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In California, reckless driving is a serious offense with harsh penalties including potential jail time and license suspension. Read on to learn more about reckless driving in California and possible defenses for a reckless driving charge.
What Is Reckless Driving in California?
California Vehicle Code 23103 VC defines reckless driving as “operating a motor vehicle with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of other people or property.” In other words, reckless driving is more than just speeding. You drove recklessly if you were aware that your actions presented a substantial risk and you chose to intentionally ignore those risks, even though you didn’t necessarily intend to cause injury or harm.
Reckless driving can result in serious injuries to the driver, passengers, other drivers on the road, and pedestrians. Any driving done with disregard for the safety of others falls into this category, for example:
- Driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI)
- Disregarding stop signs and red lights
- Intentionally evading officers
- Driving the wrong way down a road
- Driving at a high speed through a school zone
- Drag or street racing
- Driving through a crowd or on a sidewalk
- Swerving across lanes
- Passing on a two-lane highway over a double line
- Using a phone while driving.
You can be charged with reckless driving on public roads, highways, and private or public parking facilities.
There are many reasons people drive recklessly:
- They don’t realize they are driving too fast
- They are not aware of laws and speed limits
- They don’t understand the risk of reckless driving and that their actions can affect others
- They are distracted having a conversation with other passengers, talking on the phone, or paying attention to other things on the road
- They overestimate their driving abilities.
Reckless driving is not only a traffic violation—it is a misdemeanor, which makes it a criminal offense that comes with criminal penalties. It is often accompanied by other criminal charges related to the same incident. For example, if you cause serious bodily harm due to reckless driving, such as brain injury or paralysis, your charge could become a felony assault with a deadly weapon.
What Is the Fine for Someone Caught Driving Reckless in California?
The punishment for reckless driving in California depends on the consequences of your action. Penalties may include monetary fines, jail time, suspension or revocation of driving privileges, in addition to increased insurance premiums.
Monetary fines and jail time
If no one is injured as a consequence of your reckless driving other than you, you can expect the following punishment:
- Imprisonment in a county jail for 5 to 90 days
- A fine between $145 and $1,000
However, if reckless driving causes an injury to a third party, the consequences are more severe:
- Imprisonment in a county jail or state prison for 30 days to 6 months
- A fine between $220 and $1,000
If there is a serious bodily injury to someone other than the driver, such as a loss of consciousness, a concussion, or a bone fracture, reckless driving is considered a wobbler offense. This means that the violation can be charged and punished as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the judgment of the prosecutor. If your reckless driving is charged as a felony, the penalties include:
- Imprisonment in a county jail or state prison for up to 3 years
- A fine of up to $10,000.
Suspension of driver’s license
If the jury thinks you are a risky driver, the judge may decide to suspend your driver’s license for the following periods of time:
- Up to 30 days upon the first conviction of reckless driving
- Up to 60 days upon the second conviction, and
- Up to 6 months upon the third or any subsequent convictions.
Revocation of driving privilege
Your license may be revoked for a period of 6 months to life if you have three cases of reckless driving within one year. Note that missing a court appearance to avoid being convicted of reckless driving counts as a conviction.
Your license will be revoked for at least 3 years if you kill someone as a consequence of reckless driving.
Vehicle impoundment
Penalties for reckless driving can also include the impoundment of your vehicle for up to 30 days. You should keep in mind that you will have to pay storage fees for the entire period in which your vehicle sits in impound.
Points on your driver’s license
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will add two points on your driver’s license for reckless driving. It may count this conviction against you in any future license suspension hearing or other legal proceedings.
Increased insurance premiums
Your auto insurance premiums may significantly increase as a result of your conviction. Insurers set your premiums based on the risk that you will cause an accident and if you’re convicted for reckless driving, they’re facing an increased risk of having to pay out a claim for you. In some cases, your insurance company may decide to drop your insurance coverage altogether.
Can I go to traffic school for reckless driving?
In California, you are not eligible to attend traffic school for violations that are assigned two or more points, including reckless driving. To attend traffic school, your citation must not be for reckless driving (Vehicle Code 23103), reckless driving with bodily injury (Vehicle Code 23104), or reckless driving with specific injury (Vehicle Code 23105).
What Speed Is Considered Reckless Driving in California?
Reckless driving in California is considered speeding at 15 mph over the safe speed limit.
