Traffic Tickets

TRAFFIC TICKET OPTIONS!

You have three options when you receive a traffic ticket. However, there is a fourth traffic ticket option that no one should do. This option can transform a minor traffic ticket into a major problem.

Never ignore your traffic ticket and do nothing. Failing to act when you receive a traffic ticket can cause you to incur additional fees/fines and possible suspension of your driver’s license.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR TRAFFIC TICKET

The following are the three options you have available:

• Simply pay the ticket. Remember paying the ticket may also result in points on your driver’s license and an increase in your insurance costs.
• Pay the ticket and elect traffic school. This means you are paying the ticket and paying the cost of traffic school. Most schools require you to spend at least four hours in their classroom. While traffic school is available online, you still need to spend the four-hour equivalent of being in a classroom.
• Fight your traffic ticket. This means that you do not have to pay your ticket until the end of your trial, and if you get it dismissed, you will not have to pay for anything!

CONTACT

RHINO Lawyers can help and guide you through a system that has been molded by law enforcement, judges, and lawyers for decades. Having won cases for our clients in similar circumstances, our criminal defense team knows what it takes to fight on your behalf.

Let the Tampa traffic ticket attorneys at RHINO Lawyers answer your questions and review the facts of your case with a Free Consultation. Get started by completing the “Free Instant Case Evaluation” or by calling us any time, day or night, at 844.329.3491.

MOVING VIOLATION POINT SYSTEM

Receiving a traffic ticket is a nuisance and inconvenience. In many cases, a traffic ticket will raise your insurance rate and follow you for years. Others could cause you to lose your license or result in jail time.

Even the most common traffic violation can be damaging if you accrue too many points. Which moving violations incur points? Here is a list of common violations and the associated moving violation point system:

3 POINT VIOLATIONS

• CARELESS DRIVING
• SPEEDING
• Fail to stop at STEADY RED signal
• TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICE Fail to obey traffic control device (sign)

4 POINT VIOLATIONS

• RECKLESS DRIVING
• Violation of 316.183(2), 316.187, or 316.189, Speed in excess of 50 MPH
• SCHOOL BUS – failure to stop for (school election available to have adjudication withheld)

6 POINT VIOLATIONS

• Leaving the scene of an accident
• Speeding resulting in an accident
• A moving violation resulting in bodily harm

Points are assigned based on the type of conviction and remain on the driver record for at least three years from the date of disposition (conviction). If a driver accumulates too many points in a set time frame, their driving privileges will be suspended.

While you can remove points from your driving record, tickets in Florida are not dismissed or removed by taking a BDI course (Basic Driver Improvement course). The only way you can keep a traffic ticket off your record is to prove you were not breaking the law or fight your ticket in court and win. If you’re planning to fight your ticket, you should consider hiring an attorney to represent you.

CONTACT

RHINO Lawyers can help and guide you through a system that has been molded by law enforcement, judges, and lawyers for decades. Having won cases for our clients in similar circumstances, our criminal defense team knows what it takes to fight on your behalf.

Let the Tampa traffic ticket attorneys at RHINO Lawyers answer your questions and review the facts of your case with a Free Consultation. Get started by completing the “Free Instant Case Evaluation” or by calling us any time, day or night, at 844.329.3491.

Improper Passing

From time to time, we’ve all passed other vehicles that we share the roadway with. In Tampa, and the rest of Florida, there’s a right way of passing, and three wrong ways of passing. Florida Statute 316.083 addresses each form of improper passing. If a police officer witnesses a driver making an improper passing maneuver, it’s likely the officer will cite the driver. If an officer doesn’t witness the maneuver, the driver can still expect a ticket for the offense after an accident. Here are the three ways that a driver can expect to receive an improper passing ticket:

• Passing on the Right: This usually occurs on a four-lane road when a vehicle is traveling too slowly in the left lane. Both vehicles are in violation of the law under these circumstances.
• Blind Passing: This occurs on curves or hills when passing in the oncoming traffic lane and the passing driver can’t see oncoming traffic at a safe distance.
• Dangerous Passing: This offense involves cutting another vehicle off after making a pass. At one time or another, we’ve all gotten cut off by another driver.

Improper Lane Changes

Lane change violations are contemplated by Florida Statute 316.085. To legally change lanes in Florida, a driver must first learn that the maneuver can be completed with a clear path. That includes lane changes when passing another vehicle. When passing another car complete it before coming within 200 feet of an oncoming vehicle. A violation can also occur when approached or passed by another vehicle. The driver must make a lane change in a safe and careful manner. A police officer will usually write an improper lane change ticket after an accident, but he or she can independently cite a driver if the officer saw the offense.

