Special 100 days of summer traffic program

Summer is here and we're in the middle of the annual H.E.A.T program, that is, Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic.

All summer long, police and highway patrol are on the lookout for speeders, those driving under the influence, and unbuckled drivers and passengers. Georgia drivers are among the highest illegal speeders in the country, and frankly, your law enforcement officers are tired of investigating accidents that could have been avoided by motorists just using a little more caution and common sense. "Throughout the year, speed, drunk driving and unbuckled motorists and passengers are the top three causes of fatal crashes in Georgia," said Director Blackwood. "But the summer represents a crucial time period because kids are out of school and more families hit the road for vacation. And unfortunately, Georgia experiences an average of one speed-related death per day."

New booster seat law for children 6-8

New for this year, police are enforcing the state's booster seat law that was passed this spring. The new law requires children to be restrained in a child passenger safety restraint device until they are eight years old. "While some exemptions do exist, this law exists to protect our precious cargo at a time when far too many 6-to-8-year-olds are visiting the emergency room from crash injuries sustained while improperly restrained," said Director Blackwood.

For more information see www.gahighwaysafety.org

Atlanta DUI Lawyers Clark & Towne

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You know the Miranda warning

All of us driving around Atlanta have heard of it.  We've all heard the Miranda warning on TV shows and movies. Some of us have heard it on a more, er, personal level.

One reason why I love the law is that it's always evolving. Sometimes it evolves in ways that help individuals; sometimes it evolves in ways that help the government.

If you're on the receiving end of a Miranda warning:

• a police officer doesn't have to tell you all of the possible charges you face or for which you may be under investigation.

• the interrogating officer doesn't have to tell you what the maximum punishment is that you face.

Is this fair?

Fair? Ignorance is not bliss in this instance. Make sure you understand, and everyone you know understands, that if you're being asked to answer police questions, you have the right to remain silent and unless you know all of the suspicions you face, it's probably best to exercise that right.

DUI and Miranda Rights

Chances are, if you are being arrested for DUI in the Atlanta area, the officer is arresting you based on evidence you gave the officer yourself, without the Miranda rights even being read to you. While you were politely answering the officer's small talk.

Related Articles

• Do not do the field tests
• Don't consent to the search
• What happens at a DUI traffic stop?
• No Refusal Policies are Bad Law
• Do not talk to the police
• What the police don't want you to know

Atlanta DUI Lawyers Clark & Towne

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How can you get the source code for the Intoxilyzer 5000?

There were two very important rulings by the Georgia Supreme Court that will affect Georgia DUI cases with breath tests. The defense attorneys in each case wanted access to the source code used by the Intoxilyzer 5000, the Georgia breath machine. A source code is the instruction followed by a computing device in processing information. Basically, drivers were asking that the manufacturer, a company named CMI in Owensboro, KY, to produce the documents containing the source code when they sent a witness to testify in a Georgia court. The lower courts said the defendant (the driver) couldn’t have that information, no matter what.

The defense attorneys appealed the decisions, and the Georgia Supreme Court has basically ruled that since a defendant has a right to cross-examine witnesses against him or her, “[We will] permit a party (the driver) to request that a corporation, rather than its human agent, be found to be a material witness . . . and leave the issue of designation of its human agent to the corporation. Said designation need not occur until after a certificate of materiality has been issued by the Georgia trial court and the court in the county in which the out-of-state corporation is located conducts a hearing which the corporation has been ordered to attend, on the request for issuance of a summons to appear at the Georgia trial with the material evidence purportedly in the corporation’s possession. . . . Should the certificate of materiality be issued by the Georgia court, it is for the Kentucky corporation to identify the human agent through whom it will act, perhaps in conjunction with the hearing that would be held in Kentucky upon receipt of the Georgia certificate of materiality. “

Now, this doesn’t meant that CMI has to cough up the source code. Before that happens, the driver’s attorney must get a Georgia judge to conduct a hearing and issue a certificate of materiality. Then, the attorney has to get a Kentucky court to agree on the certificate of materiality and then to figure out what person has to gather the information and bring it to Georgia.

Once a defense attorney has access to the source code, he or she can use an expert witness to look at the code to determine if it’s calculating blood alcoho content and converting it properly.

Complicated? You bet. This is why you need an experienced DUI defense attorney on your side.

Could this happen in Georgia?

The drivers of a horse-drawn buggy in Pennsylvia that collided with a car were charged with driving under the influence.  Since both of the people in the front of the buggy could have had control of the reins, the police arrested both of them and took them to the hospital for blood tests (they don't mess around with breath tests in PA, apparently). One "driver" was also underage. No people were injured in the crash.  The horse was injured but is expected to survive.

I've never seen a horse-drawn buggy on any of the roads around where I live but that doesn't mean they don't exist.  So, if you are riding in your buggy in  Gwinnett County and you've had too much to drink, you are in luck.  Georgia requires that a person be in operation of a MOTOR vehicle to be arrested for DUI. An intoxicated buggy driver may be cited or arrested for Reckless Conduct, but not DUI, since the buggy's motor is a mammal.

Atlanta DUI Lawyers Clark & Towne

We're on the big three social networking sites and now You Tube too! 
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