the officer wrote you a ticket for %26quot;brake lights%26quot; instead of reckless thinking he was giving you a break even though there was nothing wrong with your break lights. In fact IF this was the case he was giving you a break in the fact that defective equipment charges do not give you points and its a lower fine; but what he did was not technically in line with the law and he should have written you for reckless or let you go.

So take from that what you will; if you see the officer before court you could polity explain to the officer that you went home and did not see a break light out so what was it that he saw to write you the tickect. But the safest play is to buy a replacement bulb take the recipe to the judge and tell him that the break light has been fixed and ask that the fine be dismissed.