Have you been found guilty of a traffic offense in Florida and been awarded a traffic ticket? Paying your traffic ticket on time helps you avoid further penalties by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
In this guide, I will take you through how to pay a traffic ticket online in Florida.
First, you need to check your Florida traffic ticket online.
How do I check my Florida traffic ticket online?
You can always check your traffic ticket online in Florida if you lose it or forget some important details about your traffic citation. Moreover, you may also need to check your traffic record online just to know whether you have any pending tickets. Here’s how to check your Florida traffic ticket online:
- First, go to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (flhsmv.gov). Click here to go directly to the official PayFLClerk website.
Note: As you do this, ensure that you have your driver’s license and social security number (SSN) at hand. Better still, memorize the SSN.
- Secondly, at the top of this site’s home page, navigate to DRIVING LICENSES & ID Cards and click on it
This action opens up a service menu for you.
- Thirdly, go to and click “Driver License Check& ID Tracking System” (A new page will open here)
- Lastly, enter your driving license number, retype the characters provided on the image above and click “Enter.”
Here, you will have your full traffic history. You can also check your child’s traffic record if they are less than 18 years old by still entering their driver’s license number in the same manner as above.
Some details to expect on your driving license record include:
- Any traffic violations, either moving or non-moving
- Crash-related citations
- Driving license suspensions
- Details on traffic school completion
- Any driving restrictions, such as daylight driving
- Traffic exam results
Once you have checked the traffic ticket information tied to your driving license, it’s time to decide what to do with your traffic ticket. The obvious option is to pay for your traffic ticket. You can do it online, by mail to the court in your county, or in person at the county court.
In this next part, let’s look at how you can make your payment online.
How do I pay a Florida traffic ticket online?
Making online traffic ticket payments in Florida is easier and faster. Here’s how to go about it:
- First, go to the official website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and navigate to “Location.”. Click here to go directly to the site.
Alternative option: Go to PayFLclerk.com(I prefer this option, it saves me the trip most times)
- Secondly, choose your county(usually the one on your traffic ticket).
Here, you end up on the “Traffic Citations” page
- Thirdly, click “Pay Now” on the “Pay a citation.” region. (This leads you to the Find Your Ticket page)
- Then, enter the Citation Number, select “state” and ” License Number”, and birth date.
- Here, click “Continue.”
- Lastly, follow the hints and conclude payment for the ticket.
Note: Apart from paying the fine, there are other ways you can deal with your traffic ticket.
Other Ways To Deal With Your Florida Traffic Ticket
Once you have your traffic ticket, you have 30 days to decide what you wish to do with it. Above we talked about how you can pay for your traffic ticket using. But there is more you can resort to in place of paying for the traffic ticket as follows:
- Protest the traffic citation in court. This option is available for you if you feel there was an error issuing you with a traffic ticket in Florida. But how do you go about contesting the traffic ticket in court? Here’s how:
- Plan for the hearing: This includes scheduling the hearing by calling a traffic court in Florida. Also, you may notify a clerk in writing to schedule the hearing. In your schedule include the citation number, a mailing address, and your phone number.
- Get an attorney: Mostly a traffic ticket attorney to help make your case in court. Moreover, using a professional traffic ticket lawyer improves the potential that you may win.
- Plan for the case: This step includes reconciling the evidence and witnesses together. Moreover, going through your testimony to get the readiness to show up in court.
- Make your case in court: The clerk presiding over your case will talk to the traffic officer that cited you, as well as yourself, plus the witnesses. Then, the clerk will review the evidence available and make a ruling on your case.
Note: If the ruling says you’re not guilty, you will do some paperwork and your penalties lifted. If guilty, then you will be issued with details of any fines accumulated, details on any surcharges, and extra penalties.
You may also choose to file for an appeal if you still feel you can prove your innocence.
- Check your driving record online. This step allows you to ascertain that your record is up to date. For instance, any points were added to your record and you’re innocent they should be deducted and even a fine removed.
The last option apart from your paying for your Florida traffic ticket and contesting it in court is doing a driver improvement course.
- Take a driver improvement course. Still, within 30 days from the date of being issued a traffic ticket, you can select a driving improvement course. Florida Statutes, 318.14(9) states that if you take an approved traffic improvement course, you will not be awarded any points and your fine will be decreased by 18%.
More about how to go about getting your driver improvement course in Florida is as follows:
- First, call the Clerk of Court. This step is supposed to allow you to tell the clerk of the county where your traffic ticket was issued that you have elected a driver improvement course.
- Secondly, pay the citation. Choosing a driver improvement class gets you an 18% discount on our traffic ticket charge. Also, the clerk will impose a court cost. Pay for these fees before proceeding.
- Lastly, issue a completion certificate. Submit the certificate of completion to the Clerk of Court in the county you elected to take driver improvement course.
Apart from paying for your traffic ticket fine, we talked about points that you accumulate based on particular traffic offenses.
This next part will talk in-depth about Florida’s traffic violation points system.
Florida Traffic Violations Points System
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles awards points based on your violation of Florida traffic offenses. The Florida points system is 3,4, and 6 points based on the violation. Here’s the Florida points system breakdown:
3-Point Offenses
A speeding offense, for instance, driving at 15mph or less over the stipulated limit in a given location in Florida is subject to three points added to your driving record. This is a mild penalty that you can easily solve with a basic driven improvement class of 4 hours.
Other infractions resulting in 3-point penalties include:
- A child seatbelt violation
- Failing to yield, could be to a pedestrian in a designated pedestrian right of way
- Driving on the shoulder
- Curfew violation
- Open container driving
- Running the stop sign
4- Point Offenses
Traffic violations with such points allocation are usually the ones that endanger human lives. Of course, any traffic offense endangers life, however, these ones are sort of grave offenses, and would normally amount to six points on your driving record.
- Reckless driving
- Driving over 15mph of the set limit
- Passing a stopped school bus, usually from an entrance or exit side.
- Running a steady red light, among other red-light infractions
- A moving violation that results in an accident
6-Point Violations
6-point penalties on your driving record are usually for grave traffic offenses for careless driving. A 6-point violation sometimes results in costly insurance costs considering you have a poor driving record.
Example of Florida 6-point violations include:
- Leaving the scene of the accident without issuing information, especially with damages that exceed $50.
- Speeding and resulting in a body-harming accident
The points you are assigned stay on your record for about five years. Accumulation of points to a given extent, further results in a suspension of your driving license.
Here’s a breakdown of the suspension of your driving license in Florida based on the points tally on your record.
- 12 points accumulated in 12 months result in a 30-day suspension.
- 18 points accumulated over 18 months leads to suspension for three months.
- 24 points accrued over 36 months earns you a one-year suspension.
Note: You can remove points from your driving record.
To avoid license suspension you can remove points on your record by attending a traffic school in Florida.
Note: The traffic school in Florida cannot remove points collected out of Florida, although they were transferred to your Florida Driving Record.
Conclusion
Traffic offenses in Florida attract hefty penalties. You may get fined or have points added to your driving record. Above is a guide to paying a traffic ticket online in Florida. Moreover, the points system and what to do to remove points from your FL driver’s record. All you need to today is pay your Florida traffic ticket today and free yourself of more traffic penalties.
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