DUI Traffic Stops

If you were pulled over by the Jacksonville Sherriffs Office (JSO) then it is vary likely that you were stopped for a traffic infraction like one of the following:

• Running A Stop Sign or Signal
• Rolling Through A Stop Sign or Signal
• You Hit Another Vehicle
• Speeding
• Improper Lane Change

If you were pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) then it is very likely that you were stopped for one of the following reasons:

• Speeding
• You Were Involved In An Accident
• Improper Lane Change

Due to the fact alcohol and other intoxicants impair psychomotor and visual tracking skills, it is Very common for drunk drivers to have difficulty staying within their lane on the highway, particularly through curves and turns. Therefore, Improper Lane change is one of the most common tickets issued in conjunction with DUI charges.

An professional DUI defense attorney can at times challenge an officer’s claim of Improper Lane change by examining squad car video as well as interviewing both the you and the arresting officer. The relevant Florida State law states that a vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane State Of Florida Statue 316.085. A single instance of veering out of one’s lane, for instance, could possibly be explained by an obstacle in the roadway or some other harmless reason.

Other charges often connected with DUI charges include speeding, ignoring a traffic control device or stop sign, and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Maintainig your vechile goes a long way toward not being pulled over for a minor issue and winding up being charged with DUI. Take for an example of this case where driving with your headlights off caused an officer to perform a traffic stop and subsequently issue a DUI finding

State v. Laina, 175 So.3d 897 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015): In this example, an officer cunducted a drivers license check on the defendants vehicle and found that the registered operator of the automobile had a license which had been suspended. The officer stopped the automobile primarily based on this information and
the operator of the vehicle was eventually arrested for driver with a suspended license. The defendant submitted a motion to suppress, alleging that the stop was illegal. The defense attorney recognized that the Fifth DCA had already held in Smith v. State, 574 So.2d 300 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) that an officer could possibly stop a vehicle when he first establishes that the registered operator of the vehicle does not possess a valid drivers license. However, the lawyer interestingly persuaded the trial court that the Smith case was implicitly overruled by State v. Teamer, 151 So.3d 421 (Fla. 2014). The trial court therefore granted the motion to suppress and the State appealed.