Your Driving Privilege: Insurance, Violations and Penalties
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Florida Class E knowledge exam. The facts follow the official handbook; the wording is ours.
Source: Florida Class E Driver License Handbook, rev. 08/2023, chapter "Your Driving Privilege" (pp. 23–31).
Insurance
The No-Fault Law
Before registering a car in Florida you must show proof of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage Liability (PDL). PIP pays for your own injuries in a crash regardless of who caused it; PDL pays for damage you cause to other people's property. The minimums are $10,000 PIP and $10,000 PDL, bought from an insurer licensed in Florida, kept continuously through the registration period, with proof available whenever the vehicle is driven. The law applies to a vehicle that has been in Florida for 90 days, consecutive or not, in the last year.
Insurers must tell FLHSMV when a policy lapses, is canceled, or drops a vehicle. If you cannot then show new coverage, your license and plate can be suspended for up to three years. If you stop insuring a vehicle, turn in its plate before canceling the policy.
Carry the Florida insurance ID card, on paper or on your phone. Without it you can be cited and must prove coverage in court; if convicted, license and plate are suspended and reinstatement costs $150 to $500. After 30 days of suspension an officer may seize the plate on the spot, and driving on the suspended license is a first-degree misdemeanor with up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. A license suspended for lack of insurance gets no hardship permit, not even for work. Showing an insurance card you know is canceled, or altering one, is a second-degree misdemeanor.
The Financial Responsibility Law
Beyond PIP and PDL, after a crash you must be able to pay for all the damage you caused, either through a Florida-licensed insurer or a Financial Responsibility Certificate from FLHSMV. Certain records require higher coverage:
- After a DUI conviction: $100,000 bodily injury liability per person, $300,000 per crash, and $50,000 PDL, kept for three years.
- After a suspension for excessive points, a crash with injuries, a habitual offender revocation or another serious offense: $10,000 per person, $20,000 per crash and $10,000 PDL, or $30,000 combined.
Without proof of the higher limits, license and plates are suspended for up to three years, and FLHSMV can require you to pay for the damage from an at-fault crash before reinstating you.
Violations of the license law
You can be jailed or fined for altering a license, using one unlawfully or lending it, applying fraudulently, holding more than one credential, letting an unlicensed person drive or rent your vehicle, lying to police or a court, or knowingly giving false information in a crash report.
Disabled parking permits
A permit or plate lets a person with a mobility impairment park free at public meters and in reserved spaces, but only while the vehicle is actually carrying the person the permit belongs to. Using someone else's permit is a second-degree misdemeanor: a $500 fine or up to six months in jail, plus towing and confiscation of the permit.
Driving under the influence
You can be charged with DUI for driving, or being in physical control of, a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances, prescription drugs or over-the-counter medicines. At arrest, your license is administratively suspended if your breath or blood alcohol level is .08 or above, or if you refuse the test.
Implied consent
By accepting a Florida license you have agreed to take a breath, blood or urine test when an officer has reasonable cause to believe you are impaired. Refusing the first time brings an automatic one-year suspension; a second refusal brings an 18-month suspension and a first-degree misdemeanor. In a crash involving death or serious injury, blood is drawn with or without consent, even from an unconscious driver.
DUI penalties
- First conviction: fine $500–$1,000 (at least $1,000 with a level of .15 or a minor in the car); 50 hours of community service; up to a year of probation; up to 6 months in jail (9 with .15 or a minor); license revoked for at least 180 days; 12 hours of DUI school; an addiction evaluation; and an ignition interlock if ordered (at least six months with .15 or a minor).
- Second conviction: fine $1,000–$2,000; up to 9 months in jail; 21 hours of DUI school; interlock for at least one year.
- Third conviction: fine $2,000–$5,000; up to 12 months in jail; revocation of at least 180 days; 21 hours of school; interlock for at least two years.
Zero tolerance under 21
A driver under 21 with a level of .02 or higher loses the license for six months automatically; at .05 or higher a substance abuse course is also required. Parents of drivers under 19 are told the evaluation results. A conviction for possessing, selling or trafficking drugs, including marijuana, means a license suspension, and a vehicle used to carry or sell drugs can be seized as contraband.
Other offenses
- Littering from a vehicle is a crime. Up to 15 pounds brings a $100 fine; more than 15 pounds is a first-degree misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 and 3 points.
- Passing a stopped school bus is a moving violation with a BDI course, 4 points and a minimum fine of $265, or $465 when passing on the side where children get on and off. If someone is seriously hurt or killed: 120 hours of community service in a trauma center, a victim's impact panel, 6 points, at least a one-year suspension and a $1,500 fine.
- Road damage: driving on the rim of a flat tire, or damaging the road in any other way, is illegal.
