Is Reckless Driving a Felony? Reckless Driving Felony Lawyer in GA

By: William C. Head, Georgia Criminal Lawyer for Felony Reckless Driving Charges

Is Reckless Driving a Felony in Georgia?

Many potential clients call our law office and ask our criminal defense attorneys, “What changes a traffic ticket offense into a reckless driving felony? “. When a client calls our office with any traffic tickets from a car accident, our staff is on high alert and investigates the severity of the collision.

Any accident in which a death or serious injuries may have occurred brings up the question of “felony vs misdemeanor?”. We gather the initial facts over the phone and explain reckless driving misdemeanor laws, as well as the limited application of Georgia laws that CAN make reckless driving a felony.

What Constitutes Driving Recklessly?

Central to our initial law office investigation is to learn in what manner the driver was driving recklessly. This law is different from most common traffic offenses (e.g., red light violation) because it is one of the serious driving offenses in Georgia that can escalate to a felony in Georgia. While a reckless driving felony charge depends on proof of bad driving, the DUI felony (after a death or serious bodily injury has resulted) does not. See more below, where the we discuss this further.

Definition of Reckless Driving in Georgia

In general, a good definition for a felony or misdemeanor reckless driving charge in Georgia involves any person operating or driving a motor vehicle “in reckless disregard” for the safety of persons or property. When accidents occur, a potential felony hinges on whether serious bodily injury resulted, or a death.

Technically therefore, every person speeding or texting is a Georgia reckless driving potential felony case. In reality, the overwhelming majority of these cases involve either (1) very high speed, (2) an accident, or (3) striking a pedestrian with a motor vehicle. Plus, if drugs or alcohol are involved, both DUI and reckless driving will be accused. For serious bodily injury or death, these two serious driving offenses will support felony reckless driving.

“Predicate” Serious Driving Offenses Lead to Felony Reckless Driving

Start with the concept that reckless driving is ONE of several serious driving offenses that can be the underlying crime that supports a vehicular homicide GA or serious injury by vehicle in GA, which are both felonies. Criminal attorneys in Georgia call these serious driving offenses that can support DUI vehicular homicide or felony reckless driving serious bodily injury “predicate” motor vehicle offenses for escalating criminal charges from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Here, the word “predicate” means that the felony laws cannot be triggered unless one of these special, serious driving offenses COMES FIRST, or is connected to the death or bodily injury.

Reckless Driving Georgia is Not a Lesser Offense of DUI in Georgia

A Georgia reckless driving ticket is often written (in some jurisdictions) as a second traffic ticket, along with a DUI citation. But, reckless driving in GA is not a lesser included offense for drunk driving and the “elements” of the crimes are different. A conviction for any reckless driving felony involves state prison time, so any disposition in death and serious injury cases will impose incarceration. Luckily, felony reckless driving resulting from 1st-degree vehicular homicide or 1st-degree serious injury felony cases are fewer than 1 in 10 in GA.

How to Get a Reckless Driving Felony Reduced

Once a District Attorney determines that a reckless driving is a felony, due to a death or serious bodily injury being caused by it, the stakes are greatly increased for the accused driver. Once indicted, a reckless driving felony is rarely EVER reduced to a misdemeanor, absent a catastrophic problem with the prosecutor’s case. Some cases may have equivocal or borderline proof of “reckless disregard” for the safety of others, and these cases can possibly be reduced with the right set of facts. Police video and accounts of other eyewitnesses often is a key part of any reduction.

Hire the Best Reckless Driving Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers

The initial attorney consultation on any traffic, misdemeanor or felony case is FREE. So call us NOW so that we can start doing damage control for you. Call our primary office number at 404-567-5515. We have staff members and after-hours paralegals ready to connect you to one of our criminal defense attorneys.

Allow us to assess your chances of winning your Georgia case (misdemeanor vs felony), or possibly getting your pending DUI reduced to reckless driving.

No other criminal defense attorney in Georgia has more awards, lawyer recognitions for excellence, and peer-reviewed credentials than William C. “Bubba” Head. Bubba Head’s law partners include criminal defense lawyer Larry Kohn, criminal defense attorney and ex-law enforcement officer (at two different law enforcement agencies totaling about a decade) turned criminal defense attorney Cory Yager, or the veteran senior partner, Bubba Head, a Georgia criminal defense specialist since 1976. All of our law firm’s 3 partners are Super Lawyers for 2017.

We have several Georgia law office locations including a satellite office in Athens, one in downtown Marietta, plus an Alpharetta office, as well as the primary legal office, conveniently located in Sandy Springs. Our criminal lawyers maintain a few satellite office locations, to provide computers and office equipment if needed during a multi-day trial.

Our MAIN office location is in Sandy Springs, where Georgia 400 and Interstate 285 intersect. This permits our criminal attorneys to have immediate access to an Interstate highway. Because we travel to all Georgia criminal courts, this location permits our Georgia lawyers to be on our way, to your courtroom, regardless of its location in the state of Georgia.