O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20 (2019)

Annotations

Editor’s notes. For application of this statute in 2020, see Executive Order 03.25.20.01. Law reviews. For note on the 2002 amendment of this Code section, see 19 Georgia St. U.L. Rev. 277 (2002). For article, “Crimes of Suspicion,” see 72 Emory L.J. 1429 (2023).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under Ga. L. 1937, p. 322 are included in the annotations for this Code section. Applicability to residents and non-residents. - Because O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20 prohibits both residents and nonresidents from driving any motor vehicle upon a highway in this state without a valid driver’s license, defendant’s claim that under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-1(15) the defendant could not be considered a resident of Georgia was irrelevant. Chiasson v. State, 250 Ga. App. 63, 549 S.E.2d 503, 2001 Ga. App. LEXIS 595 (2001), cert. denied, No. S01C1454, 2001 Ga. LEXIS 885 (Ga. Nov. 5, 2001). Right to drive is qualified right. - Right to operate motor vehicle upon public highways of this state is merely qualified right which can be exercised by obtaining a license from the state. Keenan v. Hardison, 245 Ga. 599, 266 S.E.2d 205, 1980 Ga. LEXIS 870 (1980); Ward v. State,

188 Ga. App. 372, 373 S.E.2d 65, 1988 Ga. App. LEXIS 1058 (1988). Undocumented aliens. - Reading the definition of “resident” in O.C.G.A. § 40-5-1(15) and O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(a) in pari materia, shows that the intention of the General Assembly was not to exempt undocumented aliens from the requirement of obtaining a Georgia driver’s license but to permit visitors, with no intention of becoming residents, to drive here without obtaining a Georgia license. Diaz v. State, 245 Ga. App. 380, 537 S.E.2d 784, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 952 (2000). Statutes barring illegal aliens residing in Georgia from obtaining a Georgia driver’s license does not deprive the aliens of equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. John Doe No. 1 v. Ga. Dep’t of Pub. Safety, 147 F. Supp. 2d 1369, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7385 (N.D. Ga. 2001). Denial of defendant’s, an undocumented alien, motion to quash was affirmed be-

cause limiting the safe harbor provision of O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20 to the production at trial of a Georgia driver’s license was a rational part of the enforcement scheme, allowing the presumption created by a violation of O.C.G.A. § 40-5-29(b) to be automatically rebutted only when the evidence that the driver in fact had a valid license when cited was most indisputable and readily evaluated by the factfinder. Castillo-Solis v. State, 292 Ga. 755, 740 S.E.2d 583, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 294 (2013). Mexican driver had no standing to challenge statute as unconstitutional. - Driver with a Mexican driver’s license did not have standing to challenge O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20 as conflicting with the 1943 Convention on the Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic because the Mexican did not have an international license as required by the Convention and O.C.G.A. § 40-5-21(a)(2) and the license the Mexican produced did not meet the requirements of the Convention. Medina v. State, 312 Ga. App. 399, 718 S.E.2d 323, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 966 (2011). Effect of license requirement on right to travel. - Mere fact of imposing a license requirement does not constitute state infringement on any right of locomotion which an individual may have to travel on public ways as a common-law freeman. Lebrun v. State, 255 Ga. 406, 339 S.E.2d 227, 1986 Ga. LEXIS 551 (1986). Custodial arrest for operating a motor vehicle without a license. - If an officer stops a vehicle in the good faith belief that a traffic violation has been committed, the officer’s ultimate failure to issue a traffic citation will not preclude the traffic offense from evincing the reasonable suspicion which served to justify the officer’s initial stop of the vehicle. Once a stop is effected, a defendant is subject to custodial arrest for operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license. State v. Chambers, 194 Ga. App. 609, 391 S.E.2d 657, 1990 Ga. App. LEXIS 266 (1990). City streets constitute highway for purposes of statute. - Proof that defendant was driving on city streets was sufficient to show defendant was driving

