Florida Statutes

Fla. Stat. § 322.42 (2025)

Construction of chapter.

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322.42 Construction of chapter.This chapter shall be liberally construed to the end that the greatest force and effect may be given to its provisions for the promotion of public safety.
History.s. 53, ch. 19551, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 4151(662); s. 54, ch. 20451, 1941.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases, 1977–2016 · leading case: Lescher v. Florida Dept. of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs., 985 So. 2d 1078 (Fla. 2008).
Lescher v. Florida Dept. of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs., 985 So. 2d 1078 (Fla. 2008). · cites it 3× “Stat. (2005). The Legislature further provided that "[t]his chapter [322] shall be liberally construed to the end that the greatest force and effect may be given to its provisions for the promotion of public safety.”
Pulaski v. State, 540 So. 2d 193 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989). · cites it 2× “§ 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1987); Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles v.”
Dept. of High. Saf. v. Bender, 497 So. 2d 1332 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). · cites it 2× “" § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1983). The offense of DUI is the same before and after section 316.”
State, Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs. v. Walsh, 204 So. 3d 169 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016). · cites it 2× “(quoting § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1997)); see also § 322.”
State, Dept. of Hwy. Saf. v. Grapski, 696 So. 2d 950 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). · cites it 2× “" § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1993). The legislature has determined that, for the protection of the public, a person convicted of DUI must participate in a driver improvement or substance abuse course before being permitted to return to the roads.”
Jackson by & Through Whitaker v. Hertz Corp., 590 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). · cites it 2× “[3] Section 322.42, Florida Statutes (1985) provides: "This chapter shall be liberally construed to the end that the greatest force and effect may be given to its provisions for the promotion of public safety.”
State, Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs. v. Abbey, 745 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). · cites it 2× “” § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1997). It is also the express legislative intent to “provide maximum safety for all persons who travel or otherwise use the public highways of the state.”
Thompson v. Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs., 692 So. 2d 272 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997). · cites it 2× “” § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1995). Because there has never been a common law duty of care for the discretionary governmental function of revoking and renewing driver’s licenses and the statutory waiver of sovereign immunity did not create a new duty of care, appellee is, as a matter…”
State, Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs. v. Peacock, 185 So. 3d 632 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016). · cites it 2× “” § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (2015). However, we may not add words to section 322.”
Silha v. Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs., Div. of Driver Licenses of Florida, 109 So. 3d 820 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013). · cites it 2× “(1999); see also § 322.42, Fla. Stat. (1999) (providing that chapter 322 “shall be liberally construed to the end that the greatest force and effect may be given to its provisions for the promotion of public safety”).”
State v. Holzinger, 46 Fla. Supp. 1 (Fla. Palm Beach Cty. Ct. 1977). “To this end, the state has cited Fla. Stat. 322.42 which states — This chapter shall be liberally construed to the end that the greatest force and effect may be given to its provisions for the promotion of public safety.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.

This Florida statute resource is curated by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., a Jacksonville, Florida criminal defense attorney (Florida Bar No. 39104). Attorney Syfert regularly handles Chapter 322 matters in the context of driving-while-license-suspended and criminal traffic defense and represents clients throughout Northeast Florida. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.