You’re heading south from downtown Sarasota to Siesta Key and traffic is crawling.
The light ahead turns red and the right-turn lane isn’t moving. Meanwhile, there’s a shopping plaza on the corner with a wide-open parking lot.
You could duck in, cut through, skip the backup and be back on the road in 10 seconds.
Should you?
Not unless you enjoy turning a few minutes saved into a ticket that could cost a few hundred dollars and put three points on your license.
Florida law generally treats cutting through private property to avoid a traffic control device as a moving violation, even if nobody gets hurt and it seems harmless.
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Is it against the law to cut through parking lots to avoid traffic lights in Florida?
Florida statute 316.074 requires all drivers to obey the instructions of any official traffic control device, with exemptions for authorized emergency vehicles and anyone directed otherwise by a police officer.
It’s not a long chapter, but it specifically states: “No person shall drive any vehicle from a roadway to another roadway to avoid obeying the indicated traffic control indicated by such traffic control device.”
Will I go to jail if I cut through a parking lot?
Violations are noncriminal infractions punishable as a moving violation, the same category as failing to stop at a red light to make a right turn.
Skipping around a light will run you $158, plus additional administrative and surcharges. You’ll also earn three points against your driving record, which can affect insurance rates, influence any convictions of crimes, and even (if you keep racking them up) result in your license getting suspended.
Just wait for the light to change.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Is it legal in Sarasota to use a parking lot to avoid traffic lights?
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By C. A. Bridges, Sarasota Herald-Tribune | USA TODAY Network
