Fla. Stat. § 318.13
outside the civil frameworkverifiedDefinitions
How Florida classifies this section
s. 318.13 is not within § 318.14(1)'s noncriminal-infraction list
This section is outside the list § 318.14(1) makes noncriminal, and outside chapter 316 — so the civil pay/school/hearing election does not attach to it by that route. Charges under it proceed under the charged statute's own terms (many are criminal traffic offenses). The verbatim text below, when in the corpus, is what controls; a licensed attorney is the right reader for a charge in this lane.
The statute, verbatim
318.13 Definitions.—The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, except where the context otherwise requires:(1) “Department” means Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, defined in s. 20.24, or the appropriate division thereof. (2) “Suspension” means that a licensee’s privilege to drive a motor vehicle is temporarily withdrawn. (3) “Infraction” means a noncriminal violation that may require community service hours under s. 316.027(4), but is not punishable by incarceration and for which there is no right to a trial by jury or a right to court-appointed counsel. (4) “Official” means any judge authorized by law to preside over a court or hearing adjudicating traffic infractions. (5) “Officer” means any law enforcement officer charged with and acting under his or her authority to arrest persons suspected of, or known to be, violating statutes or ordinances regulating traffic or the operation or equipment of vehicles. “Officer” includes any individual employed by a sheriff’s department or the police department of a chartered municipality who is acting as a traffic infraction enforcement officer as provided in s. 316.640. History.—s. 1, ch. 74-377; s. 1, ch. 76-183; s. 1, ch. 77-119; s. 12, ch. 94-306; s. 907, ch. 95-148; s. 93, ch. 99-13; s. 248, ch. 99-248.
sha256 dfdc04a18d25eed5231ad1c01ed502ef… · 2025 Fla. Stat., dual fetch-path pipeline · permanent corpus page →
Which text, as of when
2025 Florida Statuteslast amended 1999Decoded against the 2025 Florida Statutes as ingested — dual fetch-path verified, hash-pinned. Session laws amend sections on their own effective dates; the 2026 Laws of Florida are indexed as the corpus's overlay.
History.—s. 1, ch. 74-377; s. 1, ch. 76-183; s. 1, ch. 77-119; s. 12, ch. 94-306; s. 907, ch. 95-148; s. 93, ch. 99-13; s. 248, ch. 99-248.
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Is section 318.13 a traffic infraction?
This section is outside the list § 318.14(1) makes noncriminal, and outside chapter 316 — so the civil pay/school/hearing election does not attach to it by that route. Charges under it proceed under the charged statute's own terms (many are criminal traffic offenses). The verbatim text below, when in the corpus, is what controls; a licensed attorney is the right reader for a charge in this lane.
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