[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

INTERNATIONAL DRIVING PERMITS

The following information was prepared by the Canadian Loonies and Toonies Club leader, Dave Horsman, on 2/14/2013

"We have received over 100 emails this morning regarding the CTV report yesterday that requires all Non Americans to have a valid International Driver's License. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

We called all three of the sheriff's departments [and had opinions from lieutenants or deputies] that cover The Villages and not one of them had heard anything about this. All three of them explained that they would have gotten notification from the state capital if this was a major change in police policy. The most knowledgeable person we spoke was a Deputy in Lake County who told us that as long as we have an English language document we would NOT have a problem. The problem has arisen primarily because of Spanish language licenses and he did allude to the fact that some Canadian licenses issued in French could be a problem."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Statement from Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
International Driving Permits

During the 2012 legislative session, the Florida Legislature amended section 322.04, Florida Statutes, to require visitors from outside the United States to have an International Driving Permit in order to drive lawfully in Florida. This change took effect Jan. 1, 2013.

It has come to the Department’s attention that this requirement may violate the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (1949), an international treaty to which the United States is a signatory. Treaties to which the United States is a party preempt state laws in conflict with them.

Therefore, the Florida Highway Patrol will defer enforcement of violations of the amended statutory section until a final determination of the alignment of the amendment with the treaty can be made. Non-resident visitors to Florida who wish to drive while here will be required to have in their immediate possession a valid driver license issued in his or her name from another state or territory of the U.S. or from their country of residence. However, the FHP will not take enforcement action based solely on the lack of an International Driving Permit.

When I was a Supervising Motor Vehicle Representative for the State of New York I received many inquiries about International Driver Licenses. One of the main things to know about IDL's are that they are actually not a drivers license. They are basically a translation into several different languages. Also they are not valid by themselves and must be carried along with your state or province issued drivers license. IDL's are issued by the American & Canadian Automobile Associations. You can learn more about them at these web sites:

Canada: CAA - IDP (includes statement of FL enforcement deferral)
United States: AAA - IDP