ORLANDO, Fla. – News 6 traffic safety expert Trooper Steve Montiero answers viewer questions about the rules of the road every week, helping Central Florida residents become better drivers by being better educated.
Trooper Steve on Thursday was asked, “I think it is illegal to drive through a business parking lot to avoid a traffic light. I see it all the time. Is this not illegal?”
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“I propose a question for you. What if you owned a driveway, but it could be used by the motoring public so they didn’t have to wait in traffic. Would you be OK with drivers driving there? Probably not,” Trooper Steve said.
Avoiding a traffic control device is considered a moving violation in Florida. According to Trooper Steve, it means that if you’re waiting in traffic and you see a driveway or some type of business that would allow you to cut through and get to where you’re going faster, you’ve now committed a traffic violation and avoided the traffic control device.
“In the video, I use the intersection of Semoran Boulevard and Lake Underhill Road. This intersection has two areas where drivers tend to do this quite often. If you’re traveling northbound along the road and your goal is to head east on Lake Underhill, that right lane tends to back up often. Some drivers choose to cut through the Popeyes parking lot in order to avoid this traffic,” Trooper Steve said. “This is a violation and you are contributing to traffic that should not exist within that parking lot. Stay in your lane, wait your turn and avoid the ticket.”
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