Rights and General Duties of Road Traffic Participants
The law grants every participant in road traffic the right to move on the road freely and without hindrance, in the manner established by law. You are entitled to request and receive from the competent state bodies and the relevant municipal bodies information about the conditions of traffic safety and about the reasons for restricting or stopping traffic, as well as information about the quality of products and services connected with road safety. In a road traffic accident you have the right to receive first medical, rescue and other assistance, and you may also appeal the action of an official working in the field of traffic safety.
At the same time, exercising your rights must not limit or violate the rights of other participants: by your actions you must not create danger or obstruction for traffic, must not endanger people and must not damage state, public or private property. Placing, piling up or leaving items on the road, or creating any other obstruction, is prohibited; if for objective reasons you cannot avoid this, you must immediately take the necessary measures, and where that is impossible, ensure that other participants are warned in timely fashion.
It is forbidden to hand over a vehicle for driving to a person who is in a state of alcoholic, narcotic or psychotropic intoxication, and likewise to a person who lacks the right to drive a vehicle of the relevant category or subcategory or whose right is suspended, revoked or terminated. It is also forbidden to open the door of a vehicle before it has come to a complete stop, and on the side of the roadway, the cycle lane or the bicycle lane the door must not remain open longer than the time needed for passengers to board and alight.
The Driver's General Duties
Every moving vehicle and every vehicle combination must be controlled by a driver. A driver whose state of health does not meet the requirements necessary for driving is prohibited from driving. The driver must possess the knowledge and skills necessary for driving, and where driving is permitted only after the grant of the relevant right, it is forbidden to drive a vehicle of the relevant category or subcategory without that right, or while the right is suspended, revoked or terminated. Where a minimum age limit is established for the grant of a driving right, driving is permitted only after reaching that age.
Before beginning a journey the driver must check, and during the journey must maintain, the technical soundness of the vehicle. It is forbidden to move with a faulty working brake system, steering mechanism or coupling device within a vehicle combination, and in the dark hours of the day with both dipped and main headlamps extinguished (or absent) at the same time, or with faulty rear marker lights, on a road with no artificial lighting or insufficient visibility. In fog, rain or snow, driving a mechanical vehicle with an inoperative windscreen wiper on the driver's side is prohibited. Where a different fault arises that may affect the safety of operation, the driver must eliminate it on the spot or, failing that, take the vehicle to a parking place or repair location with all necessary precautions.
Sobriety and Substitution Treatment
A driver is prohibited from driving in a state of alcoholic, narcotic or psychotropic intoxication, or under the influence of a medicinal preparation that reduces reaction speed and attention. Where there are sufficient grounds to suspect such a state, the driver must, at the request of an authorized officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, undergo the check for sobriety established by Georgian legislation.
For a person involved in opioid substitution treatment the law sets a special regime: for 2 weeks from enrolment in the programme or from taking an increased dose of the substituting preparation, that person's right to drive vehicles of any category or subcategory is suspended. Beyond that, such a person may, after 3 hours from taking the dose of the substituting preparation prescribed by the treating doctor, drive only vehicles of category "AM", "A" or "B", and must carry a certificate indicating the time the preparation was taken. A person whom a court judgment has deprived of the right to carry passengers may not carry passengers, including by public transport.
Documents the Driver Must Carry
The driver of a vehicle of a given category or subcategory must carry and, at the request of an authorized officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, stop the vehicle and present: a document with legal force in Georgia confirming the right to drive a vehicle of that category or subcategory, together with the vehicle's registration document; a duly certified translation of those documents where the data in them are not in Georgian or Latin script; and a document confirming authority to possess, dispose of or use the vehicle — where the owner is absent, when crossing the state border or entering territory where Georgian jurisdiction does not extend. A driver in international traffic must affix the registration number and the distinguishing sign of the state where the vehicle is registered, and must ensure movement with a technically sound tachograph and observance of the work and rest regime in accordance with the European agreement (AETR). The driver of an oversized, overloaded or dangerous-goods vehicle must also present the document confirming agreement on, or permission for, its movement.
A Road Traffic Accident: the Driver's Duties
A driver involved in a road traffic accident is obliged to: stop the vehicle immediately (not move it from its place) and switch on the hazard warning lights; make sure that no one has been injured or killed as a result of the accident; immediately report what happened to the relevant service within the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and, unless there is an urgent need to go to a medical facility or to transport an injured person, remain at the scene and wait for the arrival of the authorized person.
The driver must also take measures to secure the safety of traffic at the scene, refrain from changing anything at the scene or destroying any traces that may be useful for establishing responsibility, and write down the surnames of witnesses. First medical aid must be given to the injured, an ambulance must be called, and in urgent necessity the injured person must be sent to the nearest medical facility in another vehicle passing by, or, if that is impossible, taken there by the driver — except where there is well-founded suspicion that transportation may harm the injured person.
Where no one has been injured in the accident, the drivers may, having assessed the circumstances and by agreement, draw up in advance a diagram of the incident, sign it and go to the nearest patrol police unit to have the fact recorded. If the driver is forced to leave the scene in order to reach a medical facility, he is obliged to declare his identity there, present an identity document and the vehicle's registration documents and, if possible, return to the scene.
When Hazard Warning Lights Must Be Switched On
Hazard warning lights are used to warn other traffic participants of anticipated danger. They must be switched on: when the removal or towing away of a participant in an accident or of a disabled vehicle cannot be done immediately and this obstructs other participants; during a forced stop at a place where stopping is prohibited; when dazzled by the headlamps of an oncoming mechanical vehicle, if the driver is forced to stop; when towing (on the towed vehicle); when a disabled vehicle is taken to a parking place or repair location; and to warn of any other kind of danger to traffic participants.