No. HB 807
Filed under Transportation.
Noncriminal Traffic Infractions Resulting in Vehicle Crashes; Provides specified penalties & requires hearing for certain infractions which resulted in crash with another vehicle; requires persons convicted of certain infractions which resulted in crash with another vehicle to carry higher bodily injury or death coverage limits for specified time period; provides exception.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCausing a crash with another vehicle while committing certain traffic infractions becomes its own violation category. A first offense means a mandatory hearing and a flat $500 penalty. Repeat offenses add a license suspension.
A second offense within this category raises the fine to $1,000 and suspends the license for 6 months. A third or later offense keeps the $1,000 fine but stretches the suspension to a full year.
Two existing hearing-required categories gain the same kind of mandatory penalty. If the crash victim was a vulnerable road user, the fine jumps to at least $5,000 or $1,500, the suspension can reach a year, and a driver-improvement course becomes mandatory.
Anyone found to have caused this kind of crash must also carry higher liability insurance for at least a year, covering up to $300,000 per crash. That is a third of the term a DUI conviction requires.
AIAn infraction of s. 316.075(1)(c) or s. 316.123(2) that causes a crash with another vehicle becomes its own infraction category. It removes the usual option to pay the ticket by mail; the driver must appear in person at a scheduled hearing instead.
AIA first violation under the new category draws a flat $500 penalty. A second draws $1,000 and a 6-month license suspension. A third or later violation keeps the $1,000 penalty but extends the suspension to a full year.
AIWhen the crash was against a vulnerable road user, the mandatory penalty jumps far above the base amount: a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 under s. 318.19(1), or not less than $1,500 under s. 318.19(2), plus a longer suspension and a mandatory driver-improvement course.
AIA driver found to have committed an infraction of s. 316.075(1)(c) or s. 316.123(2) that caused a crash with another vehicle must carry higher liability coverage, up to $300,000 per crash, for at least a year, a third of the three-year term a DUI conviction requires.
AICivil penalties collected from the new crash-causing signal violation now feed the same pipeline that funds trauma centers through the Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund, alongside the two categories already routed there.