Florida Driver’s License Points System and Suspensions

Florida’s driver’s license points system adds 3 to 6 points to your record every time you’re convicted of a moving violation, and enough points in a short enough window will suspend your license automatically. Twelve points in 12 months costs you up to 30 days. Eighteen points in 18 months costs you up to three months. Twenty-four points in 36 months costs you up to a full year. Points sit on your record for at least five years from the date of conviction, so insurers see them long after any suspension ends.¹

What Each Violation Costs You

Florida Statute 322.27 sets a specific point value for every moving violation. Most tickets fall into a handful of tiers:²

3 points for speeding up to 15 mph over the limit, running a stop sign, and most ordinary moving violations.
4 points for speeding more than 15 mph over the limit, reckless driving, running a red light or other traffic signal, and passing a stopped school bus.
6 points for leaving the scene of a crash with property damage over $50, and for passing a stopped school bus when someone suffers serious injury or death.

Two details trip people up. Running a red light is 4 points, while running a stop sign is 3. And if your red-light ticket came from a camera rather than an officer, no points are assessed at all.²

When a Crash Changes the Number

Any moving violation that causes a crash gets bumped up. A failure-to-yield ticket that would ordinarily be 3 points becomes 4 if a crash results. Speeding or unlawful wireless device use that causes a crash jumps to 6 points, even if the underlying speeding ticket alone would have been 3 or 4.²

Texting and Handheld Devices

Florida uses a two-strike structure for texting behind the wheel. A first offense is a nonmoving violation with a $30 base fine and zero points. A second texting offense within five years becomes a moving violation with a $60 base fine and 3 points.³

Using a handheld device in a school zone or work zone is treated as a moving violation the first time, at $60 and 3 points. Commit any other moving violation while unlawfully using a wireless device in a school zone and the statute adds 2 more points on top of the underlying violation.²

How Long Points Stay on Your Record

Points remain on your Florida driving record for at least five years from the date of disposition, which is the day the court enters the conviction. That is longer than the 12-, 18-, and 36-month windows used to calculate suspension thresholds. A speeding conviction entered in 2026 still shows on your record into 2031, and your insurer can see it the entire time.¹

When Points Trigger a Suspension

FLHSMV runs three rolling windows against your conviction dates:²

12 points in 12 months: suspension of up to 30 days.
18 points in 18 months: suspension of up to 3 months.
24 points in 36 months: suspension of up to 1 year.

The phrase “up to” matters. These are ceilings, not fixed periods. Once your suspension ends, you pay a reinstatement fee to FLHSMV before your license is valid again. You can pay at any Florida driver license service center or by calling the department.¹

Keeping Points Off With a Driver Improvement Course

For most tickets, you can stop points from being assessed by electing a Basic Driver Improvement course. Choose this option and the court withholds adjudication, your civil penalty is cut by 18%, and no points hit your record.⁴

To elect, notify the clerk of court in the county where you got the ticket within 30 days of the citation date. You pay the reduced civil penalty plus a course fee, typically $25 to $60 depending on the provider. You can’t use this option if you hold a commercial driver’s license or were driving a commercial vehicle when cited.⁴

Florida limits elections to once per 12 months and five times in a lifetime.⁵ Spend them where it matters. A 3-point speeding ticket for 10 over may not justify burning an election, but a 6-point crash-related ticket usually does. Miss the completion deadline the court sets and the points get applied anyway, with additional sanctions possible.

Requesting a Hardship License

If a points suspension would block you from getting to work, school, or medical care, Florida Statute 322.271 lets FLHSMV reinstate your driving privilege on a restricted basis after you show serious hardship to your livelihood or your family’s support.⁶

Two versions exist. A “business purposes only” license covers work, on-the-job driving, education, church, and medical trips. An “employment purposes only” license is narrower and limits you to commuting to and from your workplace.⁶

You must enroll in a department-approved driver improvement course. Enroll or complete it before requesting reinstatement and the department can waive the formal hearing. Fail to finish within 90 days of getting the restricted license and the department cancels it until you do.⁶

Driving While Suspended

Getting caught driving on a suspended license escalates fast. If you truly didn’t know about the suspension, you’ll be cited for a moving violation. If you knew, the consequences are criminal:⁷

First knowing offense: second-degree misdemeanor.
Second knowing offense: first-degree misdemeanor.
Third or later: first-degree misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum of 10 days in jail.

