Athens GA DUI Law Blog

Georgia law enforcement officials will be out in full-force over the Labor Day weekend looking for drunk drivers, aggressive drivers and speeders. Law enforcement officials are reminding the public of Georgia's policy of Operation Zero Tolerance, which started August 20 and will continue through Labor Day. 

Director Bob Dallas of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety explains that OZT means that if a driver is over the legal limit, they will not receive just a citation or a warning, but they will go to jail. Motorists who are impaired with a blood-alcohol level of .08 will be arrested, even if they are first-time offenders.

The Batmobile will also probably be out and about. The Batmobile is a command center vehicle that has all the equipment for testing for DUI, including the Intoxilyzer 5000.

On August 2, the Princeton Review released various rankings of colleges and universities, and The University of Georgia, Athens, found itself named the number one party school in the nation. Some students cringed and others cheered, while the campus newspaper, Red & Black questioned whether it would mean a crackdown by police. 

The fall semester began at UGA two weeks ago and arrests for underage DUI and underage possession of alcohol are indeed up. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, twenty UGA students were arrested in Athens for DUI, underage possession of alcohol, and other alcohol-related charges on the first Thursday night school was back in session. 

Lindsay Lohan was released early from inpatient rehab on Tuesday by a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge. At a hearing on Wednesday, the judge laid out the terms of Lohan's early release. The 24-year-old star of "Mean Girls" and "Herbie Fully Loaded" will have to attend counseling several times a week until November. The sessions will include psychotherapy and addiction counseling. Lohan will also have to remain in the Los Angeles area and submit at least twice a week to random drug and alcohol testing.

Lohan served 14 days in jail for repeatedly violating the terms of her DUI probation. Among other violations, Lohan had missed several required alcohol-education classes. She was taken from the jail to an inpatient rehabilitation center where she had been sentenced to stay for three months. Lohan's early release will allow her to continue to work on her acting career, but will still require her to follow strict terms.

In the last post, we discussed the differences between license cancellation, license revocation and license suspension. In this post we will focus on how such action is justified by the state.

Georgia state law designates a point system for driving offenses, as well as a number of actions that result in mandatory license suspension or revocation.

Points are given for actions such as speeding (2 to 6 points), reckless driving (4 points) and passing a school bus while the stop sign is extended (6 points). If you exceed 15 points in 24 months, the Department of Driver Services will attempt to take your license away.

Important: Georgia allows points tallied in other states to count toward the total as well. So, if you only have 2 points in Georgia, but 14 points in West Virginia, you can still have your license taken away in Georgia.

The following is meant as an objective summary of the laws regulating license suspension and revocation in Georgia. No matter what state you are in, if you find yourself facing the possibility of losing your license, you should seek the assistance of an experienced defense attorney as soon as possible.

There are three different ways in which your license may be taken away in Georgia.

1. License cancellation occurs when a prospective driver fails to provide the right information to the Georgia Department of Driver Services when applying for a new license or renewal. While this is the most common reason for cancellation, there are other ways to be deemed ineligible. As soon as you can fulfill the requirements given, you are allowed to reapply.
   
2. License revocation is a complete termination of driving permissions. While revocation does not always last forever, you will be required to apply for a new license once the revocation period has expired.
   
3. License suspension is one of the most common ways in which Georgian drivers lose their licenses. They are defined by a temporary suspension of driving rights, to be regained at the end of the suspension.

Labor Day is less than three weeks away. This national holiday has one of the highest associated rates of travel, as well as drunk driving arrests. State Patrol officers and local police will undoubtedly be out in full force expecting to catch people who choose to drink and drive in Georgia over the holiday.

Law enforcement officials in Riverside County, CA exemplify the level of attention routinely given to this issue throughout the country as of late. Starting this Friday, agencies will be increasing patrol resources and creating DUI checkpoints in their jurisdiction through Labor Day to show they are serious about preventing drunk driving accidents. Their initiatives are in direct alignment with the national "Drunk Driving: Over the Limit, Under Arrest" campaign.

A professional hockey player who had just signed a new contract to play a third year with the Gwinnett Gladiators was seriously injured earlier this week in a car accident. The Georgia State Patrol believes the crash was alcohol-related. The Gwinnett Daily Post reported on Monday that Gwinnett Gladiators defender Phil Youngclaus, 27, refused to provide a Georgia State Patrol trooper with a sample of his blood for an alcohol test, and was cited for DUI, possession of an open container in a vehicle, failure to wear a seatbelt, and failure to maintain lane.

Detailed information on Youngclaus' condition was not available, but it was reported that he may have broken his back in multiple places. The trooper reporting on the accident also noted that he had obvious injuries to his head. Youngclaus was ejected from the vehicle after his truck flipped and rolled after veering onto the road's shoulder. Youngclaus was hospitalized at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.

As the summer winds to a close, UGA students are preparing to go back to school and they are reflecting on the summer's events. The student newspaper, redandblack.com, reflects on a community that is scrambling to find a new athletic director after the resignation of former director Damon Evans following a DUI arrest in Atlanta on June 30.

The recent article outlines the night's events and the aftermath, both reflecting on Evans' contributions to the athletic department at UGA as well as the drunk driving arrest that he called a "serious mistake in judgment" that ultimately cost his job when he was forced to resign. The students report that Evans apologized more than once to the UGA community and said that he will now be doing some soul-searching following his arrest in order to get back to being a role model for student athletes.