On October 30, 2010, Matthew Moye of Riverview was speeding and driving drunk when he hit and killed two pedestrians on Harbor Island Bridge in Tampa.
Prior to the fatal crash, Moye had received numerous citations, obtaining 10 speeding tickets in 12 years. However, many of the previous citations left no points on his Florida driver's license simply because Moye had the option, and agreed, to return to driving school.
It is not uncommon in Florida for drivers to keep their licenses by opting to partake in driver improvement courses approved by the State. Research is now showing that these courses are not proving to be strongly effective in aiding to reduce the amount of crashes in the state.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demerits the myth that highway safety education is going to solve a lot of problems, explaining that license suspension and revocation were the most effective ways to reduce both crashes and violations, according to a 2004 study.
Considering that to get points on a driving record in Florida, drivers have to admit guilt or be found guilty of a moving violation, some Safety advocates are arguing that the State makes it too easy for those with bad driving records to stay on the road.
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were more than 2 million noncriminal moving violations in 2009, but nearly two-thirds of the time, no conviction was made after ticketing. Further, drivers were only found to be guilty in 6 percent of the cases. Thirty percent of the cases involved a defendant admitting guilt by paying civil penalty, and the rest of the cases were dismissed, or had adjudication withheld.
As Deputy Larry McKinnon of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office explains, unless a driver is adjudicated, they will never obtain the status of a habitual offender. Adjudication withheld, he suggests, is a way to escape the point system.
Safety researcher and member of the Automobile Club of Southern California Steven Bloch agrees, suggesting that adjudication withheld is ruining the validity of hazardous drivers' records.
Prior to the crash on Harbor Island last October, Moye had received 19 traffic violations in several different states, but about half had been dismissed or adjudication was withheld. Despite his lengthy citation record, Florida law mandates that to get a 30-day suspension, a driver must have received 12 points in one year. Therefore, even if Moye had been convicted in every instance, he still would have been a legal driver at the time of the Harbor Island crash, where he was noted going 89 mph on a 30 mph bridge, with a blood alcohol level of .13 %. Only then, was Moye banned from driving, as a condition of bail set by a judge. The case is still pending.
The Law Offices of John T. Grove handles auto accidents everyday and sees first-hand the damaging physical, emotional and financial effects accidents can cause. Contact our office today for a FREE consultation and let us advise you of your rights.
