Traffic Tickets FAQs

Yes, you will be responsible for paying all of tickets and all of the reinstatement fees to get your license back.

Yes, the driver improvement course does cost money for you to take. Depending on where you take your class, the prices will vary, but you can usually find them in the price range of fifteen to thirty dollars. For a list of approved driver improvement courses in Florida you can visit http://www.flhsmv.gov/ddl/BDIS_providers.html.

If you receive 24 points on your license within 36 months your license will be suspended for one year.

If you receive twelve points on your license within 12 months your license will be suspended for 30 days.

If you receive 18 points on your license within 18 months your license will be suspended for 3 months.

If you get 12 points within 12 months, 18 points within 18 months, or 24 points within 36 months your license will be suspended.

If you receive fifteen or more moving violations within a five year time frame you will labeled as a habitual traffic offender and have to face harsh penalties.

You are limited to taking the course one time per year. In addition, you may only take the course a total of five times in your life.

If you have been unjustly charged with a moving violation and received a traffic ticket, or if you are facing a license suspension and high fines, hiring a lawyer could work to your benefit. A criminal defense attorney who specializes in traffic violations would know what to look for in a weak prosecution and know how to handle your case to try and get you the best results possible. At the very least you should consult with a lawyer about your case.

There are a variety of defenses that can apply to traffic tickets and each case is unique in nature and will have its own defense. However, key defenses to look out for revolve around the officer’s line of sight, destruction of signs and signals, and your alertness when receiving the ticket.

When an officer issues a ticket, the majority of the time it is because they witnessed you committing a moving violation. However, sometimes people have to commit a moving violation to avoid danger, such as a driver swerving in their lane or slamming on their brakes. If this is the case then the moving violation you received was unjust because you only committed the offense to protect yourself and others. The officer may not have seen the other vehicle posing danger to you and therefore only saw you breaking the law. 

Other defenses that may apply to you include the faultiness of traffic signs and signals. For example, if a storm occurred you may not have noticed a stop sign or yield sign if a branch was blocking it from your view. The same applies to speed limit signs and traffic signals. You should not have to pay a fine or have points added to your license for violating a traffic control device when you were unaware of the device’s existence.

You should discuss your case in great detail with an experienced lawyer to help you better understand your charge and your defense. 

You can accept the charge and pay your fines and allow your points to accumulate on your license. You can take your ticket to court and fight it with or without a lawyer. You can pay your fine and take an online driving class and get your points dismissed. Or, you could not pay your fine, but then your license will be suspended.

The most common police speeding tracker device known is a radar unit. This is typically utilized by a police officer hidden from the site of motorists on a roadway or highway. How a radar unit works is that it communicates radio wave frequencies that bounce off a target, such as a moving vehicle, to a receiver. The receiver in the radar unit will tell a police officer the speed of the vehicle.

Another device that is being utilized more frequently is a laser gun. The laser gun measures the speed of a moving vehicle by calculating the distance the vehicle travelled by using a laser light and by calculating the time it took the light to return. This all happens very quickly and does not affect motorists at all. A person who has a radar detector in their car will not be able to detect a laser gun until it is too late.

Another method officers use to catch people speeding is through aerial detection. Aerial detection is where a plane or helicopter flies around looking for motorists who are speeding and when they spot one they communicate to nearby officers the information of the vehicle and those officers catch the motorists in the act and pull them over.

You may receive a traffic ticket when you break the rules of the road. Traffic tickets are the punishment for doing any of the following offenses: Speeding, careless driving, violation of a traffic control device, violation of right of way, improper lane change, running a red light, running a stop sign and failure to yield.

If you are charged with a habitual traffic offender violation you will be charged with a Third Degree Felony which is punishable by up to a $5000 fine and up to five years in prison

Careless Driving: The penalties for careless driving usually result in a fine up to $500 and four points on a person’s driver’s license; although they can be harsher depending on the circumstances of the charge, such as if an accident occurred.

Violation of a Traffic Control Device: The penalties for a traffic control device violation are usually between $100 and $300 dollars and three to four points will be added on a person’s driver’s license.

