Traffic Offenses FAQs

Yes. In Florida, you still can fight your driver’s license suspension. Administratively, the state of Florida suspends your license for either six months or a year, depending upon the facts of your DUI case. However, you have the opportunity, prior to your criminal case going to court, to subpoena law enforcement officers, subpoena evidence, and have an evidentiary hearing in front of the Department of Motor Vehicles to determine whether or not that suspension is lawful.

If the court determines that it is not lawful, that the T’s are not properly crossed, or the I’s are not properly dotted, then the administrative hearing officer can reinstate your full driving privilege.

The suspension for lack of insurance is not going to allow an individual to get a work permit. Until that person has shown compliance with the regulations dealing with insurance to the Department of motor Vehicles. At that time there is a good opportunity for the Department of Motor Vehicles to reissue a full license. Not limited but a full license to the individual.

Again, showing proper insurance is required after an accident. If an individual did not have insurance, then there are ways to contact the other individuals involved in that accident to make sure that their damages are paid. They can sign certain releases that can be furnished to the Department of Motor Vehicles so that you will be able to reinstate your driving privilege.

The person’s driver’s license could be suspended for numerous reasons in Florida. If it’s monetary problems, the individual has to go to the clerk at court and pay those obligations. Paperwork will then be gathered that can be taken to DMV. That person can then have the department of motor vehicles reinstate the driving privilege. Other issues can become with insurance. Again if that individual gets the proper insurance and provides that to the department of motor vehicles again the driver’s license can be reinstated. As long as the individual fixes the problem that the department of motor vehicles says exists then they can have reinstatement.

In Florida there’s different levels of point suspensions but the first one that individuals will encounter is generally 12 points in a 12-month period. If an individual gets 3 moving violations that can, at 4 points each, at up to those 12 points which will result in a 30-day suspension of driver’s license.

First and foremost, with the suspended driver’s license, you need to know the reasons why they’re suspended. If there are financial obligations, you can make those obligations, those payments to the clerk of court and then, get reinstatement at Department of Motor Vehicles. Other reasons for suspension again may require you to take certain actions such as getting insurance or providing proof of insurance from a previous accident. Again, once you show compliance to Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Motor Vehicles will generally issue you a new license.

The suspension of a driver’s license can happen because you get a speeding ticket and do nothing with it. Because you get a ticket, you go to court but you refuse or do not pay the fine because you do not have proper insurance because you have been ticketed too many times in the past, because you have accumulated points on your record, because you obtained a DUI, because you’ve killed somebody in a DUI accident. There are multitude of reasons the Department of Motor Vehicles can suspend your license and each and every one presents a different challenge.

The charge of driving with a suspended license can range from a misdemeanor offense all the way to a felony crime. Again, that’s the dependent upon how many times in the past you’ve been caught driving under a suspended license. If the offense is infractionary, it’s like a speeding ticket. A lot of time the monetary fine will be exacted. If it’s a misdemeanor offense, an individual could be sentenced to probation or even jail time. Once it gets to the level of a felony offense, the courts are going to be dealing with that much more serious and an individual could be sentenced up to five years in prison in certain circumstances for the simple crime of driving under suspended license.

back in time, go to back that judge that dealt with that old offense, and explain it to the court. If you can take the time, and know the explanation to explain to the court, the court can lift that old conviction. Once it gets lifted, that record gets sent to Tallahassee, that would then in essence remove the 5-year habitual suspension because that qualifying offense has been removed. That’s how you can fix an HTO.

Depending upon what you’re doing in your car, most certainly, law enforcement has the ability to do that. If law enforcement smells odors of drugs, if law enforcement sees evidence of criminal activity, if law enforcement sees drugs or sees a weapon, they most certainly have the ability to search the vehicle, to gather that evidence, and to arrest you.

In Florida, an individual can appeal the suspension of their driver’s license with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Dependent upon their reason for the suspension, the department will set a show cause hearing so that an individual can demonstrate why their license should not have been suspended in the first place.