Across the nation, the legal drinking age is 21. However, most individuals know that not all young people wait until their 21st birthdays to take their first sips of alcohol.
For this reason, states, including Georgia, have adopted zero tolerance laws. These laws are meant to discourage underage drinking and driving. In Georgia, if a person below the age of 21 is stopped for a suspected DUI and they are found to have a blood alcohol concentration greater than .02, they can be charged under the state’s zero tolerance law.
Zero tolerance laws are intended to prevent underage drinking and driving and the deaths that can accompany them. However, they target such small amounts of alcohol that it is possible that a young adult could be stopped for a suspected DUI and may be completely without alcohol in their system at the time they are assessed.
Young drivers are still honing their skills behind the wheel and may struggle to keep their vehicles moving at a uniform pace or completely in their lanes all of the time. A young driver may be stopped for suspected DUI and asked to perform field sobriety tests; depending upon how they feel, they may fail those tests and be arrested even if they have no alcohol in their body.
DUI arrests are serious and can disrupt the course of young people’s lives. Youths who are facing DUI charges under the state’s zero tolerance law can seek the help of defense attorneys to help them through their legal battles.
