According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2,597 people were killed in United States traffic accidents in December 2010. Of those, 775 deaths involved alcohol-impaired drivers.
Georgia's Driving Under the Influence Laws are complex. Georgia DUI injury attorney Shane Smith can sort through the intermingled laws that potentially create complications in a DUI case.
Proving that a driver is legally drunk is not the same as proving that the driver is responsible for an accident. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) tests (including Breathalyzers), blood tests, urine tests and field sobriety tests can be used to prove that a driver was impaired at the time of an accident. However, drivers can refuse any or all of those tests. Proving that an impaired driver caused an accident is a separate argument.
The impaired driver's insurance company may claim that the victim caused the accident even when it is established that the insured was legally impaired. The impaired driver may be convicted criminally of driving while impaired for having a BAC above the legal limit, fault must still be established. Plausible alternate theories may be created by the impaired driver's attorney or insurance company.
If you have questions about Georgia DUI laws, get the answers in Clayton County DUI injury attorney Shane Smith's book, I Was Hit By a Drunk Driver: What Do I Do Next? Contact Shane Smith Law to schedule a free legal consultation.