Florida Driver Education
Driving Safe on Florida Roads
We must have very highly skilled drivers in Florida. We just completed a 2 hour trip on the turnpike and noticed some amazing driving - not in a good way. Our trip was through Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami Dade counties. The three counties account for hundreds of thousands of traffic tickets each year.
First of all SunPass is a godsend. You cruise through the toll booths that seem to appear every mile or two with ease. As you approach the toll booth there are signs everywhere that say toll booth speed limit 25 MPH. As we began slowing down it quickly became obvious that we were the only car - really the only car - that was slowing down. Sure everyone slowed down a little but the average speed through the toll booth was close to 50 MPH - twice the 25 MPH speed limit.
While it's not quite threading a needle, driving through the toll booth at high speed leaves little room for error. Consider slowing down in the neighborhood of 25 MPH - closer to 25 than 50.
You're cruising down the Florida turnpike in the left lane at the speed limit and a car comes up behind you like you're standing still. This car is really close to your bumper. It's slow close to you that if you had to tap your brakes it would be certain contact. The driver behind you is in a rush, wants you to move, and is giving you a not so subtle signal. They're pushing you.
Pushing your way through traffic is very dangerous and too common. You see these drivers and shake your head. They fly up behind a car and ride their bumper. If the car does not move they resort to swerving into another lane to get around them. Then they do it to the next car.
Here's a little newsflash for those of you guilty of this behavior - you're not alone on the road. Get caught doing this and we can't help you. No you can't take one of our easy online traffic school courses. You're going to need an aggressive drivers course, which will require 8 hours of classroom time. And if you cause an accident while driving aggressively you can rack up six (6) points in a single incident. Keep that in mind and back off.