Infractions and criminal traffic charges are different

Florida treats most speeding and equipment violations as civil infractions. You pay, you take points, and it is over. Criminal traffic offenses are prosecuted like any other crime, with an arraignment, a court file, and exposure to jail.

• Driving while license suspended, revoked, or canceled
• Driving without a valid license
• Reckless driving
• Leaving the scene of a crash
• Racing on a highway
• Crashes involving injury or death
• Habitual traffic offender designation

Paying a citation is usually an admission, and an admission can add points, trigger a suspension, raise your insurance for years, and in some situations be used against you later.

Driving while license suspended: the knowledge problem

This is the most common criminal traffic charge in Brevard County, and it usually turns on one issue. For most versions of the offense, the State has to prove you knew your license was suspended.

People move. Notices go to old addresses. Suspensions get entered for unpaid fees on cases from years earlier. How the DHSMV sent notice, whether it reached you, and what your driving record actually shows is frequently the entire defense, and it is verifiable from records rather than argument.

Habitual traffic offender

Three qualifying convictions within a five year window can get you designated a habitual traffic offender, which brings a multi-year revocation. Because each individual case feeds the designation, the third one is rarely just a third one. That is worth knowing before resolving any of them.

What a defense looks at

• Whether the stop itself was lawful
• Your DHSMV record and the notice history behind any suspension
• Whether the charge can be reduced to a non-criminal infraction
• Whether reinstating your license before the court date changes the outcome, which it often does
• Options that avoid points or adjudication
• Whether a designation or enhancement is being triggered by this case