RSSFlorida Creates Web Site For Parents To Check Childrens Driving Records
Florida has recently added a new website for parents to check their childrens driving records. This allows parents, who are responsible for the behavior of their children, a place where they can proactively check to see that their children are obeying the rules of the road.
While a bit intrusive, parents also need to monitor their childrens behavior. They are typically legally obligated, and in my opinion morally obligated, for their childrens actions. And if their children are misbehaving outside the home, the parents can remediate the situation instead of waiting for notification from the state.
Jeffrey Klapatch’s mother wrote on the site, “my big, beautiful, 6-foot-2, 200-pound son was killed in a violent motorcycle accident.”
Klapatch’s tragic end propelled his mother to action. On Jan. 1, 2007, the Jeffrey Klapatch Act went into effect in Florida.
“We have to give parents all the tools we can possibly give them to keep our children safe,” Pinellas County Tax Collector Diane Nelson said.
Parents can now check their children’s driving records up to the age of 18. Klapatch’s mother did not want another parent to make the same mistake. Her 18-year old son loved his motorcycle, and even more, he loved speed. He received nine speeding tickets before the fatal motorcycle accident.
“His parents did not know this,” Nelson said. “Perhaps maybe if this web site had been developed at that time, they would have been able to monitor that a little bit better.”
Once you’re on the highway safety and motor vehicles web site, click on the parental access link. You’ll be asked to enter your child’s drivers license number. Then you’ll have to verify the last four digits of your child’s social security number and birth date. via baynews9.com
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5 Responses to “Florida Creates Web Site For Parents To Check Childrens Driving Records”
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This is great
I always got a copy of anything mine did, usually arrived along with the rate increase from the insurance company.
Why do parents have to check a website to know what their children’s driving record is?
Yikes! The boy in this story was only 18 years old when he was killed and had “received nine speeding tickets before the fatal motorcycle accident.” I am surprised that nine speeding tickets in a period of 2 years, assuming he was 16 years old when he got his drivers license, was not enough for Florida’s DMV to sideline the youngster’s driving privileges and maybe prevent that fatal accident.
I live in Illinois and I am not at all familiar with the workings of the Florida traffic courts and the DMV in Florida, but I am quite sure that if that youngster had been an Illinois driver in the county I live in, he would very likely have been bumming rides from family and friends long before he got that ninth speeding ticket. Illinois drivers under 21 years old who are convicted of 2 moving violations within any 24 month period (3 moving violations within a 12 month period if over 21) will get a mandatory drivers license suspension raging from a minimum of 60 days to a maximum of 1 year depending on the violation point total. There is also a reinstatement fee after the suspension expires, ranging from $250 to $500 depending on the suspension. Drivers under 18 years old who are convicted of 2 moving violations within a 24 month period can also be (and very often are) required to complete a remedial driver education course and be required to re-take the complete state driver’s license examination after the suspension expires. And the length of suspensions are even harsher for Illinois drivers whose license is suspended more than once in any 7 year period.
But I am not saying that what happened to this mother’s son in Florida cannot happen here in Illinois. I am just saying that something seems amiss in the Florida county where an 18 year old still has a drivers license after being issued nine speeding tickets in the 2 years prior to his fatal accident. We have lawyers in Illinois too and we have judges who are quite willing to grant court supervision to folks willing to plead guilty and pay the fine, which allows the court to withhold entry of a conviction on the violation from the county record reported to the DMV during the period of supervision if there are no additional violations during that time. The case then, if there are no additional violations during the court supervision, is dismissed and sealed in the county without entry of a conviction. There would have to be some serious deviate shenanigans in traffic court abusing the discretionary power of the court to withhold entry of those 9 speeding convictions within 24 months from the county record that is reportable to the DMV. It just seems incredible that the youngster who was killed was still legal on wheels in Florida.
When should a judge summon a juvenile driver’s parent into traffic court to attend legal proceedings? I think it should be long before the 9th speeding ticket within 24 months. The parents of this youngster did not know about those 9 tickets. Yes, parents are responsible for the behavior of their children. But in the case of this youngster, I think the court bears a big burden of responsibility.
My 30 year old neighbor has been giving weed to my 15 year old son,as well as allowing my son to borrow his porno dvd’s.i ghave called the police and they have done nothing.Is there anything I can do.Florida Laws just don’t seem to be on the parents side of things