Penalties

Improper passing and improper lane change violations carry a fine of up to $300 plus court costs and at least three points against your license. Get points waived upon enrollment and satisfactory completion of a defensive driving course. A person can only take such a course once a year.

Contact RHINO Lawyers

There are alternative dispositions to improper passing and improper lane change charges. Don’t ignore them. Our goal is to obtain the best possible disposition of your traffic case. Contesting your ticket is the only way of approaching that. Contact the Tampa traffic ticket attorneys at RHINO Lawyers as soon as possible after being cited, and our criminal defense team let you know what we think we might be able to do for you.

New Florida Texting & Driving Law Effective July 1 2019

Florida has finally fallen in line with the overwhelming majority of other states. Florida made texting while driving a primary traffic offense. The law goes into effect on July 1, 2019.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill on May 17, 2019. Making texting while driving a primary offense means that police can soon make a traffic stop on the reasonable belief that a driver was messaging or emailing on a mobile device. The new law also prohibits the use of a handheld cell phone when operating any motor vehicle at any school crossing, school zone, or construction zone.

How You Can Receive a Violation

Currently, police can only cite drivers for texting while driving if they’re stopped for a different violation. That makes it a mere secondary violation and nearly impossible to enforce.

Texting while driving requires the diversion of a driver’s physical, mental and visual capacities from the roadway. We use the same three senses to drive. When signing the new law at a Sarasota high school, the governor said that “Studies have shown that texting while driving is one of the worst of all driving distractions, and a recent study ranked Florida as the second-worst state for distracted driving.” He went on to say that “It’s my hope that by taking action to address distracted drivers today, we will be able to make our roads safer and hopefully prevent some of these crashes that we’ve seen, injuries, and unfortunately, some of the deaths that we’ve seen.”

Governor DeSantis remarked that in 2016, Florida had nearly 50,000 distracted driving accidents that caused 233 deaths. Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said that “Making texting while driving a primary offense will allow law enforcement to enforce the law and to save a lot of lives.”

The New Law for Texting While Driving

Under the new law, texting at a stoplight or when a vehicle isn’t in motion is not an offense. The statute exempts emergency personnel. Similarly, the law exempts people who are reporting emergencies or crimes to law enforcement, receiving messages from navigation, safety, and weather alerts.

A first violation of the new texting while driving law won’t be a moving violation. It’s punishable by a fine of $30 plus court costs and fees upon a conviction for a first violation. Your second violation within five years of the first violation becomes a moving violation and the fine doubles. In either case, you will receive three points on your driver’s license.

School and Work Zones

The prohibition on texting while driving in school and work zones will be enforced beginning October 1, 2019. Law enforcement will issue warning tickets until January 1, 2020. Only South Dakota, Nebraska, and Ohio remain states where texting while driving is still a secondary offense. Yet, Missouri prohibits texting while driving by anybody under 21 years of age. Although, texting while driving remains perfectly legal in Montana.

CONTACT TAMPA TRAFFIC TICKET ATTORNEY

RHINO Lawyers can help and guide you through a system molded by law enforcement, judges, and lawyers for decades. Having won cases for our clients in similar circumstances, our criminal defense team knows what it takes to fight on your behalf.

Let RHINO Lawyers answer your questions and review the facts of your case with a Free Consultation. So, get started by completing the “Free Instant Case Evaluation” or by calling us any time, day or night, at (844) RHINO-77.

Odometer Fraud Charge – Tampa FL

Both the federal government and the State of Florida have put laws in place that work to protect consumers from odometer fraud. Florida Statutes 319.35 makes it a third-degree felony to “knowingly tamper with, adjust, alter, set back, disconnect or fail to connect” an odometer of a motor vehicle so as to show a lower number of miles than the motor vehicle has actually been driven. A conviction for odometer fraud carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Here’s how odometer fraud hurts people as used car buyers:

• Payment of increased sales tax as a result of the inflated price.
• Higher insurance premiums as a result of lower mileage.
• More frequent maintenance and repair costs.
• Reduced vehicle safety for the driver and passengers.

The Prosecution Has the Burden of Proving You Guilty

Tampa is one of the hotbeds of Florida odometer fraud. Our experienced and effective Tampa criminal defense team knows the issues that prosecutors face when they try to prove tampering with a vehicle’s odometer. Remember that you’re presumed innocent. The prosecution has the burden of proving you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Over the years, we’ve been able to raise countless reasonable doubts on behalf of our clients.

Don’t Give a Statement or Confession

Even innocent victims of odometer fraud can have allegations of odometer fraud raised against them when they go to sell that same vehicle a year or two later. Both buyers and sellers must be very careful. If you’re arrested for odometer fraud, the worst thing that you could do would be to give the police any type of a statement or confession. The prosecution will use it to try and prove you guilty.