- Speeding: the limit in Florida is never above 70 mph. More than 50 mph over the limit costs $1,000 for a first offense and $2,500 for a second. Fines are doubled in school and construction zones, with civil penalties up to $1,000 and a possible course.
Safety belts and child seats
A safety belt keeps you from being thrown out of the vehicle, from hitting other passengers, the wheel or the windshield, and keeps you behind the wheel where you can steer. Wear the lap belt low across the hips and the shoulder belt across the chest, never tucked behind you. Air bags are not a substitute.
Florida law requires belts for the driver, all front-seat passengers and every passenger under 18. Children under 4 must ride in a child safety seat; children aged 4 and 5 in a safety seat or a booster. Children under 13 belong in the back seat because a front air bag can injure or kill them, and a rear-facing seat must never go in front of an air bag. The driver is charged when a passenger under 18 is not properly restrained; passengers 18 and older are charged themselves. Passengers on a school bus fitted with belts must wear them. Exemptions include a physician's certificate, newspaper home delivery, older buses and trucks over 26,000 pounds; a belt alone may be used for a 4- or 5-year-old only when the driver is not immediate family and the child is being carried as a favor or in an emergency.
Crashes
If you are charged after a crash, the officer files the charge and the court decides the penalty; witnesses may be called. You must attend a Traffic Collision Avoidance Course if you were at fault in a crash where someone was taken to a medical facility, or after your second crash in two years. Under the Three Crashes in Three Years law, a third conviction for an offense that caused a crash within 36 months requires an approved improvement course with behind-the-wheel training and an extended driving test; failing to complete it within 90 days cancels the license.
The point system
Points for moving violations count wherever they happen, including out-of-state and federal court:
- 12 points in 12 months: 30-day suspension.
- 18 points in 18 months: 3-month suspension.
- 24 points in 36 months: one-year suspension.
| Violation | Points |
|---|---|
| Speeding 15 mph or less over the limit | 3 |
| Speeding 16 mph or more over | 4 |
| Speeding that results in a crash | 6 |
| Leaving the scene of a crash with more than $50 damage | 6 |
| Texting while driving | 3 (+3 in a school zone, +6 if it causes a crash) |
| Violating a signal, sign or traffic device | 4 |
| Passing a stopped school bus | 4 (6 with serious injury or death) |
| Reckless driving | 4 |
| Driving during restricted hours | 3 |
| Handheld device in a school or work zone | 3 |
A driver under 18 with 6 or more points in 12 months is restricted to business purposes for a year; to end the restriction the driver completes a 12-hour ADI course and 4 hours of behind-the-wheel training.
Suspension, revocation and cancellation
- Suspension is a temporary withdrawal: a fraudulent application, misuse of a license, a court order, refusing an alcohol test, misusing a restricted license, too many points, unpaid fines or missed court dates, unpaid child support, no insurance, not stopping for a school bus, retail theft, or dropping out of school.
- Revocation ends the privilege: DUI, a felony involving a vehicle, not stopping to help after a crash with injury or death, lying about ownership or operation of vehicles, three reckless-driving cases in a year, an immoral act using a vehicle, three major offenses or 15 point offenses in five years, a drug felony, or false information.
- Cancellation voids a license issued in error or when a required school was not completed.
Forfeiting bail and skipping court to avoid a reckless-driving conviction counts as a conviction.
Hearings and hardship licenses
A suspended or revoked driver may be able to apply for a hardship license or reinstatement through the Bureau of Administrative Reviews. A driver administratively suspended for a level of .08 or above, or for refusing a test, must request a formal or informal review hearing within 10 days of the arrest.
Practise this with Florida Driver License questions
More of this guide
Who needs a Florida license, what to bring, the learner's license and the rules for drivers under 18, restriction codes, renewal and fees, and what the vision, knowledge and driving-skills tests check.
The three kinds of distraction, why texting is the worst, how alcohol and drugs impair driving, drowsy driving, and what to do about an aggressive driver, from the Florida handbook.
Registering and titling a vehicle, the equipment the law requires and forbids, headlight and brake light distances, tint limits, bumper heights, ABS versus conventional brakes, and trailer and load rules.
What the colors and shapes of signs mean, every common regulatory and warning sign, traffic signals and arrows, lane and ramp signals, work zones, railroad crossings, school zones and pavement markings.
Perception, reaction and braking distance, the four-second rule, right-of-way at intersections and roundabouts, entering and leaving expressways, the Move Over law, speed limits, turning, parking on hills and where passing is illegal.
Animals, fog and rain, headlight rules at night, defensive driving, traffic stops, what the law requires after a crash, hit-and-run penalties, and step-by-step handling of skids, blowouts, fires, floods and stalls on tracks.
The three-foot rule for cyclists, truck No Zones, emergency vehicles and funerals, golf carts and low-speed vehicles, motorcycle rules, pedestrian right-of-way, and when you must stop for a school bus.