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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the world and hundreds of thousands of passengers use the airport’s terminals every day. It’s a natural part of traveling for many frequent flyers, business travelers and people that travel for a vacation. From a concourse lounge, having a drink at a long layover, to a few mini bottles of wine on the flight back to Georgia, booze and flying go hand-in-hand. But most travellers don’t realize that there is a big legal liability risk before they even step out of the airport and onto a car seat. Whether you’re driving your own car or renting a vehicle to get home, the drive from the airport is a great place for an arrest without warning.
One of the ways this is a problem is when the offense is what lawyers call a residual DUI or a DUI Less Safe. If the flight arrives at Atlanta at night or early morning, passengers are usually very tired, jet lagged and wanting to get back to their own beds. If a traveller is drowsy or even drunk while flying and feels totally sober on landing, the leftover alcohol can still be detected in his or her system. In addition, the fatigue of travel can cause physical effects similar to being intoxicated. A roadside DUI investigation can help your officers spot some common indicators of intoxication, including red eyes, bloodshot eyes, a little wobbly on their feet, and delayed reaction times as a result of sleep deprivation incurred from being cramped in an airplane seat for four hours.
The streets, highways, and roads around Hartsfield-Jackson make the situation even worse. The airport’s exits leading into and out of the airport are confusing, especially the intersections along Camp Creek Parkway and the massive I-85/I-75 connectors. Drivers who are driving in or out of town, particularly from the Rental Car Center, often change lanes abruptly, turn the wrong way at a stop sign, or brake abruptly while reading an overhead sign. To a law enforcement officer, this type of driving doesn’t seem like confusion. It appears as if it’s a man with impaired driving skills.
The airspace as well as the roadways around it are monitored extensively by various law enforcement agencies. A driver may be stopped by either the Atlanta Police Department, the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Police (a specialized unit) or the Georgia State Patrol depending on the exact location of the traffic stop. Airport police regularly patrol the curbsides inside the terminal, inside the parking garages and immediate roadways leaving the property. If an officer suspects erratic driving or lane weaving on Camp Creek Parkway, he or she will pursue a traffic investigation. If the officer smells the smell of booze from the drinks you consumed three hours ago while on the plane, you’ll be out of your car for field sobriety tests nearly all of the time.
Georgia doesn’t require a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or over to warrant an arrest for driving while intoxicated. The state will allow a DUI charge, called a DUI Less Safe, which requires the officer to just show that you had been drinking alcohol and that you were less able to drive because of your drinking. If you were lost on the interstate connectors and your driving was erratic, and the officer noticed your bloodshot eyes and travel-weary eyes, he/she has enough probable cause to arrest you. It’s your turn to prove that the confusing layout of an airport and not the drinks in the terminal caused the driving mistakes.
Being arrested upon leaving the airport gates is a nightmare, especially for out-of-state business travelers who are driving rental cars. A DUI arrest with a rental car creates a variety of issues with the rental agency, potential issues of contract, and the time and aggravation of handling an out of state driver’s license suspension under the interstate driver’s license compact. James Yeargan Atlanta DUI Lawyer often emphasizes the need for a careful approach to defending these special types of cases. If the officers’ observations are subjective, they must be challenged by a skilled defense in order to distinguish between the natural physical effects of using excess air travel and actual alcohol impairment. Moreover, the defense should challenge the underlying justification for the traffic stop – a lane change in one of the nation’s busiest traffic intersections shouldn’t be a license for a police officer to suspect that the driver is driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Anyone returning to Atlanta is immediately in serious danger. When traveling by car, it’s always better to use a rideshare company, taxi service or MARTA train if you’ve had any alcohol. Taking this “recovery” nap on the plane is a huge risk in high-enforcement areas near Hartsfield-Jackson, particularly to “come back” from it. It’s not worth it to drive yourself to the airport, and then come back with a criminal charge awaiting you in either Fulton or Clayton County the next morning.