Protect your rights by invoking them. You have the right to remain silent, so exercise it by not giving the police any information that they’re seeking other than your identity, birth date, and address. You also have the right to an attorney. Exercise that right immediately by calling us after any arrest for odometer tampering in or around Tampa. We know what we’re doing, and we can take it from there.

Unlawful Tag Tickets in Tampa FL

Being pulled over by police for an unlawful tag is often a pretext for a brief investigation of a driver to evaluate whether he or she might be under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both. Even if a driver hasn’t been consuming alcohol, or he or she hasn’t committed any moving violations since a police officer began observing their vehicle, any traffic stop is something more than a mere annoyance.

Swapping Tags or Stickers

In cases involving unlawful tags, there be a violation of the letter of the law. Then, there’s the gray area involving the spirit of the law and the subjective observations of the police officer who made the traffic stop. Florida Statutes 320.261 makes it a criminal offense when “Any person knowingly attaches to any motor vehicle or mobile home any registration license plate, or who knowingly attaches any validation sticker or mobile home sticker to a registration license plate, which plate or sticker was not issued and assigned or lawfully transferred to such vehicle, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree…” A second-degree misdemeanor in Florida is punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a fine not to exceed $500.

Unlawful Tag Conviction Issue

Although it’s unlikely a maximum penalty would be imposed, an unlawful tag conviction would result in a permanent criminal record. That record can interfere with job, educational and housing opportunities. Defenses to section 320.261 exist. So, contact us if you’re charged with an unlawful tag violation of the statute, especially if you expect to have a security check coming up.

Unknowing Violations and Getting Framed

Just about everybody has border frames around their license plates. These might advertise the dealership that you bought your car at or show logos of sports teams or messages. Some of them even have clear or lightly tinted covers that go over license plates. Florida Statute 316.605(1) states not to place anything upon your plate that interferes with it being clear and legible. That includes your sticker too. What might be clear and legible to one police officer might not be to the next officer. That’s when we get into the spirit of the law and the subjectivity of a police officer. A judge may or may not agree with an officer.

Arrested for swapping plates or stickers on a vehicle? Contact RHINO Lawyers. Our criminal defense team can do a lot better than 60 days, $500 and a criminal conviction. On a plate frame charge, you stand a good chance of a judge tossing it when we’re representing you.

Can I Get a DUI on a Bike or Electric Scooter in Tampa?

To begin with, Florida Statutes section 306.003(75) defines a vehicle as every device, in, upon, or by which any person or property is transported or drawn upon a highway. Except for devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. Thus, they define a bicycle as any vehicle propelled solely by human power. And, every motorized bicycle is propelled by a combination of human power and an electric motor helper. Pursuant to this definition, Florida courts have held bicycles to be vehicles. Bicyclists have the right to share the road with motorists. In addition, they must also follow the same laws as motorists. Those laws include the prohibition against driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or any combination of the two.

Other Forms of Transportation the Florida DUI applies to

Under the same rationale, electric bicycles and scooters are vehicles too. So, only a small minority of states classify them as such, but that’s the law in Florida. Incidentally, it isn’t going to change within the foreseeable future. In the recent past, these Florida DUI vehicle laws have applied to many different instances. For example, it applied to:

• A man on an expressway riding a horse.
• Someone driving a riding mower home from the neighborhood liquor store.
• A man on a golf cart.

In California, police have already arrested someone for causing an accident while DUI on a scooter.

When Can the law find you guilty of driving under the influence?

They can find you guilty of driving under the influence (DUI) for operating a vehicle with a BAC of .08 or higher. Yet, if a person operates a vehicle with impaired normal faculties the law can find them guilty of DUI. Thus, evidence of impairment might be in the form of a police officer’s observations or admissions by the operator. As well as, alcohol or drugs found upon a lawful search. These laws apply to conventional or electric bicycles and scooters too.

Take notice that a bicycle or scooter DUI in Florida is punishable. In fact, they have the same penalties as a DUI when operating a motor vehicle. Even if a Bird or Lime scooter or bike is available after an evening out. Taking a taxi, Uber or Lyft is still a far less expensive alternative than getting a DUI.

Please feel free to read more about electric scooters coming to Tampa or what to do after a DUI.

CONTACT TAMPA TRAFFIC TICKET ATTORNEY

RHINO Lawyers can help and guide you through a system molded by law enforcement, judges, and lawyers for decades. Having won cases for our clients in similar circumstances, our criminal defense team knows what it takes to fight on your behalf.

