How much is a speeding ticket in West Virginia?
set by the local courtcourt-set
15 mph over the limit, first offense, non-interstate road, magistrate court — the full arithmetic is on this page.
West Virginia law only CAPS the fine — 1-10 mph over: set by the local court · 11+ mph over: set by the local court — and the amount you actually pay is set by the court handling the ticket, with local costs and add-ons attaching on top. This page shows the statutory ceilings, what is uniform statewide, and exactly where the local court takes over. For 15 mph over the limit, the honest answer is set by the local court — the page decomposes what is knowable statewide instead of inventing a total. What raises it: school zone (15 mph limit during school times); coal resource transportation roads (commercial coal vehicles). Misdemeanor classification and repeat-offense jail exposure — a criminal charge, outside a fine table's scope, noted here as a fact. Points: Points start mattering above 10 over: 11-14 mph over is 3 points, 15-19 is 5, and 20+ is 6 — the same as reckless driving; school-zone speeding is also 6. Speeding at 10 or less over falls under 'all other moving violations' at 2 points, and on interstates such convictions are not even transmitted to the DMV. Every row on this page carries its citation — 4 primary sources (statute text, court fine schedules, DMV publications), each with a retrieval date, plus the local-variation caveat that applies in West Virginia. This is a reference to what the law and the schedules print; it is not legal advice.
How West Virginia sets it West Virginia's statute sets only ceilings: a first speeding offense is a misdemeanor with a fine of NOT MORE THAN $100, and the judge sets the actual number — so there is no statewide amount to print. Two quirks matter: 10 mph or less over on an interstate is capped at a $5 fine (and never reaches your DMV record), and court costs in magistrate court add roughly $90 in fixed items plus a jail per-diem before the fine.
The fine, tier by tier
| Speed over the limit | Base fine | What you actually owe | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-10 mph over the limit | up to $100 cap only | set by the local court court-set | W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(e), (g) First-offense ceiling $100 — but on a controlled-access highway or interstate, 10 or less over is capped at a $5 fine plus court costs, and the conviction is not transmitted to (or recorded by) the DMV for non-CDL drivers (§17C-6-1(g), (i)). |
| 11+ mph over the limit | up to $100 cap only | set by the local court court-set | W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(e) Same first-offense ceiling: not more than $100, set by the court. Second conviction within a year: not more than $200; third within two years: not more than $500 — and if that third offense was 15+ mph over, jail up to six months is possible (see criminal-threshold box). |
- state-set state law or a statewide schedule fixes this number.
- cap only the statute sets a ceiling; the court picks the amount within it.
- court-set no statewide number exists — the local court’s schedule decides.
The mandatory add-ons
These attach on top of whatever fine the court sets:
| Add-on | How it is computed | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Magistrate court costs (fixed portion) | $60 flat in each criminal case on conviction ($5 of it to the Courthouse Facilities Improvement Fund) | W. Va. Code §50-3-2(a)(1) |
| Regional Jail Operations Partial Reimbursement Fund | $30 flat | W. Va. Code §50-3-2(a)(3) |
| Regional jail one-day per-diem | an amount equal to the one-day per diem provided for in §15A-3-16(g) — the dollar figure is set under that section, not printed in the costs statute, and is not asserted here | W. Va. Code §50-3-2(a)(2) |
Worked example: 15 mph over the limit, first offense, non-interstate road, magistrate court
| Line | Amount | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Fine — statutory CEILING for a first offense (the court sets the actual amount) | $100 | W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(e) |
| Magistrate court costs — fixed items ($60 + $30) | $90 | W. Va. Code §50-3-2(a)(1), (3) |
| Where it lands | set by the local court court-set |
There is no statewide total to print: the $100 line is a ceiling, not a charge — the magistrate or municipal judge sets the fine anywhere up to it, and the $90 of fixed magistrate costs is joined by a regional-jail one-day per-diem whose amount is set under §15A-3-16(g). A citation prosecuted under a municipal ordinance goes through municipal court, whose costs differ. At 15 mph over, DMV points also jump to 5 (11-14 over carries 3).
