Florida Traffic Law, what you need to know.
Did you know there will possibly be over ONE MILLION traffic tickets issued in 2002 in Miami-Dade County alone?
Traffic Law encompasses not just a simple traffic citation, such as speeding, registration, insurance, etc., but sometimes these traffic violations overlap with a criminal traffic misdemeanor charge. Therefore, if you are stopped for speeding on our highways and you are not wearing your eyeglasses as mandated by your driver’s license, you will receive two traffic tickets: (1) for speeding (a regular traffic citation) and (2) for a violation of a driver’s license restriction (eyeglasses), a criminal traffic violation.
Our traffic laws are more complex than you think, yet there are many legal technicalities that if brought up at the proper setting, will enable you to get your traffic ticket dismissed altogether or avoid points on your driver’s license.
Our court system has also become much more of an encumbrance for the person who has received a citation. Last year in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, a Pre-Trial system was established by our courts, which now requires two possible appearances by the defendant. One at a hearing called the Pre-Trial and another at the Trial, if you should decide to exercise this right.
There are endless traffic law violations, the most commonly used can be found under the following topics:
SPEEDING: There are various speeding laws which you could be cited under. It all depends if you were stopped for speeding on a State Road, a County Road or a Municipal Road. The courts vary on which statute is the proper one to cite thus, due to this controversy, various motions can be raised to get your ticket dismissed.
RED LIGHTS: There are basically two different statutes you could be cited under. One is a “generic” or “general” statute and the other is a more specific statute. It depends which Magistrate/Judge is on the bench that allows us to raise a motion to get your ticket dismissed on case law grounds.
STOP SIGNS: There are four statutes you could be cited under for this type of violation. Again, it will depend on the Magistrate/Judge presiding over your case as to how to raise a proper motion to get your ticket dismissed.
DRIVING WITH A SUSPENDED DRIVER’S LICENSE: This charge, depending on whether the officer cited you for “knowingly” or “unknowingly” will affect whether the charge is a regular traffic citation or a criminal traffic misdemeanor. It is important to distinguish under which statute you were cited, since the penalties and consequences obviously will differ and are more severe from one to the other. For example, a ticket for driving with a suspended driver’s license knowingly, which is a criminal traffic charge will result in your case being automatically set for court and if for any reason you or your attorney are not present, the Judge will not only re-suspend your driver’s license but will also issue a bench warrant for your arrest against you.
CARELESS DRIVING: Whenever you hae an accident, you are more likely to be cited under this statute. There is case law which requires that your case be dismissed if the officer fails to properly describe the action which constituted the alleged violation on your ticket.
Contributor:
Mayra Perez Damera, Esq.
2701 LeJeune Road, Suite 406, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Telephone: (305) 446-6760
