Reporting a bad driver in Virginia

Virginia bad driver reporting & safety guide

1. If it is happening now immediate danger

Emergency hotlines

• 911 — for a driver who is an active danger to other people right now. That is a police matter, and no app is a substitute for the call.
• #77 — Virginia State Police. Highway patrol line for dangerous driving as it happens.

It reaches a dispatcher who may send a trooper to a driver still on the road — use it while the driving is happening, and 911 for an immediate danger. VSP: "Dial #77 on a cell phone. This is the most effective means to report a reckless and dangerous driver to the Virginia State Police. Provide a vehicle description, license number, location and, if possible, direction of travel. Every effort will be made to dispatch a trooper to the location to witness the driver's behavior." VSP adds that under Virginia law an officer must witness a misdemeanor aggressive or reckless driving offence to act on it; if you are the only witness, any action against the driver would have to be initiated by you — securing a warrant and being willing to testify.

2. Reporting to Virginia law enforcement after the fact

Neither the hotlines above nor anything in this section is the licence-review route in section 3, and nothing filed on Jerk Alert reaches any of them.

Who takes the report in Virginia

• The non-emergency line of the Virginia city or town police department or county sheriff’s office with jurisdiction where it happened takes reports of dangerous driving that has already happened.
• Bring: the plate (full or partial) and state, the vehicle’s make, model and colour, the location, the date and time, the direction of travel, and what you saw.
• Expect a record rather than a ticket. An officer who did not witness the driving usually cannot cite for it, and what each agency acts on varies.

3. State DMV & licensing agency review

Administrative fitness process

Agency

Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

Unit

Medical Review Services

Form

MED 3 — Medical Review Request (07/01/2024)

Where to send

Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Medical Review Services, Post Office Box 27412, Richmond VA 23269-0001

Contact

Medical Review Services 1-804-367-6203 · fax 1-804-367-1604 · 1-800-272-9268 (deaf or hearing impaired only)

What information do I need to report a driver?

• Reports must be in writing, or on the MED 3 form.
• All reports must include information identifying the driver (name, address, date of birth), specific information about the concern and why the person should be reviewed, and the reporter's name, address and telephone number so DMV can follow up.
• DMV accepts a faxed report only if it is faxed directly from a healthcare provider, medical doctor, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant.
• Print or type all information and complete the form in its entirety. Mail it to Medical Review Services at the address below, or fax it to (804) 367-1604 — the form gives both routes to any requester, not only to health care providers.
• Say which tests you believe the driver should be given — medical examination, vision examination, knowledge examination or road skills test — on the basis of your observation, and describe in detail the circumstances that led to the request, including what appears to be the driver's medical or visual impairment. The form notes that DMV may have additional requirements.
• Sign it and print your name. The requester block is laid out for an organisation — it asks for a badge number, an organisation or law enforcement agency name, and a business street address — so a private citizen simply leaves those blank; there is no field for your relationship to the driver.

Will the driver find out who reported them?

Read this before you file, because the form says it itself. Under Va. Code § 46.2-322, if the driver submits a written request, DMV will furnish the reasons for the examination — INCLUDING THE IDENTITY of anyone who supplied information about their fitness to drive. The one exception is printed in the same breath: DMV cannot provide it where the source is a relative of the driver, or a licensed medical professional treating them. So a relative or a treating clinician is protected by statute, and everybody else can be named to the driver on nothing more than the driver asking in writing. No court order is needed. If you are an unrelated witness, assume the driver will learn who reported them.

What can the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles do after a report?

• DMV promptly reviews all impaired-driver reports and evaluates each case on its own merits.
• MRS may require a medical statement from a physician, PA or nurse practitioner, a vision statement from an ophthalmologist or optometrist, an evaluation by a Driver Rehabilitation Specialist, or a DMV knowledge and/or road skills test.
• Reports go to Medical Review Services, where clinically trained nurses assess them against policies set in consultation with the Governor-appointed Medical Advisory Board.
• The Medical Advisory Board does not review every case. It looks at cases of a difficult nature, or cases referred for an informal fact-finding proceeding when a driver contests what the DMV has required or decided.
• After the examination DMV may suspend the licence, let the driver keep it, or issue a restricted licence under § 46.2-329 — and refusing to submit to the examination, or to comply with the restrictions imposed, is itself grounds for suspension.

Statutory authority: Va. Code § 46.2-322 (as amended 2024) — (A) if DMV has good cause to believe a driver is impaired and therefore unable to drive safely, it may, after at least 15 days' written notice, require an examination of fitness to drive; if the driver asks in writing, DMV must give its reasons, including the identity of everyone who supplied information, except a relative of the driver or a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, pharmacist or other licensed medical professional treating or prescribing for the driver; (B) carries the examination and outcome powers, and § 46.2-329 the restricted licence.

What this route can and cannot do

Virginia's form has a field for the vehicle plate number, which most do not — alongside the driver's name and birthdate, and a DMV customer number if you happen to have it. That makes a plate-and-description report less hopeless here than in most states. Two things temper it. It is still a fitness-to-drive referral: the tests you can ask for are a medical, vision, knowledge or road skills examination, and what DMV decides is whether the person is competent to drive, not whether they behaved badly. And the trade is steep — under § 46.2-322 the driver can obtain your identity in writing unless you are a relative or their treating clinician.