General DUI FAQs

With Department of Motor Vehicles, there are no guarantees. However, if you have never had a DUI before and it is a first time offense you will generally be given a work permit. That work permit can last for the full time period or it can be shortened to only cover the time periods after you’ve completed the appropriate level of DUI education courses. Once you’ve done that class and the evaluations, then you’re entitled to a work permit.

A person can be stopped, and even arrested for DUI, even when the vehicle wasn’t in motion. In Florida, it’s known as actual physical control. If an individual is inside the vehicle and has the ability to control that vehicle, i.e. the keys are in the car or the keys are in the person’s pockets, then law does allow a conviction for DUI. The law considers the defendant’s ability to operate that vehicle, not whether or not it is being operated at that moment. It is a crime of potential, not of what actually occurred.

You can be charged with a DUI on private property. When an individual is stopped on private property, sever different major questions should be looked at. Number one, who’s private property is it and whether or not you are given permission to be on it. Number two, whether or not that private property is open to the public at large or is it just to select individuals, and also whether or not the private property … a lot of times a home owners association or a condominium association … whether or not they have an entered into contractual traffic enforcement agreements with their local law enforcement agencies. Florida law requires those contracts to be entered into between law enforcement and the property owner in order for law enforcement to have the legal authority to enforce traffic laws on the private properties owner’s property.

In Florida, if you get convicted of a DUI and it’s your first conviction, the court has to impose a six-month suspension of your driving privilege. If you have completed the requirement of DUI school and recommended treatment, then you are eligible for a work permit. That is a restricted license that allows you to drive for businesses purposes and other limited purposes.

A scram bracelet is an electronic monitoring bracelet that is strapped to a defendant’s ankle that is there to detect whether or not that person’s excreting alcohol. The courts routinely may use a scram monitoring prior to your trial to determine whether or not an individual is violating the release rules of drinking alcohol. After trial, if convicted, the court can, in certain circumstances, sentence you to have to wear that scram monitor for a period of time, ranging anywhere from 6 months to a year, again, to ensure for the court that you are not consuming alcohol while on probation.

It always depends on whether or not another state has properly communicated with the state of Florida, and the department of highway safety and motor vehicles, to whether or not that conviction will show up to Florida’s records. A lot of times they will not, however there is no hard and fast rule of whether, or when they may show up or not show up. Again a thorough search of your Florida records along with the states from which you have that conviction is necessary by your defense attorney to know exactly what you’re up against.