A reckless driving ticket after swerving to avoid an animal

Attorney Answer

What you can do now depends on whether the ticket is still open. If it is, a Georgia traffic or criminal defense lawyer can contest it: the State has to prove you drove in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property, and a swerve to avoid an animal is not, without more, obviously that. If the ticket was paid, or you posted a cash bond and did not go to court, Georgia treats it as a conviction for your driving record, and it carries points on your license.

What the State has to prove. O.C.G.A. § 40-6-390:

(a) Any person who drives any vehicle in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property commits the offense of reckless driving.

(b) Every person convicted of reckless driving shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment not to exceed 12 months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, provided that no provision of this Code section shall be construed so as to deprive the court imposing the sentence of the power given by law to stay or suspend the execution of such sentence or to place the defendant on probation.

Georgia courts have drawn the line at how the car was being driven. In Jackson v. Moore, 190 Ga. App. 329, 378 S.E.2d 726 (1989), a civil case, a swerve to avoid a cyclist, with no evidence of excessive speed or other dangerous driving, was held to raise no issue of reckless disregard. In Duncan v. State, 202 Ga. App. 456, 415 S.E.2d 7 (1992), by contrast, a reckless-driving conviction was upheld where there was evidence of excessive speed and of endangering others, and the court distinguished the swerve case. How fast you were going, and the road and weather that day, are what a lawyer would look at.

If the ticket was paid, or the bond forfeited. For your license, O.C.G.A. § 40-5-1 defines a conviction broadly:

(6) “Conviction” means a forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure a defendant’s appearance in court, the payment of a fine, a plea of guilty, or a finding of guilt on a traffic violation charge, regardless of whether the sentence is suspended, probated, or rebated.

And a cash bond followed by a missed court date is treated as a guilty plea. O.C.G.A. § 40-13-58:

Where a defendant cited for a traffic violation posts a cash bond according to the schedule set up by court order and fails to appear in court at the term of court and on the day set in the original citation and complaint, then and in that event, such failure shall be construed as an admission of guilt and the cash bond may be forfeited without the necessity for the statutory procedure provided for the forfeiture of statutory bail bonds. A judgment of guilty may be entered accordingly, ordering the case disposed of and settled.

Under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-57, a reckless-driving conviction carries 4 points, and a license is suspended at 15 points within 24 consecutive months.

What you can do

1. Talk to a Georgia criminal defense lawyer before you speak to the police, an insurer or anyone else about this, and do not write out your account of what happened for anyone in the meantime. What you say can be used as evidence.

2. Find the citation and ask the court clerk whether the case is still open, was paid, or was closed by a forfeited bond.

3. Get a copy of your driving record to see whether points were added.

4. If the case is still open, do not pay the ticket before you have spoken to a lawyer.

5. Even if you are handling this yourself, you would be best served by a brief phone consultation with a local Georgia attorney before you act. Most lawyers offer a short initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — and on how your court actually handles this — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. If the ticket is still open, the court date controls, and failing to appear after posting a cash bond is treated as an admission of guilt under O.C.G.A. § 40-13-58.