Right of Way Violation: The penalties for a right of way violation usually consist of a fine of $65.00 to $300.00 and up to three points on a person’s license.

Improper Lane Change: The penalties for a violation of an improper lane change can add three points to an individual’s driver’s license and carry a fine between $65.00 and $300.00. 

Running a Red Light: The penalties for running a red light consist of a fine of $158.00 as well as four points added to an individual’s license.  

Running a Stop Sign: The penalties for running a stop sign include a fine of up to $200.00 and four points added to a person’s license.

Failure to Yield: The penalties for failure to yield will include a fine up to $500.00 and three or more points added to a person’s license.

Speeding:

9 Miles Per Hour (MPH) Over – $76- $81.00

10-14 MPH Over – $137.50- $155.50

15- 19 MPH Over – $158.50- $180.50

20- 29 MPH Over – $178.50- $205.50

30 MPH and Over – $260.50- $305.50

Additional penalties to all moving violations will include points on your driver’s license, higher insurance rates, and the possibility of a license suspension.

Careless driving is when a driver operates a motor vehicle in a dangerous manner that could cause injury and/or damage to other persons or property, but is unaware of their dangerous actions. Careless driving is often confused with reckless driving. However, reckless driving is a criminal offense and is when a driver is aware of their dangerous actions. Reckless driving is a misdemeanor offense and includes fines up to $500 and the possibility of jail time.

There are numerous instances that occur while driving that a driver will have to yield the right of way to another driver or pedestrians, such as at a yield sign or crosswalk. Yielding means slowing down or coming to a stop if need be, to allow other drivers or pedestrians to go when they have the right of way.

Violation of a traffic control device means that a person did not follow the rules and actions they are supposed to make for traffic devices such as signs and signals, such as traffic lights, stop signs, crosswalks, pedestrian crossing lights, railroad crossing signs, and no U –turn signs.

Florida has an interstate reciprocal agreement in place with the majority of the other states in America. This agreement requires that when a person receives a ticket in Florida, Florida’s DMV will notify the DMV in the home state of the individual who was charged about their charge.

This means that a motorist from out of town who receives a ticket in Florida will still have to pay their fine and face their penalties even if they go home. This can be frustrating to people who want to fight their ticket, because the only way they can do that is to come back to Florida, or they can hire a lawyer in Florida and have them fight their charge for them in Florida.

A person will be labeled a habitual traffic offender if they have broken the laws of the road too many times in a given time frame, or have committed a very serious criminal traffic offense that considers them dangerous to operate a motor vehicle.

The value of points assigned to each ticket is as follows:

Three point violations include: Speeding less than 15 miles per hour over the speed limit, curfew violations for minors, driving with an open container, violating child restraint regulations and all moving violations aside from violation of a traffic control device and careless driving.

Four point violations include: Speeding more than 15 mph over the limit, careless driving, moving violations that cause an accident, passing a school bus that has signaled you to stop and ignoring traffic control devices or signals such as, running a stop sign or running a red light.

Six point violations include: Speeding that results in an accident and leaving the scene of an accident that caused property damage.

Florida has a system in place that adds a designated number of points to a person’s license when they receive a traffic ticket. The purpose of the system is to enforce a safer driving environment for motorists and to provide harsher consequences to drivers who are not following the laws of the road. If a driver accumulates a certain number of points in a given time frame their driver’s license will be suspended.

If you do not pay your ticket you will be notified and be charged late fees with a new date to pay your ticket. If you continue to not pay your ticket and late fees your license will be suspended and you will not be allowed to drive until you reinstate your license and pay your fines. If you drive on a suspended license and get caught you could be charged with driving on a suspended license which is a criminal offense punishable by up to a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail. 

Yes, your insurance will increase if your license is suspended for any reason as well as increase with all the points you have received that caused your license to get suspended.

Yes, your insurance rates will increase with the more points you receive on your license. However, most insurance companies will not know about your ticket or tickets right away, so it may take a little time for your rates to increase.