Traffic laws in Florida set the rules for insurance, speed, right-of-way, phone use, alcohol, restraints, and what to do after a crash, and they back those rules with a points system that suspends your license at 12 points in a single year. A first DUI can mean up to six months in jail, and leaving a property-damage crash without exchanging information alone adds six points to your record. What follows is the working knowledge a Florida driver actually needs.
Insurance You Must Carry Before Driving
Every registered vehicle in Florida must carry at least $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and at least $10,000 in Property Damage Liability (PDL).1Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Florida Insurance Requirements PIP covers your own medical expenses no matter who caused the crash. PDL pays for damage you do to someone else’s property.
Florida does not require bodily injury liability coverage for most drivers, which is unusual among states. If you hurt someone in a crash and carry only the state minimum, nothing in your policy pays their medical bills, and a lawsuit can reach your personal assets. Many drivers add bodily injury liability voluntarily for that reason. After a DUI conviction, the choice disappears: you must file an FR-44 certificate proving liability limits of $100,000 per person, $300,000 per crash, and $50,000 for property damage, kept in force for three years.2Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. FR-44 Insurance Filing Bulletin
Speed Limits and the Basic Speed Rule
Florida’s underlying speed rule is that you cannot drive faster than is reasonable and safe for the conditions, even when the posted limit is higher.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.183 – Unlawful Speed Doing 55 in a downpour with almost no visibility can be a violation just as much as doing 80 on a clear day. You are also required to slow at intersections, curves, hill crests, and narrow roads.
Where no other speed is posted, the default maximums are 30 mph in business and residential districts, 20 mph in school zones during active hours (30 minutes before and after school sessions), and 55 mph on all other roads and highways.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.183 – Unlawful Speed4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.1895 – Establishment of School Speed Zones Counties and municipalities can lower residential limits to 20 or 25 mph after a traffic study. On interstates, FDOT can post up to 70 mph, with a minimum of 40 mph (or 50 mph where the posted limit is 70).
Right-of-Way, Turns, and Signals
At an intersection with no signal or stop sign, the vehicle arriving first has the right-of-way. When two arrive at the same time from different roads, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.5Justia Law. Florida Statutes 316.121 – Vehicles Approaching or Entering Intersections The same rule applies at four-way stops when vehicles stop simultaneously. Entering a state-maintained highway from an uncontrolled side road, you yield to everyone already on the main road.
You must signal continuously for at least the last 100 feet before any turn.6Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.155 – When Signal Required Right on red is allowed after a complete stop, but you must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk and to traffic moving on a green signal, and any intersection can be posted to forbid it.7Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.075 – Traffic Control Signal Devices U-turns are permitted wherever you can complete one safely and no sign prohibits it. “Safely” means enough visibility and space that no other driver has to brake or swerve.8Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1515 – Limitations on Turning Around
Seat Belts and Child Restraints
Every driver must wear a seat belt. Front-seat passengers aged 18 and older must be buckled, and every passenger under 18 must be restrained no matter where they sit.9Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.614 – Safety Belt Usage Adult rear-seat passengers are not legally required to belt up, though the risk speaks for itself.
Children five and under need a crash-tested, federally approved child restraint rather than a plain seat belt.10Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.613 – Child Restraint Requirements From birth through age three, that means a separate carrier or the vehicle manufacturer’s integrated child seat. Ages four and five may use a carrier, integrated seat, or booster; a regular seat belt is allowed only in limited situations such as a medical exception or transport by someone outside the immediate family. Violating the child restraint law puts three points on the driver’s license.
Phones Behind the Wheel
Texting while driving is a primary offense in Florida, so an officer can pull you over for that alone.11Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.305 – Wireless Communications While Driving The ban covers typing, sending, or reading any text-based communication on a handheld device, including emails and instant messages. A stopped vehicle is not “being operated,” so checking your phone at a red light is technically permitted. Holding a wireless device to your ear is separately banned in active school zones and work zones.