on a “highway” so as to sustain a conviction for driving without a license as city streets fit within the broad definition of “highway” under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20 making it a violation to drive without a license. Scott v. State, 254 Ga. App. 728, 563 S.E.2d 554, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 451 (2002). Driving with expired driver’s license is a violation of O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(a); O.C.G.A. § 40-5-120(7) (see now O.C.G.A. § 40-5-120(4)) makes such a violation a misdemeanor. Littlejohn v. State, 165 Ga. App. 562, 301 S.E.2d 917, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 1951 (1983). Presumption raised by failure to have license in possession. - There existed no reversible error when the defendant was accused of (and subsequently convicted of) driving a vehicle without a valid license, but the offense on which the jury was charged concerned the failure to have a valid license in one’s possession at all times while operating a motor vehicle (see now O.C.G.A. § 40-5-29) and the presumption thereby raised that the driver had no valid license. Roberts v. State, 173 Ga. App. 614, 327 S.E.2d 743, 1985 Ga. App. LEXIS 1637 (1985). Detention based on lack of driver’s license was proper. - Motion to suppress evidence seized from the defendant’s car was properly denied because a uniformed officer’s initial approach to the car, which had been driven to the scene of a controlled drug buy by a codefendant, was a first-tier police-citizen encounter, the car was already stopped when the uniformed officer approached and asked the codefendant for identification, the codefendant admitted that the codefendant had no driver’s license or other identification, and thus the officer had reasonable suspicion that the codefendant was violating the law by driving without a license and was justified in detaining the codefendant from driving off in the vehicle; the officer also had reasonable suspicion of criminal drug activity based on the fact that an informant who was working with police to conduct the drug deal had described a two-door silver Mercedes coupe with

MOTOR VEHICLES & TRAFFIC

dealer tags as the target vehicle belonging to the defendant, and police had confirmed this vehicle was just at the establishment frequented by the defendant, the codefendant drove up in the vehicle just before defendant arrived in a different car, at the very time and place designated for the drug transaction, the codefendant parked near the drug transaction and made hand signals which could have been inferred to have been counter-surveillance signals that the codefendant saw no police and that the transaction could go forward, and, because these circumstances authorized the officer to conduct an investigative detention of the codefendant and the vehicle, the bringing of a drug dog to the scene during that brief detention was proper, and when the drug dog alerted to the vehicle as containing drugs, the subsequent warrantless search of the vehicle was justified. Bowden v. State, 279 Ga. App. 173, 630 S.E.2d 792, 2006 Ga. App. LEXIS 494 (2006). Trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to suppress because the defendant admitted to the police officer that the defendant had no visa or passport, and that the only documentation the defendant could present was a Mexican driver’s license written in Spanish and the Mexican consulate card; thus, the police officer had probable cause to arrest the defendant for driving without a license, and the arrest was lawful. Garcia-Carrillo v. State, 322 Ga. App. 439, 746 S.E.2d 137, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 541 (2013). Traffic stop for compliance not unreasonably prolonged. - As an officer’s questioning of the defendant, after a traffic stop, about the defendant’s length of time in Georgia was done to determine whether the defendant was in compliance with O.C.G.A. §§ 40-2-8(a) and 40-5-20(a), and did not unreasonably prolong the stop, the defendant’s rights under U.S. Const., amend. IV were not violated. Therefore, methamphetamine seized from the defendant’s purse during the stop did not have to be suppressed. Sommese v. State, 299 Ga. App. 664, 683 S.E.2d 642, 2009 Ga. App. LEXIS 925 (2009). Golf carts. - After the defendant drove a golf cart on a public highway with

