In almost every instance, a following too closely ticket (O.C.G.A. 40-6-49) is issued only when there has been an accident with a rear-impact collision. When there are only two cars involved, and the rear driver is at fault, this citation makes sense.

However it can often be over-used, especially when the accident involved three or more vehicles. Many three-car collisions occur when the first vehicle is forced to stop short, and the car immediately behind the first vehicle would have been able to stop in time if he/she hadn’t been pushed forward by the third car in the rear!

It can feel very frustrating to the driver of the second car because there is little that could have been done to avoid being pushed into the first car by the rear vehicle.

Most responding officers do not have sophisticated accident re-constructionist training. Although there is a very advanced course that traffic investigators can enroll in, it is a relatively significant academic endeavor that most patrol officers have not yet attempted.

Further, if no one was seriously injured and/or there is no suspicion of drugs or alcohol impairment, very little is done to definitively establish how the accident occurred or who was at fault. If you are injured, you should contact a personal injury attorney to discuss your options, regardless of whether you received a ticket or not.

The average citizen is frequently surprised to learn how perfunctory and abbreviated a standard, run-of-the-mill, injury-free traffic accident investigation is. This is in part, because these types of accidents (where no one was injured) are not prioritized in the same way that more serious accidents are — which from an efficiency perspective, makes a whole lot of sense.

That being said, as the recipient of one of these undeserved traffic tickets, the officer’s lack of attention to detail can be excruciatingly frustrating. This may be one of the reasons you should consider consulting a traffic attorney.

Most people who go to court without an attorney choose to plead nolo, or no contest. This often sounds appealing because drivers tend to assume that the negative consequences of a traffic conviction are related to the accumulation of points. Although collecting 15 or more points within a two-year period would trigger a suspension, most drivers have far fewer than 15 points on their driving history.

The problem with nolo is that the conviction will appear on your driving history. This means that both the insurance company and future employers will see the conviction. The primary reason anyone would review your driving history is to evaluate how cautious and careful you are, or in the alternative, how likely you are to engage in risky (driving) behavior.
That is why, even if you were the at-fault driver, you may want to see if it is still possible to protect an otherwise clean driving history. Increasingly employers are relying upon applicant’s driving histories to evaluate job candidates, or prior to approving promotions. Maintaining a clean driving history has numerous financial benefits, along with peace of mind.

Speak to a traffic attorney today about your options. Even if it is simply for a free consultation, an experienced traffic attorney can advise you about possible defenses and/or strategies for presenting relevant information to the prosecutor when you go to court. A traffic attorney can tell you the general practices of your court and perhaps instruct you on how to avoid potential pitfalls.

Were you recently arrested for drug possession in Fulton County, Georgia? If so you should immediately speak with an experienced defense attorney to learn about the consequences you may be facing and what you can do to avoid harsh penalties!

The severity of the consequences for felony drug possession may vary depending on a number of factors, including which county you were arrested in, whether you’ve been arrested before, whether you are already on probation, and the amount of drugs discovered in your possession.

If this is your first drug possession arrest, your primary goal is going to be to keep a felony conviction from being reported on your criminal record. Drug convictions do not fall off your record after any amount of time; rather, a standard drug conviction will stay on your permanent record.   This could mean that for almost all future job or college applications you would be required to answer very uncomfortable questions pertaining to the drug arrest and conviction.

The first thing an experienced attorney will do is to review the circumstances surrounding the initial encounter with the law enforcement officer. Often drug possession charges start with a basic traffic stop. The driver is pulled over for something as common as failure to obey a traffic control device.

The officer makes contact with the driver and over the course of the traffic investigation, the officer usually will either (1) detect the odor of marijuana – or some other illegal substance; or (2) request and/or demand permission to search the car.

These search scenarios are particularly interesting cases because they often implicate important constitutional protections that are often ignored by law enforcement. Particularly when the driver is young and nervous an officer may be less cautious about steering clear of any constitutional pitfalls over the course of the stop and search of that driver.

This was the case recently in Bodiford v. State (A14A0683), which was decided in August of 2014. In that case a young driver was pulled over for speeding 10 mph over the speed limit. The officer had the driver exit the vehicle. Upon noticing that the driver appeared very nervous the officer expanded his investigation. He inquired about the status of the driver’s license and ultimately started fishing around for permission to search the vehicle. The driver didn’t know whether he could refuse permission.

While the driver tried to determine what to do, the officer brought a K-9 unit over to conduct a drug sniff search around the car. During the drug-dog search the officer uncovered a large amount of cocaine. However, this search was determined to be illegal since the officer had impermissibly prolonged the traffic stop.  As a result, the drug charge was dismissed.

Bodiford v. State is a great example of why challenging the legality of a search is one of the most effective ways to dismantle a pending drug possession charge.

If you are facing a felony drug possession charge, you should talk to an attorney about what your options are and find out whether you have important defenses available in your case!

1. You have a friend or relative who is a police officer.   Although this may work occasionally – depending on who you know and how closely you are connected to him/her – more often than not, mentioning your distant connection to law enforcement, even when done with the best intentions, can backfire. Many officers will not think your friend or relative’s position with, say, the New York State Troopers is relevant to whether you should be cited for speeding in Georgia. Worse yet, it can come across as inappropriate and off-putting. Contrary to popular belief, many speed reductions or warnings (in lieu of a citation) are the result of being genuinely respectful and pleasant during the encounter.

2. You know your rights because you went to law school or studied criminal justice.   In almost every instance, telling the officer you know your rights is an immediate indicator that you, in fact, do not fully comprehend your rights. Very few drivers have a clear understanding of the full scope of their constitutional protections during a traffic stop. And far fewer have any idea as to how to invoke those protections. Usually this statement is viewed as an attempt to intimidate the officer so that he will not issue the citation. However, even a law degree from Harvard will not prevent a police officer from issuing a traffic ticket. In fact, it likely only serves to make issuing the traffic ticket all the more gratifying.

3. You were just keeping up with traffic.This is usually brought up in a manner that implicitly (or explicitly) accuses the officer of unjustly singling out an individual driver. Although it may feel very unfair in the moment, the officer is not singling you out. The fact that “everyone” was speeding is probably why that location has been selected for speed enforcement. Despite the fact that “keeping up with traffic” feels like a perfectly reasonable explanation, is not a legal defense or justification.

4. You are going to hire a lawyer. It is always important to talk to a lawyer when you are charged with a criminal or traffic offense. However, an intemperate remark to this effect while the officer is writing the ticket serves no useful purpose – other than to make you that much more memorable later in court. Since officers frequently have a lot of discretion about how your ticket will be prosecuted in court – including fine and speed reductions – it is usually to your advantage to make a favorable impression or at the very least be completely forgettable during the traffic encounter.

5. Ask him for his badge number and spelling of his name. Knowing the officer’s name is important information to have, however his name and badge number will always be on the ticket. Most of the time this question is asked in a terse, pseudo-threatening manner that implicitly challenges his authority – or at least suggests that you have concerns about the manner in which he has handled the traffic stop. Although many traffic tickets are worth fighting in court, it is never a good idea to antagonize the officer while he is issuing you a speeding ticket on the side of the road. If an officer treats you unfairly during a traffic stop, be sure to address that behavior in court, or at a later time with the police department — but do not confront him in this manner while he is writing up the traffic citation on the side of the road.

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