DUI Limits, Penalties, and Implied Consent
The BAC limit is 0.08% for drivers 21 and older, 0.02% for drivers under 21, and 0.04% for commercial drivers. A first DUI conviction carries a fine of $500 to $1,000, up to six months in jail, at least 50 hours of community service, and a 10-day vehicle impoundment.12Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.193 – Driving Under the Influence The FR-44 filing described above then follows for three years.
Holding a Florida license means you have already consented to a breath, blood, or urine test if you are lawfully arrested on suspicion of DUI. A first refusal triggers an automatic one-year license suspension; a second or later refusal brings 18 months and is itself a misdemeanor.13Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1932 – Tests for Alcohol, Chemical Substances, or Controlled Substances; Implied Consent
The Move Over Law
Anyone stopped on the roadside is protected by Florida’s Move Over Law. Approaching an emergency vehicle, tow truck, sanitation vehicle, utility service vehicle, road construction vehicle, or even a disabled car with its hazard lights on, you must change to a lane not directly next to the stopped vehicle on any road with two or more lanes going your direction.14Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.126 – Duty to Yield Right-of-Way to Authorized Emergency, Sanitation, and Utility Service Vehicles When you cannot safely move over, slow to 20 mph below the posted limit, or to 5 mph if the posted limit is 20 or less. A tow truck loading a car on I-95 gets the same protection as a fire truck, which is where a lot of drivers trip up.
Stopping for School Buses
When a school bus activates its stop signal, every vehicle approaching from either direction must stop and stay stopped until the signal is withdrawn.15Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.172 – Approach of School Bus Passing on the loading side triggers a mandatory court hearing and adds four points to your license.
There is one exception. On a divided highway separated by at least five feet of unpaved space, a raised median, or a physical barrier, drivers going the opposite direction do not have to stop. A painted line does not count. If nothing but paint separates you from the bus, you stop.
Pedestrians and Bicyclists
At a crosswalk without a signal, you must yield to any pedestrian on your half of the roadway or approaching closely enough from the other half to be in danger.16Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.130 – Pedestrians; Traffic Regulations At signalized intersections, stop before the crosswalk and stay stopped while pedestrians cross on a permitted signal. Failing to yield to a pedestrian is a three-point violation.
Passing a bicyclist going your direction, you must leave at least three feet of space between your vehicle and the bike.17Justia Law. Florida Statutes 316.083 – Overtaking and Passing a Vehicle, a Bicycle, or Other Nonmotorized Vehicle If the road will not allow that clearance, stay behind the cyclist until it does. The statute explicitly allows briefly crossing the center line to pass a bicycle when it is safe.
What to Do After a Crash
If you are in a crash that causes injury, death, or property damage, you must stop immediately. You must give your name, address, and vehicle registration number to the other driver, any injured person, or any investigating officer, and show your license if asked.18Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.062 – Duty to Give Information and Render Aid If someone is hurt, you must provide reasonable assistance, including arranging transportation to a medical facility when treatment appears necessary. When nobody at the scene can receive your information and no officer is present, report the crash to the nearest police authority as soon as possible.
Leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries is a felony. Even leaving a property-damage-only crash without exchanging information adds six points to your driving record.
Points and License Suspensions
Every moving violation carries a point value that stays on your record for at least five years. The suspension thresholds are 12 points in 12 months (30-day suspension), 18 points in 18 months (three-month suspension), and 24 points in 36 months (one-year suspension).19Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Points and Point Suspensions
Common point values:
- Speeding: 3 points, or 4 if more than 50 mph over the limit
- Reckless driving: 4 points
- Running a red light: 4 points
- Careless driving: 3 points
- Failing to yield right-of-way: 3 points
- Passing a stopped school bus: 4 points
- Leaving the scene of a crash with property damage: 6 points
Two speeding tickets and a red-light violation in a year put you at 10 points, one careless-driving citation short of a suspension. Those same points also drive up insurance premiums, so a single three-point ticket costs more than the fine on the ticket.