Let RHINO Lawyers answer your questions and review the facts of your case with a Free Consultation. Get started by completing the “Free Instant Case Evaluation” or by calling us any time, day or night, at 844.329.3491.

How Much Do Red Light Camera Tickets Cost in FL?

Always be cautious about red light camera intersections in Florida. If you’re unfortunate, and you get caught failing to stop in an intersection during a red light; you’re in a very difficult legal position. They send you a traffic ticket through the mail. After, you’ll have 30 days to pay it. Fines vary from municipality to municipality. But if you pay your ticket within those 30 days, the minimum fine will be about $158. The only good news with paying the fine is no points are added to your driver’s license.

If you fail to pay that ticket within the 30 day period, the fine increases to a minimum of about $262 plus court costs. Plus, you receive three points on your license. Take notice that if you’re making a right turn on red and not proceeding prudently and carefully, most municipalities will still ticket you, even if you creep through a red light slower than at a walking pace.

The last thing that you want to do about a ticket issued on an alleged red light camera violation is to ignore the ticket. Incidentally, they could suspend your driver’s license. On that offense, the fines get even higher, and you’ll still need to pay the red light camera ticket fine. Don’t forget about the driver’s license reinstatement fee either. Either pay the $154 for a red light camera ticket within 30 days or contest it within 30 days. If you contest it, visit with us right after that.

Let the criminal defense team at RHINO Lawyers answer your questions and review the facts of your case with a Free Consultation. Get started by completing the “Free Instant Case Evaluation” or by calling us any time, day or night, at 844.329.3491.

Can You Ignore a Red Light Camera Ticket in Florida?

You might not even know when that the red light camera gets you in an intersection. You’re a careful driver, and you’re not just going to disregard a red light. Without any intent, even our best judgment can fail us though. Tickets are issued to careful drivers every day as a result of innocent errors in speed, timing and when a traffic light is going to turn red.

Red light camera tickets are different than other types of tickets. No police officer witnesses the alleged violation pulls you over and issues you a ticket. A camera in an intersection takes a picture of your car when it doesn’t come to a complete stop at a red light. Since there’s no police officer to issue you a red light camera tickets come in the mail. They’re nearly indefensible, and they’re expensive too. Don’t ignore them though. You’ll become a victim of the ticket’s snowball effect.

Upon your receipt of a red light camera ticket, you have 30 days to contest it. If you pay the ticket, you’ll be admitting guilt, but no points will go against your driver’s license. Your insurance company will see the conviction though, so it’s likely that your insurance premiums are going to rise by at least 10 percent. Don’t just ignore the ticket though. Your fine is going to increase by about 40 percent, and if you continue to ignore the ticket, your driver’s license will be suspended. That’s part of the snowball effect. Fines will also increase if you’re stopped by a human police officer and cited for driving on a suspended license. After that, there is the license reinstatement fee.

Here’s the other surprise. Your failure to pay the ticket will likely be reported to the credit bureaus. Suddenly, you’re a deadbeat, and you’ll be paying considerably more to have credit extended to you. The snowball effect can cost you thousands of dollars in the long run. Upon your receipt of any red light camera ticket in the mail, you’ll want to contest it immediately, After that, call us and let the criminal defense team at RHINO Lawyers help you.

Are Red-light Cameras Legal in Tampa?

When you’re approaching an intersection, and the traffic light turns yellow, you have about a half of a second to make a decision on whether you have enough time to make it through the intersection before the light turns red. The amount of time that the traffic light remains yellow isn’t uniform from city to city across Florida either. It might not even be uniform from intersection to intersection in the same city. The one thing that’s for certain is that there are times when innocent people get caught in the middle. Sometime after that, they receive their notice of a red light violation in the mail. That’s when the reality of red light cameras hits people. Red-light cameras seem unfair and their fines are expensive. Yet, red-light cameras are legal in Florida.

Florida passed its red-light camera law in 2010. It’s up to the various municipalities in the state as to whether they want to use them. To date, about 50 cities in the state use red-light cameras. In 2018, they collected an estimated $100 million in revenue from red-light cameras. Legislation is pending yet again in Tallahassee to ban red-light cameras. It seems to be an annual piece of proposed legislation. The House approved a similar bill in 2018, with a vote of 83-10. However, the bill stalled in the Senate. The new bill for 2019 must still pass two committees before the House can vote on it. Assuming they approve, then it goes to the Senate again. Red-light cameras will continue to be legal in Florida unless approved the House, the Senate, and signed off on by Governor DiSantis. If that doesn’t happen, you can expect similar bills seeking to repeal Florida’s red-light camera law in future legislative sessions.