What the Traffic Safety Article Covers
Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Georgia covers the violation of the rules of traffic safety or operation of transport — acts connected with driving an automobile, tram, trolleybus, tractor or other mechanical transport vehicle. The article is built as a ladder of penalties: the tier rises with the consequence — from less grave damage to health, to grave damage, then to the death of one person and of two or more persons — and at each tier a separate price is set for an act committed sober and an act committed under intoxication.
Cases under this article are among the most numerous in criminal justice, and the accused’s fate almost always depends on the technical work of the investigation: the mechanics of the collision, the degree of injury and the fact of intoxication are established by special expert examinations.