DUI & Alcohol
Search names, statutes, classifications, penalties, points, and enforcement notes.
11 offenses
Driving Under the Influence
Florida Statute § 316.193
Establish driving or actual physical control of a vehicle in Florida plus either impairment of normal faculties by alcohol, specified chemical substances, or controlled substances, or a blood/breath alcohol level of at least 0.08 in the statutory units. Record control of the vehicle, observations, and properly obtained test evidence. A 0.15 level, a passenger under 18, qualifying prior convictions, or resulting damage/injury can change the penalty or offense level. Alcohol consumption alone does not establish impairment; impairment is not required for the alternative 0.08 theory.
DUI
Florida Statute § 316.193(1)
Establish driving or actual physical control of a vehicle in Florida plus either impairment of normal faculties by alcohol, specified chemical substances, or controlled substances, or a blood/breath alcohol level of at least 0.08 in the statutory units. Record control of the vehicle, observations, and properly obtained test evidence. A 0.15 level, a passenger under 18, qualifying prior convictions, or resulting damage/injury can change the penalty or offense level. Alcohol consumption alone does not establish impairment; impairment is not required for the alternative 0.08 theory.
DUI manslaughter
Florida Statute § 316.193(3)(c)3
DUI manslaughter requires DUI, vehicle operation, and a human being's or unborn child's death caused or contributed to by that operation. The ordinary track is a second-degree felony. The first-degree track applies when the driver knew or should have known a crash occurred and failed the information/aid duties, or has a specified prior DUI/boating manslaughter, vehicular-homicide, or vessel-homicide conviction. Document the DUI basis, causation, death, and enhancement facts separately; knowledge of death is not the stated crash-awareness requirement.
DUI with property damage
Florida Statute § 316.193(3)(c)1
This track requires a DUI violation, operation of a vehicle, and damage to another person's property or person caused or contributed to by that operation. Establish DUI through impairment or the statutory alcohol-level alternative and separately document operation, the damage/injury, and causation. The statute does not require that impairment itself be the sole cause. Serious bodily injury or death belongs in the corresponding enhanced track; merely being in actual physical control without operation does not satisfy this damage enhancement.
DUI with serious bodily injury
Florida Statute § 316.193(3)(c)2
Establish DUI, vehicle operation, and serious bodily injury to another caused or contributed to by that operation. Serious bodily injury involves a substantial risk of death, serious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily member or organ under §316.1933. Document the DUI basis, causation, and medical facts supporting that injury threshold rather than relying only on transport to a hospital. Lesser injury/property damage and death have separate statutory tracks.
Ignition interlock — tampering / circumvention / assistance
Florida Statute § 316.1937(6)-(8)
Select the act: tampering with or circumventing a court-ordered ignition interlock device; soliciting another person to blow/start for a restricted driver; providing that assistance; OR knowingly leasing/lending a vehicle without the required functioning certified device. Establish the operative restriction, prohibited act, and required knowledge/purpose. An employer-owned/leased vehicle may qualify for subsection (7)’s notified-employer exception with proof carried in the vehicle; the restricted person’s owned/controlled business is excluded. Subsection (8) specifies a civil nonmoving violation, with additional subsection (5) revocation consequences. Separate any independently established criminal restriction, suspension, or probation violation.
Open container — driver
Florida Statute § 316.1936
An operator may not possess an open alcoholic beverage container or consume alcohol while operating a vehicle; the prohibition also covers sitting in a motor vehicle parked/stopped within the broadly defined road/right-of-way. A broken seal or immediate ability to drink makes a container open. A container not possessed by a passenger is attributed to the operator unless in a locked glove compartment, trunk, or other locked nonpassenger area. Verify alcohol, seal, location, possession, and lawful sealed takeout exceptions; driver violations are moving.
Open container — passenger
Florida Statute § 316.1936
A passenger's physical control of an open alcoholic container establishes possession; consuming alcohol is also prohibited. The law covers operating vehicles and specified parked/stopped road locations. Passenger exceptions include qualifying contracted transport with a passenger-endorsed CDL driver, buses with such drivers, and self-contained motor homes over 21 feet; parked/stopped vehicles have additional passenger exceptions. Lawfully sealed takeout beverages are excluded. Document the passenger's control, beverage/seal, vehicle use, and applicable exception; the passenger track is nonmoving.
Refusal to Submit to DUI Testing
Florida Statute § 316.1939
A lawful breath/urine refusal charge requires DUI probable cause, lawful arrest unless the specified implied-consent exception applies, the required suspension and criminal-penalty warnings, and refusal after the request and warnings. Under current law, a first qualifying refusal is also criminal; a qualifying prior refusal suspension or boating-refusal fine supports the enhanced track. Document the lawful test basis, exact warnings, response, and prior record. This provision does not make every refusal of any test criminal; blood requests and the test-specific implied-consent rules require separate analysis.
Refusal to submit to testing — first refusal
Florida Statute § 316.1939(1)
A first qualifying refusal of a lawful breath or urine test is a second-degree misdemeanor. Establish DUI probable cause, lawful arrest unless the specified implied-consent exception applies, the lawful test basis/request, required suspension and criminal-penalty warnings, AND refusal after the warnings. A prior refusal is not required for this first-refusal track under current law. Record exact warnings and response; not every refusal of every test is criminal, and blood requests require separate analysis. A qualifying prior refusal suspension or boating-refusal fine invokes the separate first-degree repeat track; administrative and criminal proceedings remain independent.
Refusal to submit to testing — qualifying repeat refusal
Florida Statute § 316.1939
For this first-degree misdemeanor track, establish a qualifying prior refusal suspension OR prior fine under §327.35215, together with DUI probable cause, lawful arrest unless the specified implied-consent exception applies, a lawful breath/urine request, the required suspension and criminal warnings, and refusal after those warnings. Obtain the actual prior record; a prior DUI conviction alone does not establish a prior refusal. A first qualifying refusal is separately a second-degree misdemeanor. Administrative and criminal dispositions are independent; blood-test requests require separate test-specific analysis and are not automatically criminal under this breath/urine provision.