Drive Wrench

Drive Wrench

Virginia Highway Reckless Driving Speed Erratic Endanger Life Indifference Driver Lawyers Attorneys

DALE LEON POWERS v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
Supreme Court of Virginia
November 30, 1970

The defendant and four friends had been "riding around" in automobile. Defendant's automobile left impressions on the road for a distance of over 840 feet before it veered off the east side of the highway, struck and "debarked" two trees which were 20 feet apart, and finally came to rest in a ditch on the west side of the highway. The motor was wrenched from the car, and it was found 36 feet from where the car had come to rest. The car travelled out of control a distance of over 900 feetDefendant was found guilty by the Circuit Court of Goochland County (Virginia) of the charge of unlawfully operation a motor vehicle on a public highway in a reckless manner, in violation Va. Code Ann. § 1-189.

Issue:

Whether evidence was sufficient enough to constitute reckless driving?

Observation and Holding:

The evidence is silent as to the speed at which the defendant was operating his car when it went out of control. The speed limit at the place of the accident was 55 miles per hour, and when an automobile traveling at that speed, or even less, goes out of control it seemingly defies all laws of physics and may be completely demolished when it strikes an immovable object. We have no way of determining from the evidence in this record how and why the accident happened. The momentum of the automobile and its erratic course may be attributed to the accelerator sticking or a defect in the car's steering mechanism over which the defendant had no control. The defendant may have suffered a sudden illness, or he may have been confronted with a sudden emergency not caused by his own negligence. The Commonwealth's evidence leaves much to speculation and conjecture as to what caused defendant to lose control of the car. We cannot say that the evidence here excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence and is consistent only with the guilt of the defendant.

Hence, we are of opinion that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction of reckless driving within the meaning of the statute.

Disclaimer:

These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group.  They represent the firm's unofficial views of the Justices' opinions.  The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content

About the Author

The SRIS Law Group is a law firm with offices in Virginia, Maryland & Massachusetts.  The law firm assists clients with criminal/traffic defense, family law, immigration, civil litigation, bankruptcy & military law.  The law firm has Virginia offices in Fairfax County, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Loudoun County, Lynchburg County, Prince William County & Fredericksburg, Virginia.  The Maryland offices are in Montgomery County & Baltimore.  The Massachusetts offices are in Boston & Cambridge.  The New York office is in New York City.  The North Carolina Office is in Charlotte, NC which is in Mecklenburg County.  The California office is in Orange County, CA.

The law firm has more than 11 offices in Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, California, North Carolina & India to serve the clients of the SRIS Law Group.

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