DUI and Super Speeder in Georgia: When One Traffic Stop Brings Two Punishments

DUI and Super Speeder in Georgia: When One Traffic Stop Brings Two Punishments

A DUI charge is not an isolated incident. The typical Georgia DUI case starts with an officer stopping a driver for speeding, then noticing signs that suggest impairment. It all begins with a lead foot, but soon turns into two legal issues, and in Georgia, the Super Speeder law makes the financial consequences hurt even more.

How the Stop Escalates

It typically plays out in a matter of minutes. The officer comes up to you for the speeding ticket, requests license and registration, and begins to notice the smell of alcohol, your glassy eyes, and your admission that you had a few drinks. The officer has a valid reason for the stop — the speeding violation — and everything observed after that can add to the DUI investigation. At the end of the encounter, you could be facing a speeding ticket, a Super Speeder assessment and a full DUI charge from one traffic stop.

What Super Speeder Adds

The Georgia Super Speeder law imposes a $200 state fee in addition to local fines for anyone who is caught driving 75 mph or more on a two lane road, or 85 mph or more on any road or highway in the state. This is not an on-the-spot assessment of the speeding ticket — but rather, a separate assessment issued by the State, with its own notice and its own deadline. Just ignore it and your license may be suspended until you pay the fee.

When a driver is charged with DUI, they have to pay an already high cost of a DUI case, plus the Super Speeder fee: insurance rates are going to rise, and the DUI case will include DUI fines, court surcharges, DUI school, and possibly Super Speeder costs. These two charges are not absorbed into each other; the penalties are different and the speeding is a separate charge, with a different penalty.

Why Prosecutors Like the Combination

A high speed stop can be helpful to the DUI in a subtle way. The state may be able to argue that it’s irresponsible to be driving so fast, and it’s never in question why the driver was stopped — the radar reading is hard to dispute. That said, speed alone does not prove intoxication — plenty of sober drivers speed. The defense burden is to avoid integrating the two issues: the speed accounts for the stop, and the state must still show that the person is impaired independently of the speed.

Handling Both Charges Together

The charges tend to stem from a single stop, and are typically handled concurrently, presenting both risk and opportunity. The plea negotiation might involve the speeding ticket in addition to the DUI, and sometimes the entire deal itself can be designed to minimize the overall damage. That, however, takes a person who is thinking about the entire situation — the criminal exposure, the Super Speeder fee and the license ramifications — instead of the ticket and the DUI being two separate documents.

If you have been charged with both a DUI and Super Speeder, an Atlanta DUI Lawyer can show you the exposure before you pay a single cent. An expert Atlanta DUI Attorney considers these events in terms of a whole story. In multi-charge cases, drivers are looking for a DUI Attorney Atlanta courts trust with the entire package of charges. A DUI Lawyer Atlanta prosecutor will be familiar with the combinations that can be reduced and those that can’t.