FLHSMV: Pay Florida Traffic Ticket Online @ www.flhsmv.gov

Got a traffic ticket but don’t have time to visit the country clerk of court and settle your ticket? Then be relaxed and pay traffic ticket online via your concerned country clerk of court official website. 

Violation of any law or rule is always punishable in any corner of the world. In the state of Florida, you become eligible to get a traffic ticket if you violate traffic laws. 

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What is a Traffic Ticket?

In Florida, traffic ticket is basically an official notice when a driver disobeys traffic laws and this traffic ticket is issued by the law enforcement. Traffic ticket is of different types in which moving violations as well as non-moving violations are included. Moving violations take place when vehicle is in motion and these violations are more serious. Non-moving violations are those violations occur when the vehicle is parked or in non-moving mode. 

Traffic tickets are of innumerable types under Florida traffic laws. Some common examples of moving violations are reckless driving, running a red light, speeding or driving without a valid license etc. On the other hand, vehicle parking in restricted areas, expired tabs or expired parking meters consider some of the common examples of non-moving violations. 

Response to Traffic Ticket

In the state of Florida, you should necessarily provide a response to the traffic ticket issued to you. However, this response needs to be given within 30 days from the date of receiving the traffic ticket. 

Florida state council provides the residents two options as the response to the traffic ticket. You should respond either by fighting the ticket or pay the ticket. 

You have three options to take action against your traffic ticket issued for any traffic violation. 

  • Pay the penalty: Simply, pay the penalty to show your guilt of traffic violation and avoid complications in future. It indicates waive off the right to fight against the traffic violation in court. However, it may lead to driving your car insurance rates upward. 
  • Mitigation trial: You may request for a mitigation trial aims to minimize traffic violation fine. Similar to ticket payment, mitigation trial also shows entering a guilty plea. It offers payment plan on monthly basis and is suitable for people unable to pay entire penalty amount due to financial hardships. 
  • Contested trial: It comes into picture when you are confident and assured that you are not guilty of traffic violation. In this option, you can either hire an attorney or represent yourself in the court. It is always recommended to hire a traffic ticket attorney as he/she owns expertise and knowledge to fight against the violation case. 

Your conviction for violation increases points in your driving record. And points against your driver’s license get reduced when the violators complete their traffic safety courses.  

Pay Traffic Ticket Online

Online payment of traffic ticket is the easiest method in the state of Florida. You can pay traffic ticket online if you desire to avoid dispute. 

  • For this, you need to visit the official website of your concerned country clerk of court. This website processes online payments of traffic ticket. You can find your concerned country name and process of ticket payment on the traffic ticket issued to you. 

Important Note: You can find a list of countries along with their links to the clerk of the court here.

  • When you visit the clerk’s website, locate the link for paying civil citation or traffic ticket. You will get information about online payments that can help you figure out your eligibility for online payment. 
  • Further, you need to provide your citation number that you will get on the ticket. However, you can also use your driving license number in case you lost or forgotten your citation number. 

Important note: Your citations consume at least 7-10 days to show up within the online system of clerk. In case you do not get results with citation number, then you should try again to search for your citation number in few days. 

However, you should remember that to pay ticket online, you have the time period of 30 days from the date of citation issued. 

  • To pay ticket online, you have the option to use either a debit card or a credit card. For debit card payment, you can use American Express, Visa, Discover or MasterCard. Florida has an alliance with a third-party company for processing payments of credit-card. 

However, credit card payments involve some additional cost as a processing fee chargeable by the processing company. In case you use a debit card for online payment, there is a same procedure as credit card. 

  • After that, you will get a confirmation for ticket payment once validation of payment details is completed. You can either send this confirmation to your email ID or get a print out in physical form. 

It is suggested that when your 30-day deadline is near to end, you should keep this confirmation for records. It takes maximum 2-3 days to reflect your payment and clear your traffic ticket account. 

Additional Information

  • If your payment is not cleared even after a week or more, then you should immediately contact the clerk’s office. 
  • In some cases, you need to provide a compliance proof to the office of clerk. Proof is required in traffic tickets including failing to carry valid insurance, license or registration. Florida Safety Council does not provide any provision to submit this proof online.
  • You should visit the clerk’s office with your proof along with online payment receipt within 30 days from the date of citation issued. 

Consequences of non-payment of a traffic ticket in Florida

On-time payment of traffic ticket in Florida is necessary in order to prevent some serious repercussions. If you fail to appear in court or pay traffic ticket within the prescribed time, then you even may land up behind the bars. 

It is true that failure in payment of traffic ticket (whether speeding, crossing red signal or parking in restricted areas) may lead to license suspension and then police arrest. 

So, here are the repercussions for delay/failure in paying traffic ticket on time:

Driver’s license suspension

It happens when do not pay traffic fines or appear in court. Things become worsen if you do not own a license and failed to pay tickets due to financial issues. Once you receive clearance from the court, you may reinstate your driver’s license which includes an additional cost. 

Warrant for arrest 

It is the worst-case scenario that happens rarely in case of factors compounds such as criminal records, high points on driving record, and misbehavior with arresting officer/court.

High penalties

The grace period that a traffic ticket offers is of 30 days and the risk of higher penalties increases when you do not take any action within this period. Along with the ticket amount, chances are that civil assessment may add up by the court. Passing grace period without action and avoiding civil assessment may lead to case forwarding to collections.

Registration-related issues

Unpaid traffic ticket may cause issues in vehicle registration. These issues may range from more penalties to hiring a traffic ticket attorney to relieve you from such situation. 

Misdemeanor charges

It becomes applicable when you violate a traffic rule and receives a court order for the same. Misdemeanor charges come into picture when you fail to appear in court after getting summoned. You require paying these charges in addition to the ticket amount.

How to Check if you have a traffic ticket in Florida?

Maintaining driving records for Florida is the prime responsibility of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV). You can visit the official website of www.flhsmv.gov to check whether you have a traffic ticket issued and the number of points against your license. 

So, if you are uncertain about your traffic ticket, then you should follow these steps:

  • Visit the FLHSMV official website and click on Online Resources. 
  • After that, select “Driver license check” and provide your license number. Click on enter. 
  • Then you need to verify your identity for security purposes. For this, provide the last 4 digits of your social security number as well as a birth date. 
  • At last, click on Enter which will proceed to verify your information. 

Successful verification will display your driver history including number of points and current traffic ticket against your license.

Conclusion:

It is necessary for every resident of Florida to be aware of traffic tickets issued against their driver’s license. The Florida Safety Council assigns only a 30-days time period to take action against issued traffic tickets. Otherwise, you have to face some serious repercussions. Also, avoid getting a high number of points against your driver’s license. 

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