California’s absolute speed limits prohibit driving faster than:
- 70 mph on freeways posted for that speed
- 65 mph on freeways and other highways
- 55 mph on two-lane, undivided highways unless posted for a higher speed.
If you drive faster than these speed limits, you’ve violated the law.
In addition, California’s basic speed law prohibits driving faster than is safe for conditions. That means that regardless of the posted speed limit, your speed will also depend on other factors including the presence of other vehicles and pedestrians, as well as road and weather conditions.
Is speeding over 100 mph considered reckless driving?
The California Vehicle Traffic Code doesn’t link speed to reckless driving. In fact, reckless driving is a misdemeanor, whereas speeding over 100 mph is an infraction. However, the officer issuing the ticket may still consider your speed to be reckless driving.
Driving over 100 mph on a highway entails hefty penalties, including an $800-$2500 fine, mandatory court appearance, possible jail time, and license suspension.
How Long Does Reckless Driving Stay on Your Record California?
A reckless driving conviction in California adds two points to your driving record.
If you’ve committed a non-alcohol-related reckless driving offense (dry reckless), the points will stay on your record for 3 years.
For alcohol-related reckless driving offenses (wet reckless), points will stay on your record for three years, but the offense will remain as a chargeable prior alcohol conviction for up to 10 years.
Can I remove points from my driving record?
The process of removing the points for a reckless driving conviction is automatic. The DMV will remove the points once the appropriate amount of time has elapsed since the date of your conviction.
Reckless driving conviction and the criminal record
Contrary to your driving record, if you’re charged with a misdemeanor, your reckless driving conviction will stay on your criminal record permanently. Your charges will show up on background checks for everything from employment to housing and traveling, and may be used against you.
While the DM will remove your conviction from your driving record automatically, to have it removed from your criminal record, you need to go through a process known as misdemeanor expungement. You must be able to show that you have completed any mandated penalties, including probation and that you’re currently not facing any new charges.
Is Reckless Driving Worse Than a DUI?
A dry reckless driving charge implies that no alcohol was involved. Wet reckless, on the contrary, means that you were drunk when you committed the offense. You can be charged with wet reckless even if you exhibited no actual dangerous behavior.
Wet reckless driving is a serious charge, but it carries less severe penalties than a DUI and the court will look at it more favorably than a DUI conviction. In some cases, a DUI charge can be reduced to a wet reckless.
Advantages of a wet reckless over a DUI include:
- Lower fines
- A shorter potential jail sentence
- A shorter period of probation
- No mandatory driver’s license suspension
- Shorter DUI school—a program of alcohol education and prevention ordered by the court
- No mandatory installation of a California ignition interlock device
- No DUI on your criminal record
- No mandatory sentencing enhancements for repeat offenders, since the wet reckless penalties are the same for repeat offenders
- You can’t get arrested for wet reckless
- The conviction on your criminal record will often show only as a wet reckless, which carries much less of a stigma than a DUI conviction
- A wet reckless conviction may enable you to keep a job that forbids a DUI conviction, such as a commercial driver or forklift operator.
However, in both cases, the DMV will automatically suspend your license because you were arrested for DUI. What’s more, your insurance company will increase your rates for reckless driving in the same way they would for a DUI.
Defenses To Reckless Driving
To prove that you are guilty of reckless driving, the prosecution must prove that:
- You were the person driving the vehicle and
- You intentionally ignored the potential risks and drove with disregard for the safety of persons or property, even if you didn’t have the intention to cause harm.
Here are some possible defenses to a reckless driving charge.
Prove that you were not the person driving the vehicle
If the prosecution can’t prove that you were driving the vehicle, the charges will likely be dismissed or you will be acquitted of the charges at trial.
Show that your speeding can’t be considered reckless driving
Your driving might have been negligent, but the fact that you were speeding doesn’t mean that you drove with disregard for safety. For example, the following may not be considered as intentionally putting the safety of others at risk:
- Making an illegal U-turn
- Getting into the path of another car when trying to change lanes
- Going down a one-way street but realizing the error and stopping.
Your reckless driving was out of necessity to prevent greater harm
If your reckless driving occurred out of necessity, you must be able to show that:
- It took place because you reasonably believed that there was an emergency
- You did not create the emergency
- The emergency presented a threat to you or a third party.
Hiring an experienced attorney can help you to raise a valid legal defense when you’re facing a reckless driving charge in California. Here’s how the WinIt app can help.
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