Driving While License Suspended or Revoked, ("DWLSR") Fla. Stat. § 322.34 is one of the most common and most complicated of Florida’s Traffic Statutes. In fact, many police officers frequently write tickets using the wrong statute or subsection and in some instances, this can be a defense to the offense.

DWLSR’s can be either criminal "with knowledge" or a non-criminal "without knowledge" infraction and in most instances, it is up to the discretion of the police officer on how to charge a person with this offense

DWLSR can also be a very serious matter and under certain circumstances, it can land you in jail and also be charged as a Felony. Like DUI (Driving Under the Influence), there also can be separate DMV administrative penalties and mandatory driver’s license revocations depending on the number of DWLSR convictions. Further, upon conviction of certain crimes not related to driving, the State can suspend or revoke a driver’s license possession of marijuana - 2 years suspension, petty theft - 6 months suspension and many others.

The Florida Legislature intended to use the threat of a mandatory driver’s license suspension as a deterrent to even minor crimes but instead, this poorly understood and confusing DWLSR statute has ended up crowding the courtrooms with Defendants who many times are facing charges and do not even know their license has been suspended.

Here are some other key points to be aware of.  After three convictions for DWLSR, you can be charged with a Felony and worse, the Florida Courts have decided that previous "No-Contest" pleas where adjudication was withheld do count towards the three convictions, see Raulerson v. State, 763 So. 2d 285 (Fla. 2000).

However, if the conviction or adjudication and the DWLSR was charged "without knowledge" for example, for failure to pay a ticket, the conviction does not "count" and, if the driver’s license was reinstated in between the first and third conviction, a Defendant can argue these do not count towards a Felony DWLSR because the Statute refers to a single act of "any such suspension".  But note that convictions for DWLSR "with knowledge" will count towards a separate offense – a Habitual Traffic Offender Fla. Stat. § 322.264 – three convictions in any five year period could land you in jail under this these Felony charges.  Driving when a license is permanently revoked is the most serious of the DWLSR charges, charged as an automatic Felony under Fla. Stat. § 322.341.

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