Significant trends are emerging in Georgia DUI laws, with a push for lower blood alcohol levels at the forefront. Blood alcohol levels are how law enforcement measures whether you are above or below the per se level of intoxication, violating Georgia DUI regulations. In Georgia, you will be arrested for a DUI if your blood alcohol content (BAC) is .08 or higher, regardless of whether you violated any traffic laws or posed a danger to yourself or others. Statesboro DUI attorney Simon Peed is highly skilled and experienced in Georgia DUI defense. Contact him today for a confidential and free case evaluation.
Over the past couple of decades, Georgia DUI laws have evolved, continually lowering the per se blood alcohol levels needed to prove guilt in a DUI case. The current law states that you are guilty of a per se violation if your BAC is .08 or higher. This means the state does not need to prove anything other than the fact that you had actual physical control of a vehicle while registering a BAC of .08 or higher. Actual physical control requires some control over the vehicle, even if it doesn’t mean you were actively driving.
Various factors can affect your blood alcohol level at any given time, including:
- When you last ate
- Your gender
- Your overall physical condition
- Your body fat-to-muscle ratio
- The type of alcohol consumed
- When you stopped drinking
- Whether you have breathing difficulties
- Other medical conditions
When you eat, your pyloric valve, which allows food to pass from the stomach to the intestines, closes to help break down the food. If alcohol is present in the stomach when this valve closes, most of it stays in the stomach, though some passes through the stomach walls into the bloodstream. Once the valve reopens, the remaining alcohol is rapidly absorbed through the intestines, which can cause a delayed increase in your BAC long after you’ve stopped drinking. This process explains why alcohol’s effects can hit suddenly after you stop drinking, and why consuming food while drinking can lessen the immediate intensity of those effects.
The only reliable way to sober up is time. Home remedies like eating, drinking coffee, or hydrating won’t lower your BAC. Your BAC peaks when all the alcohol in your system has entered your bloodstream, and it gradually decreases as your liver and other organs process the alcohol.
Understanding these factors is crucial in establishing a defense to a DUI charge in Georgia, as the state must prove you were intoxicated at the time you had physical control of the vehicle. If evidence can show you were not intoxicated at that moment but only later registered a high BAC, it could form a strong defense. Contact Statesboro DUI attorney Simon Peed now for a confidential case evaluation.
