As the days grow hotter and hotter, Georgians rush to the vast expanse of Lake Lanier for their weekend boating adventures, complete with sun, fun and friends. It’s a time-honored local tradition to stock the cooler with beer before casting off. But the tranquility of the lake can quickly disappear when a Department of Natural Resources patrol boat turns on its blue strobe and approaches your boat. When a DNR ranger pulls alongside your boat for a safety inspection or suspected impairment, a stressful legal process begins. When the reality hits that you could be charged with Boating Under the Influence (BUI) it sends a chill through the bones of ordinary citizens and immediately sparks the alarm, “will my driver’s license be suspended for operating my automobile to work on Monday?”
The complexities of state and local laws and regulations of boating and traffic are certainly confusing. The good news you’re looking for right now is that, under the state’s current legislation, a conviction for BUI will not result in the automatic suspension of your ordinary Georgia driver’s license. Your freedom to drive an automobile on the state’s roads will not be impacted by your arrest. Instead, you will lose your right to operate a boat on state waters for a period of time upon a conviction. Although this is a comforting thought at first, it certainly does not mean you can afford to be complacent about the charges, as the criminal penalties will be identical to the serious consequences of a “dry” arrest.
BUI arrests on a rocking boat are very different from roadside arrests. The traditional field sobriety tests (walking in a straight line, standing on one leg, etc.) cannot be performed on a boat, so DNR rangers use a different series of tests to be performed while sitting. They will observe your eyes, test your ability to manipulate your hands, and assess your understanding of instruction, while you are parched from the sun and seasick. This naturally unsteady environment provides a tremendous opportunity for the officer to make errors and interpret the tests subjectively. That’s why you need a scrupulous Atlanta DUI Attorney to dissect these water-based tests and reveal how conditions such as the sun, wind and waves probably caused your perceived failure.
Finally, Georgia’s implied consent laws apply to Lake Lanier as much as they do to Interstates 85 and 285. When you are arrested for BUI, the ranger will issue a warning and ask for a chemical test of your breath, blood or urine. If you refuse, your case will be more difficult to defend and you will lose your boating privileges immediately. Although your driving privileges are protected, if you are convicted of BUI, you will still face a permanent criminal record, substantial fines, forced substance abuse treatment, probation and the possibility of imprisonment. To successfully navigate this rocky legal landscape, you need to enlist the services of a tenacious Atlanta DUI Attorney familiar with the laws, regulations and tactics employed by the DNR and how to counter them in court.
Don’t be fooled into a false sense of security because your driver’s license is protected. Any criminal conviction can ruin your reputation, affect your security clearances and cause collateral damage to your personal relationships. To successfully fight a BUI you need a lawyer who will ceaselessly question the reasonableness of the initial boat stop, the calibration of any chemical testing machines, and the training of the rangers who made the arrest. You need a rugged DUI Attorney in Atlanta to create an impermeable defense and to attack the state’s case at every step of the way. When your freedom and clean criminal record are on the line, you need to secure the services of a fearless DUI Lawyer Atlanta courts respect to make sure that one poor decision on the water one weekend does not sink your future.
