Georgia’s DUI Less Safe Law Arrested in Fulton County With a BAC Under 0.08

Georgia’s DUI Less Safe Law Arrested in Fulton County With a BAC Under 0.08

Picture yourself sitting in your vehicle on the shoulder of a Fulton County roadside, watching as the roadside breathalyzer reads a number that is significantly less than 0.08, the legal limit. You are feeling a sense of relief because you believe that the traffic stop is over, and you will be given a ticket or a warning to leave. Then that moment is shattered when the officer asks you to exit the vehicle, turns you around and cuffs you. This nightmare scenario is unfolding every night of the week throughout the state at the behest of an incredibly aggressive and often misunderstood law known commonly as the DUI Less Safe law. You don’t have to be legally drunk to be arrested; you just have to be less safe to drive a car than a sober driver.

In Georgia, under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391, it is possible to be charged, arrested and convicted of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) that is nearly zero. The DUI Less Safe law permits the police to arrest if they think that any amount of alcohol, prescription drugs, or even over-the-counter drugs has made it less safe for you to drive than it would be for someone who is sober. This personal judgment places all the power in the officer’s hands. What they think of your driving ability, your speech pattern, and your general appearance will become the main evidence used against you, rather than the objective reality of a chemical test.

Because the state can no longer use the breathalyzer reading (above 0.08) to prove its case, the prosecution will rely on the officer’s account of the arrest. The prosecution will closely examine why the police stopped you, arguing that minor traffic violations such as slightly crossing the line, rolling through a stop sign, or braking too late are all signs that you are intoxicated. They will also make a great deal of your field sobriety test results. What the police will not tell you is that these tests are flawed, physically taxing and virtually designed to fail, even if you are not impaired. Which is why you need an expert Atlanta DUI Lawyer. You need someone who can dissect the officer’s subjective evidence and reveal the commonplace reasons for a stumble, a “buckled” stutter or bloodshot eyes caused by a long day at work.

An arrest under the less safe statute can carry the same terrible consequences as a regular DUI: mandatory jail, license suspension, outrageous fines, and a criminal record that can destroy your professional life. The vagueness of the charge actually makes it a hotly contested legal charge. An experienced Atlanta DUI Attorney knows that in the absence of a high BAC, the prosecution’s argument rests on shaky ground. To successfully defend this charge, you need to cross-examine the arresting police officer, question his or her training, review the dashcam and bodycam footage frame by frame, and offer other plausible reasons for any alleged symptoms of impairment.

It’s essential never to rely on a low breathalyzer result to get you out of trouble in court. The law is a complex system and prosecutors are under immense pressure to obtain convictions under the less safe provision to boost their figures. In this battleground, you’ll need a ferocious DUI Lawyer Atlanta courts respect to stand guard against the tactics of the state. An experienced advocate will wage a war against the subjective probabilities that led to your arrest and work to ensure that a police officer’s hunch doesn’t determine your fate. If you are charged with these offences, the most important thing you can do to protect your freedom, your career and your reputation is to retain an aggressive DUI Lawyer Atlanta courts respect.