Having points added to your license could prove to be a heavy burden as time goes on. Not only would points limit your options in terms of a profession, but you may also be at risk of incurring expensive insurance premiums as well.
For more insight about how the demerit license point system in West Palm Beach works, feel free to reach out to one of our attorneys at Leifert & Leifert today.
What Determines the Points Assigned to Traffic Offenses?
The determining factor in how many points are assigned is the offense include, the severity of the offense, and whether there was an accident related to that offense. Points are rarely assessed for non-moving violations such as driving with an expired registration, broken tag lights, expired insurance coverage, or an HOV violation. However, in situations where someone is travelling 10 to 14 miles per hour above the legal speed limit, they would likely have points added to their license. For more serious infractions such as a hit and run, drivers can have up to six points added to their license or even charged with a crime.
Long-Term Impact of Points Added to a License
When a person has points added to their license, not only would their driving privileges be harmed, but their insurability would also be affected as well. For example, if two drivers are applying for insurance, and one has been driving for 20 years and no tickets and the other has been driving for the same amount of time but has an average of one ticket per year, the driver with no tickets will likely not pay as much for insurance as the other driver who has had several citations over the previous years.
License points could also impact a person’s employability for certain professions. For example, if a driver is aiming to be a commercial driver, delivery driver, taxi driver, or a salesman, they could face difficult landing a job since insurance companies or a prospective employer might not want to insure them for having too many tickets.
One profession that could be significantly impacted by having points added to a license is being a pilot. Pilots may have trouble trying to renew their license since points added to a license could be used as evidence to say that the pilot is not fit to fly safely, especially if they are flying passengers or flying over densely populated areas.
Challenging Driver’s License Points
A person can challenge the points added to their license depending on the type of points they received. In some cases, there may have been a mistake made by the state. To correct the mistake, the driver and their attorney would go back to court on a motion to correct the sentence and order the DMV to reflect the appropriate sentence. If the offense occurred out of state, they would have to go back to the home state where the offense occurred and try to correct the mistake, and then have Florida honor the removal.
Unfortunately, if the Court issued points against the driver, there is no way for the driver to get them removed unless they were inappropriately put on there in the first place.
Points for Infractions Committed in Other Jurisdictions
If a driver receives a ticket for speeding in a jurisdiction outside of Florida, they may also be issued penalties by the State of Florida. For example, if a driver was issued a speeding citation in New York and one point is added to their license as a result, the driver’s Florida driving record may count that one point as four points in Florida if the offense they committed would have been worth that amount in Florida.
Learn More by Scheduling a Consultation
Everyone deserves the right to have their driving privileges intact. However, if the state believes that you may need points added to your license following a traffic offense, you could have your right to drive taken away or restricted for a certain amount of time.
Schedule a consultation today if you wish to learn more about the demerit license point system in West Palm Beach. One of our attorneys at Leifert & Leifert could take the time to sit with you and discuss any and all your questions.
