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Reckless driving in Florida is a serious traffic violation that carries hefty fines and, in some cases, jail sentences. A reckless driving ticket can also cost you a lot of many in penalties.
In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about reckless driving tickets in Florida, including its definition, the associated penalties, and more.
Reckless Driving in Florida
Florida’s motor vehicle statutes and laws define reckless driving as:
- “Willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property” while driving a vehicle; or
- “Fleeing a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle”.
A person must meet only one (and not both) of the definitions above to be considered a reckless driver in Florida.
Needless to say, the second offense is straightforward and clearly defined. Meanwhile, here are some examples of reckless driving that illustrate what counts as “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property”:
- Racing
- Certain road rage incidents
- Intentionally drifting and performing stunts with your car
- Aggressively and quickly changing lanes, and without turning on your turn signal
- Disregarding safety laws, in general
Florida’s laws can punish offenders more severely when their reckless driving leads to other problems, such as property damage.
What is the punishment for reckless driving in Florida?
In short, the punishment depends on the number of previous offenses that the reckless driver committed and whether or not they caused other damages.
Reckless Driving Without Causing Damages or Injuries
If Florida law enforcement charged you with reckless driving for the first time, and you didn’t injure someone or damage any property, here are the potential fines and penalties that you may face:
- Classification: Second degree misdemeanor
- Fines: $25 to $500
- Incarceration/Probation: Up to 90 days in jail or 6 months of probation
On the other hand, if you have one or more previous reckless driving violations on your record, the punishment is as follows:
- Classification: Second degree misdemeanor
- Fines: $50 to $1,000
- Incarceration/Probation: Up to 6 months in jail
Keep in mind that the court may impose one or both of the punishments above. For instance, some offenders could only get a $25 fine, but more serious violators may end up paying $500 and, at the same time, spend a certain amount of time in jail.
Because of the big difference between the two punishments, we highly recommend that you work with an experienced traffic attorney. You should also remember that the severity of a reckless driving charge influences the monetary fine amount and potential jail time.
Reckless Driving: Bodily Injuries and Property Damages
It goes without saying that the punishment is much more severe when it causes physical injuries or property damage.
Firstly, the following fines and penalties apply when a person other than the driver suffers from a “serious bodily injury” as a result of the reckless driving incident:
- Classification: Third degree felony
- Fines: $5,000
- Incarceration/Probation: Up to 5 year of jail time or probation
To clarify, Florida’s laws define “serious bodily injury” as “an injury to another person, which consists of a physical condition that creates a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ”.
Examples of a “serious bodily injury” include broken bones, brain concussions, significant harm to a sensory organ (the eyes, for instance), medical problems that require hospitalization, and others.
Secondly, here is the punishment when a reckless driver damages property:
- Classification: First degree misdemeanor
- Fines: $1,000
- Incarceration/Probation: Up to 1 year of jail time or probation
The reckless driving penalties for property damage is less drastic than situations that involve serious bodily injury. However, reckless driving, in general, carries heftier fines and penalties than other types of violations.
Reckless Driving vs Careless Driving
Many people tend to mix up reckless and careless driving, but the law in Florida makes a clear distinction between the two.
The most prominent one is that careless driving is merely a traffic violation. Reckless driving, on the other hand, is a crime. Therefore, the former has much lighter punishments than the latter.
Careless Driving
Careless driving simply entails making unintentional mistakes while on the road. Reckless driving is the act of intentionally ignoring or disregarding the wellbeing of other people and/or their properties.
The fines are similar to other infractions, such as speeding and driving with expired tabs. Most of the time, careless driving violations don’t involve any jail time.
Florida’s statutes define careless driving as “failure to drive in such manner” that:
- Is careful and conscious of the driver’s surroundings
- Takes into account the “width, grade, curves, [and] corners” of a street or highway
- Is considerate of traffic and other circumstances on the road
In short, unintentionally violating any of the above requirements can land you a careless driving charge. Examples include mistakenly driving over the corner of the sidewalk while taking a turn, switching lanes without signaling, and abruptly hitting the breaks.
Unlike reckless driving, careless driving incidents are usually minor, and they aren’t done in an aggressive way.
