Vehicle Code § 23103– Reckless Driving

Vehicle Code § 23103 penalizes reckless driving.

Vehicle Code § 23103(a) makes it a crime for a person to drive a vehicle upon a highway in a “willful or wanton” disregard for the safety of persons or property.  This includes driving recklessly on a public roadway or street.

Additionally, Vehicle Code § 23103(b) also makes it a crime for a person to drive recklessly in an offstreet parking facility, as defined in Vehicle Code § 12500(c).

Under Vehicle Code § 12500(c), “offstreet parking facility” means any offstreet facility held open for use by the public for parking vehicles. This includes any publicly owned facilities for offstreet parking, and privately owned facilities for offstreet parking where no fee is charged for the privilege to park and which are held open for the common public use of retail customers.

A violation under Vehicle Code § 23103 is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than five days nor more than 90 days or by a fine of not less than one hundred forty-five dollars ($145) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, except as provided in Section 23104 or 23105.

A violation of Vehicle Code § 22450 carries serious consequences including a DMV point that can significantly increase your car insurance premium. Hiring an experienced attorney who will go to court for you can help you to avoid these consequences.

DMV points can lead to a negligent operator license suspension if a driver incurs the following:

4 points in 12 months

6 points in 24 months or

8 points in 36 months.

1. The stop sign was hidden from view and you could not see it
2. You did come to a complete stop