New cars have plenty of advantages, but one of the disadvantages that many lawmakers and enforcers have been raging about for decades now, is that as cars get faster and safer, forcing drivers to keep to a speed limit is harder. It is no surprise, especially given that most cars nowadays do not give a sense of speed to the driver, and that all the safety talks and gear that they are now equipped with can make us think that we will survive any crash, but that is not true, and the fact that millions of people still die on the roads every year should give us a clue about the severity of speeding as an issue. To try to minimize the problem once again, lawmakers in Florida have created a new law that will increase penalties for drivers who break speed limits and other traffic laws.
While this might sound unnecessarily punitive, especially given the fact that traffic fines affect disproportionately lower income people who are already struggling to make ends meet, it is also them who are more likely to pass away in an accident due to a car in a worse condition, so the new law is meant to be used as a deterrent.
The new Florida law that is increasing penalties for speeding
Called HB 351, it was promoted by Governor Ron DeSantis and will be implemented starting July 1. The bill did not come out of nowhere, Florida has seen an increase of road accidents, and many of them have really tugged at the heartstring of both residents of the state and its lawmakers. One of the most startling cases that kickstarted this movement was the death of an eleven year old boy called Anthony Reznick, who lost his life after being struck by a repeat speeder.
Tragedies happen every day, but the fact that the driver had multiple fines for speeding and was still going fast down the road and killed a child because of this negligence, really put into perspective the lack of understanding of why the speed limits exist and are enforced. So, starting on July 1, 2025, drivers who exceed the speed limit in Florida will face harsher penalties to try to mitigate the problem.
The new regulations establish stricter penalties depending on the severity of the violation.
For a first offense the penalties will be as follows:
- If the driver exceeds 100 mph (160 km/h) or exceeds the speed limit by more than 50 mph (80 km/h), they will face:
- Fines of $500
- Up to 30 days in jail
- Both penalties
- For those who are repeat offenders (within a 5-year period):
- Fines of up to $1,000
- Up to 90 days in jail
- One-year driver’s license suspension
While not everyone will be deterred by the increase in fines and the suspension of licenses, they have been proven to sometimes successful in curving reckless behavior as it disincentivizes it due to the personal cost. And Forida really does need the behavior to be curved, as a recent report by the safety app Life360 found.
The report stated that driving in Florida is not only costly for offenders, but also highly risky and that Miami and Fort Lauderdale are currently the most dangerous cities to drive in the entire country. The study was published in May 2025 and was based on more than 60 billion data points generated by 55 million users. The platform analyzed driving behaviors such as harsh braking, sudden acceleration, harsh turns and excessive speed.
What they found after their analysis is that Fort Lauderdale ranks second in the country for rapid acceleration, a maneuver closely linked to traffic accidents