Reckless Driving
In contrast, reckless driving is done in a manner that doesn’t take other people’s safety into consideration.
For instance, if a driver goes well above the speed limit on a major highway and aggressively moves across several lanes without signaling, a police officer will likely charge them with reckless driving.
Here is another major distinction between reckless and careless driving: The former stays on your record for a longer time and costs you more points.
How many points are there for reckless driving in Florida?
A reckless driving charge could cost you 4 points in Florida. If you accumulate a specific number of points within a certain timeframe, the state could suspend your license.
Here are the driver license suspension durations:
- 30 days: When you get 12 points in 12 months
- 3 months: For 18 points in 18 months
- 1 year: After you collect 24 points within a 3-year timeframe
Even after the suspension period is over, the reckless driving charge will continue to impact your driving history.
How long does a reckless driving charge stay on your record in Florida?
For 75 years. This means that anyone who pulls up your record (an insurance company, for example) can see your reckless driving charge for the next 75 years.
This is important because it could impact how much you pay for insurance for almost your entire life. It also limits your ability to apply for jobs that require you to use a car.
Simply put, hiring a lawyer to help you fight a reckless driving ticket will be crucial. This can be costly, but it certainly isn’t as expensive as having the charge on your record.
At what speed is driving considered reckless?
Florida’s laws don’t establish a specific speed threshold that you need to go over in order to be charged with reckless driving.
Instead, speeding is treated as a violation in its own respect, and its severity depends on how fast above the limit you were going.
Nonetheless, if your speed falls within the parameters of what constitutes reckless driving (i.e. speeding in a way that disregards or ignores the safety of others), a Florida police officer could still charge you with reckless driving.
What is a stricter punishment in Florida: A DUI or Reckless Driving?
Florida’s DUI and suspension laws are much more strict than those that govern reckless driving. In fact, the fine amounts and jail times of a first-offense DUI are comparable to reckless driving incidents that damage other people or their properties.
DUI fines start at $500 to $1,000 for the first offense (or $1,000 to $2,000 when a child is in the car or the violator’s blood alcohol level (BAC) is above a specified threshold). They could go up to $5,000 and more during subsequent offenses.
In the same vein, the maximum jail sentence for first-time offenders is 6 to 9 months (depending on the violator’s BAC and whether or not a child was with them in the car). Subsequent offenses come with longer jail times, even more so when they’re committed within a short period of time.
In situations that involve property or bodily damage, intoxicated drivers may face serious criminal charges, such as manslaughter.
Reckless driving, on the other hand, is a much lighter offense under Florida’s laws. Additionally, it is much easier to fight a reckless driving charge than a DUI.
Get a Lawyer to Help Fight Your Reckless Driving Ticket in Florida
If you’re facing reckless driving charges in Florida, a qualified and reliable attorney should review your evidence and prepare your defense.
Already, WinIt’s users saved $10 million on parking and traffic tickets, and this doesn’t include the license suspensions and increased insurance premiums that we successfully helped them avoid.
In Florida, alone, our users saved about $120 million on insurance premiums. We processed over 800K tickets in the Sunshine State.
To put it another way, if you want to fight a reckless driving ticket in Florida, WinIt is simply your go-to app.
Here is how the process works:
- Submit: Firstly, take a picture of your ticket. Don’t have one? No problem. Just use your license plate number and our app will locate the ticket for you!
- Review: Next, upload your evidence and supporting documents on the app, and our experts will review your case.
- Dispute: At this point, you can sit back and relax. WinIt partners with world-class traffic attorneys who will start fighting the reckless driving ticket for you while giving you updates through every step of the way.
- Save: Not only do you enjoy top-level legal services at a particularly low rate, but we don’t even charge you, to begin with, unless your ticket is successfully fought off. Even then, our rate is just 50% of the fine amount.
With an app like WinIt, fighting a reckless driving charge in Florida becomes a seamless and straightforward process.
Let a world-class attorney handle your case and fight your ticket. Instead of stressing about going to court and paying fines, you can sit back, focus on your life, and take care of what’s important to you.
All you need to do is create a WinIt account and upload your ticket. We will handle the rest for you.