The charge becomes a third-degree felony if the underlying suspension involved DUI, refusal of a breath or blood test, a crash causing death or serious injury, or fleeing law enforcement. A driver already designated a habitual traffic offender who drives during revocation also faces a third-degree felony.⁷

What Points Do to Your Insurance

Points give insurers a reason to raise premiums, and Florida law does not cap the increase for moving violations. Electing traffic school prevents points and usually keeps the conviction off your insurer’s radar, which is the main practical case for using an election.

For DUI convictions, the financial hit goes further. Florida requires an FR-44 filing, its high-risk insurance certification, with liability limits of $100,000 per person for bodily injury, $300,000 per crash for bodily injury, and $50,000 for property damage. Florida’s ordinary minimum is $10,000/$20,000/$10,000. You must maintain the FR-44 for three years after reinstatement, and the higher coverage layered on top of DUI surcharges makes it one of the most expensive consequences of a Florida DUI.⁸

Drivers Under 18

Teen drivers face a much lower threshold. A driver under 18 who accumulates just 6 points in any 12-month period has their license automatically restricted to business purposes only for 12 months or until they turn 18, whichever comes first.⁹

That restricted license covers work, school, medical appointments, and religious activities. Any additional points during the restriction extend it by 90 days per point. Two tickets during a restriction can easily push it past the driver’s 18th birthday.⁹

Tickets From Other States

Florida is part of the Driver License Compact, an interstate agreement it joined in 1967.¹⁰ When you get a ticket in another state, that state reports the conviction to FLHSMV, which then assigns points using Florida’s values, not the other state’s. A reckless driving ticket from Georgia gets Florida’s 4 points regardless of what Georgia would have assessed.

Suspensions also travel. The National Driver Register’s Problem Driver Pointer System tracks anyone whose license has been suspended, revoked, or canceled in any state, and Florida checks it when you apply for a new or renewed license.¹¹ Moving states doesn’t clear a suspension.

Commercial Driver’s License Holders

CDL holders face two extra burdens. You can’t use the Basic Driver Improvement course to avoid points on any ticket received while driving a commercial vehicle. And federal law adds its own disqualifications on top of Florida’s suspensions.

Under federal rules, a second serious traffic violation within three years disqualifies you from commercial driving for 60 days. A third within the same window makes it 120 days. Federally “serious” includes speeding 15 mph or more over the limit, reckless driving, improper lane changes, following too closely, texting while driving a commercial vehicle, and using a handheld phone while operating one.¹² One serious violation doesn’t disqualify you, but it starts the three-year clock.

Habitual Traffic Offender Designation

Beyond ordinary points suspensions, Florida Statute 322.264 lets FLHSMV designate a driver as a habitual traffic offender based on the number and type of convictions over a five-year period. The designation carries a mandatory five-year revocation, well beyond the one-year ceiling under the regular points system.²

Driving during a habitual offender revocation is a third-degree felony. Reaching that designation typically takes a sustained pattern of offenses, and DUI convictions can contribute to qualifying.⁷

1
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Points and Point Suspensions
2
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 322 – Section 322.27
3
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Put It Down – Focus On The Road
4
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 318 – Section 318.14
5
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Driver Improvement Courses FAQ
6
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 322 – Section 322.271
7
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 322 – Section 322.34
8
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. FR-44 Bulletin
9
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Traffic Laws for Florida Teens
10
The Council of State Governments. Driver License Compact
11
U.S. Department of Transportation. Privacy Impact Assessment – National Driver Register Problem Driver Pointer System
12
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers