What can happen to a commercial licensed driver who receives a traffic ticket in Florida?
Answer: Several years ago, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, also known as the DMV in Florida, came out with a mandate that said that the Clerk of Courts cannot transmit a disposition on a traffic ticket called a withholding of adjudication or a finding of no guilt. For years, we used to be able to go to court, even on a commercial driver, if the person had a good record and the judge would withhold adjudication. And in many instances it would show up on a person’s driving record, but it would show up there as no points. So when an employer ran the record or the insurance company ran the record of a commercial driver, the conviction wouldn’t appear because there was no conviction. So, what has happened recently— this apparently started in the federal government. The feds said that you can’t mask a driving record. The argument to be made from the defense side is they’re not masking anything; the violation is still showing up on their record, it’s just showing up as no points. So, we’re kind of in flux right now in the state of Florida depending on the county in which you receive a ticket as a commercial driver.Some counties are better than others. Some officers will even amend a citation to a non-moving violation. Other jurisdictions, the judge still may withhold adjudication because they’re not going to be told by the DMV what they can and cannot do in traffic court. So, if you’re a commercial driver, these are individuals that absolutely should speak to an attorney before they decide what they’re going to do with a ticket because paying a citation outright and not exercising any options to go to court could result in a major problem for your employment in the years moving forward.
