Several measures that strengthen Georgia traffic laws, approved during the 1999 Georgia General Assembly and signed by Gov. Roy Barnes, took effect July 1.

The most prominent change will be a change in the punishment for violating Georgia's child restraint safety law.

Georgia Public Safety commissioner and State Patrol commander Col. Bob Hightower said points for child safety restraint violations will be added to the violator's driving record beginning July 1. In addition to the $50 fine for the first offense and $100 for the second and subsequent offenses, the new law adds one point to the driver's record for first offense and two points for second and subsequent offenses.

A driver's license is suspended in Georgia when the driver accumulates 15 points within a 24-month period.

“The message is clear that children must not ride unrestrained,” Hightower said. “All too often law enforcement officers find children riding unrestrained or improperly restrained.”

Another new law requires an amber strobe light affixed to the rear of a vehicle that is transporting logs, pulpwood, poles or posts that extend more than four feet beyond the rear of the body or bed. The new law requires the strobe to be operating at all times the vehicle is on the roadway or parked on the shoulder or immediately next to the traveled portion of any public roadway.

Other traffic-related measures that were approved and have already taken effect include a bill that allows laser speed detection devices to be admissable in court, a change in the DUI law, clarification on the “steer it and clear it” law, and clarification of the law used to determine if an agency is running a “speed trap.”

Senate Bill 231 was effective March 25, and provides that laser is scientifically reliable as a speed detection device. The measure provides that evidence of speed based upon laser shall be admissable in judicial, court or administrative proceedings.

“Heidi's Law” became effective May 1 and prohibits a limited permit for DUI offenders if the person has been convicted of driving under the influence within the last five years. The measure also requires courts to order ignition interlock devices for a second DUI conviction for which probation is granted and also requires publication of notice of a person's second or subsequent DUI within five years.

Georgia's “steer it and clear it” law was clarified during the session and was effective April 28. The new language provides that only crashes with no apparent serious injury are required to be removed from the roadway.

Another provision of the bill puts into Georgia law the duty of drivers approaching or entering an intersection where a traffic light is inoperative. “The new law requires each driver at an inoperative traffic light to stop and treat the intersection as a four-way stop.” Hightower said “This law does not affect intersections where a traffic light may be flashing. A flashing red light still means stop and a flashing amber light means to use caution as you proceed through the intersection,” he said.

House Bill 289 was effective May 3 and creates a presumption that a city, county or university law enforcement agency is using speed detection devices for improper purposes if fines for speeding, based on the devices are 40 percent or more of the agency's budget. Fines levied for speeding in excess of 17 miles per hour or more over the speed limit are not considered in calculating the percentage.

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