What raises it
- School zone (15 mph limit during school times). Fine floor and higher ceiling: not less than $100 nor more than $500; if 15+ mph over in the presence of children, jail up to six months is also possible. If the required school-zone signage was missing, the maximum drops to $25. (W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(f))
- Coal resource transportation roads (commercial coal vehicles). Fines are tripled for commercial coal-hauling vehicles speeding on the designated coal road system. (W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(h))
License points
Points start mattering above 10 over: 11-14 mph over is 3 points, 15-19 is 5, and 20+ is 6 — the same as reckless driving; school-zone speeding is also 6. Speeding at 10 or less over falls under 'all other moving violations' at 2 points, and on interstates such convictions are not even transmitted to the DMV.
| Violation | Points |
|---|---|
| Speeding 11-14 mph over | 3 |
| Speeding 15-19 mph over | 5 |
| Speeding 20+ mph over | 6 |
| Speeding in a school zone | 6 |
| All other moving violations not listed (includes 10 or less over, where recorded) | 2 |
Points live on the record for two years from conviction. At 6+ points the DMV sends a caution letter; at 12 points the license is subject to suspension (12-13 points brings a 30-day suspension, avoidable only by completing a defensive driving course before it takes effect); at 20+ points the suspension is 120 days. (WV DMV Driver Licensing Handbook; WV DMV Point System page (transportation.wv.gov))
Where speed becomes a criminal charge
- Misdemeanor classification and repeat-offense jail exposure. (W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(e), (f))
Criminal penalties are a courtroom matter and outside a fine table's scope — this page records the threshold as a fact and stops there.
Local variation — the honest caveat
A maxima state twice over: the judge sets the fine anywhere under the $100/$200/$500 ceilings, and WHERE the case is heard changes the costs — magistrate court has the statutory $90-plus-per-diem stack, while tickets written under municipal ordinances go through municipal courts with their own cost schedules. Two identical tickets can lawfully produce different totals. (W. Va. Code §17C-6-1(e); §50-3-2)
- Fine ceilings shown are first-offense figures; repeat offenses within one/two years raise the ceiling to $200/$500 (see criminal-threshold box).
- The magistrate-court regional-jail per-diem is a real, mandatory cost whose dollar amount is set under §15A-3-16(g) and re-set administratively; it is deliberately not asserted here.
- Municipal court costs for ordinance-based speeding tickets are set locally and are not tabulated here.
- No general work-zone speeding fine provision was located in §17C-6-1 or its article in this build; none is asserted.
- The interstate $5-fine cap and the no-DMV-report rule apply only where the evidence shows 10 mph or less over on a controlled-access highway or interstate, and the no-report rule does not apply to CDL holders (§17C-6-1(g), (i)).
Sources
Every figure above was compiled from these sources, with a verbatim quote of the sentence carrying each number stored in the dataset so any row can be re-checked against its origin.
- W. Va. Code §17C-6-1 — Speed limitations generally; penalty (official text, code.wvlegislature.gov)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-6-1/ - W. Va. Code §50-3-2 — Costs in criminal proceedings (magistrate courts) (official text, code.wvlegislature.gov)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://code.wvlegislature.gov/50-3-2/ - WV DMV — Driver Licensing Handbook (point values and accumulation rules)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://transportation.wv.gov/DMV/DMVFormSearch/Drivers_Licensing_Handbook_web.pdf - WV DMV — Point System page (read live, not saved separately; scraped text on file)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://transportation.wv.gov/DMV/Drivers/Pages/Point-System.aspx
This is not legal advice This page republishes what West Virginia's statutes, court fine schedules, and driver-licensing publications print, for reference. Amounts change on legislative cycles, and the court named on a citation is the authority on what is owed in that court. Nothing here is advice about any citation or case.