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Failure to yield violations are among the most common causes of roadway fatalities in Florida and the rest of the United States. Although not quite as deadly as tailgating or speeding, failing to yield is nonetheless a dangerous misstep. As if the danger weren’t bad enough, committing one of these violations can result in you receiving a ticket with hefty consequences.
What Is Failure To Yield in Florida?
Law enforcement officers issue Failure to Yield tickets in Florida to drivers who disobeyed the rules of the road at a point when they were supposed to let other traffic or pedestrians go. To better understand what this means, we’ll need to talk about the right of way.
The right of way is the right to use the roadway. If you have the right of way, then others need to yield to you. If you do not have the right of way, then you need to yield to others. Drivers in Florida take turns having and yielding the right of way depending on the circumstances of the road they’re driving on. This is most commonly noticed at intersections.
How Does One Yield at an Intersection?
To properly yield the right of way at an intersection in Florida, you should adhere to the following hierarchy:
- Trains and active-duty emergency vehicles.
- Construction crews.
- School buses and students in school zones.
- Drivers who were already in the intersection when you got there.
- Pedestrians at marked or unmarked crosswalks.
- Drivers who got to the intersection first, then second, and so on.
- Drivers going forward.
- Drivers turning right.
- Drivers turning left.
- Drivers to the right (90 degrees) of you.
- Drivers entering the roadway from a parking space, parking lot, unpaved road, etc.
Here are three examples:
- Drivers turning left must yield the right of way to emergency vehicles flashing lights and blaring sirens.
- Drivers who arrive at the intersection after other drivers must yield the right of way to the drivers who arrived before them.
- Pedestrians must yield the right of way to drivers that were already in the intersection before the pedestrians arrived.
Penalties for Failure To Yield in Florida
The penalties for Failure to Yield tickets in Florida can be quite steep. This represents the serious nature of these violations. Furthermore, depending on whether or not a person were injured or killed as a result of a driver’s failure to yield, the penalties can become much, much higher.
If nobody is injured as a result of your failure to yield the right of way, you can expect to pay a fine of up to $500. Additional surcharges and fees might apply, further increasing that cost. You also risk receiving up to four points on your license and having your insurance premiums increase by roughly $516.53 for up to around five years.
If somebody is injured as a result of your failure to yield the right of way, the above penalties can increase substantially. You might even be charged with criminal offenses, such as reckless driving.
If somebody dies as a result of your failure to yield, you will quite likely face the most severe penalties possible, up to and including jail time. Oftentimes, you will also be sued for wrongful death, reckless endangerment, or culpable negligence and can end up paying substantially more than the official fines and financial penalties.
Failure To Yield to Emergency Vehicle Florida
A similarly titled—yet differently defined—crime occurs when you fail to yield the right of way to emergency vehicles in the state of Florida.
What Is It?
Whereas most Failure to Yield tickets are issued at intersections, tickets for failing to yield to emergency vehicles can be issued anywhere. This is similar to Florida’s Move Over law. If an emergency vehicle has activated its lights and sirens, you must do your best to get out of its way and clear a space for it to travel along its intended route.
Penalties for failing to do so can include a minimum fine of at least $120 and three points on your driving record.
Defenses for Failure To Yield
Failure to Yield is such a common violation that many defenses have been tried over the years. After countless cases were dismissed, convicted, appealed, overturned, etc., a few arguments proved more effective than others. Here they are:
Poor Visibility of Road Lines
If you can prove that the road lines (such as yield markings, stop lines, or crosswalks) were not adequately visible from your vehicle, you might be able to convince the court to dismiss your charges.
Poor Visibility of Signs
This is similar to the issue with road lines. If you were issued a ticket for Failure to Yield at an intersection with a poorly visible (or not visible) yield sign, then you might have grounds to prove yourself not guilty.
Another Vehicle Broke the Law
This is not the “but he did it first” argument that rookie traffic court attendees often attempt. Rather, this refers to what happens when another vehicle breaks the law and puts you at risk of harm, forcing you to break the law in turn. For example, if another driver is threatening to kill you, you will most likely not be prosecuted for breaking the law in an attempt to flee for your life.
Reckless Driving on Another Vehicle’s Part
This argument shares many similarities with the one above it. If another driver is driving recklessly and your only hope to save yourself is to interrupt the intersection and get to safety, then you have a right to do so.
You Were Avoiding Harm’s Way
By this point in the article, you might be noticing the Florida court system’s trend to avoid prosecuting people for self-defense or self-preservation. If yielding the right of way would pose a greater hazard or put you at greater risk than failing to yield the right of way, you might be able to have the charges against you dismissed.
Hire an Attorney Through appwinit.com To Fight Your Case
Whatever the case may be, the help of an experienced traffic ticket attorney can be an invaluable asset. When you need healthcare, you call a doctor. When you need financial advice, you call a financial advisor. So why call anybody other than a lawyer when you’re in a legal bind?
Finding a lawyer is as easy as tapping a button on your phone via the WinIt app. Instead of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for a Failure to Yield ticket in Florida, consider taking your case to court and winning it with WinIt.