a suspended license in violation of O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(a), the trial court properly instructed the jury that the defendant had to have a driver’s license; the evidence sufficiently supported the suspended license conviction. Coker v. State, 261 Ga. App. 646, 583 S.E.2d 498, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 732 (2003), cert. denied, No. S03C1522, 2003 Ga. LEXIS 864 (Ga. Oct. 6, 2003). Safe harbor provision not applicable to driver with learner’s permit. - Because the defendant’s learner’s permit was not valid for the purpose of driving unsupervised, as the defendant was on the day of a traffic stop, the defendant could not qualify for the safe harbor under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(a). Colotl v. State, 313 Ga. App. 42, 720 S.E.2d 210, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 978 (2011), cert. denied, No. S12C0605, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 392 (Ga. Apr. 24, 2012). Actionable negligence arising from operation without license. - While it is a violation of state law to operate an automobile without a driver’s license, this is actionable negligence only when there is a proximate causal connection between the violation and the injury. Carpenter v. Lyons, 78 Ga. App. 214, 50 S.E.2d 850, 1948 Ga. App. LEXIS 712 (1948) (decided under Ga. L. 1937, p. 322). Ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to object to officer’s testimony. - Appellate court reversed the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion for a new trial with respect to the two misdemeanor traffic violations because the prejudice from trial counsel’s failure to object was clear as the officer’s hearsay testimony was the only evidence offered to prove the elements of the traffic offenses and had the evidence been excluded, there would not have been sufficient evidence to convict on those offenses. Taylor v. State, 337 Ga. App. 486, 788 S.E.2d 97, 2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 357 (2016). Evidence sufficient to sustain conviction. - Evidence was sufficient to find that a defendant violated O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(a) because it was a matter of common knowledge that “the loop” or “bypass” in a certain area was a public highway, although there was no direct testimony of that fact. Craig v. State, 276

Ga. App. 329, 623 S.E.2d 518, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 1147 (2005). Because the defendant admittedly lacked a driver’s license, the tag on the car being driven was expired, and the defendant produced no evidence that the car had been recently purchased, and thus fell within the initial 30-day registration period during which a numbered license plate was not required, defendant’s convictions were upheld on appeal. Arellano v. State, 289 Ga. App. 148, 656 S.E.2d 264, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 22 (2008). Evidence insufficient to sustain conviction. - Testimony by a police officer that someone else ran a computer check and determined that defendant did not have a driver’s license was not sufficient to sustain defendant’s conviction for driving without a license. James v. State, 265 Ga.

App. 689, 595 S.E.2d 364, 2004 Ga. App. LEXIS 231 (2004). Because the state failed to present the parties’ stipulation to the trier of fact and there was no other evidence that the defendant was driving without a license, insufficient evidence existed to sustain a conviction for driving without a license. Raby v. State, 274 Ga. App. 665, 618 S.E.2d 704, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 816 (2005). Charge to jury. - Because the defendant was being tried under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20, giving a clarifying charge to the jury on “driving without a license on the person” (see now O.C.G.A. § 40-5-29) was not error. Duckworth v. State, 223 Ga. App. 250, 477 S.E.2d 336, 1996 Ga. App. LEXIS 1085 (1996), aff’d, 268 Ga. 566, 492 S.E.2d 201, 1997 Ga. LEXIS 713 (1997).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Motor scooter is a motor vehicle which must be licensed before operation in Georgia, and the operator of a motor scooter is subject to the same rules as drivers of automobiles. 1954-56 Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 485. Go-cart is a motor vehicle; the operator of a go-cart must be licensed; the go-cart must be registered, inspected annually, and equipped with headlights, stop lights, and turn signals. 1969 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 69-194. Nonresident 16-year-old student. - Nonresident student is not required to

obtain a Georgia driver’s license in order to operate a vehicle on the public roads and highways so long as the student is at least 16 years of age and is the holder and possessor of a valid operator’s or public chauffeur’s license issued by the state of domicile. 1970 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 70-40. Fingerprinting required for violators. - Offenses arising under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(a) are designated as offenses for which those charged are to be fingerprinted. 2008 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 2008-6; 2009 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 2009-1.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 7A Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, §§ 100, 102, 112 et seq. C.J.S. 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 319 et seq., 323, 331 et seq. ALR. Civil rights and liabilities as affected by failure to comply with regulations as to registration of automobile or motorcycle, or licensing of operator, 58 A.L.R. 532; 61 A.L.R. 1190; 78 A.L.R. 1028; 87 A.L.R. 1469; 111 A.L.R. 1258; 163 A.L.R. 1375; 53 A.L.R.2d 850. Constitutionality and construction of

statutes with respect to nonresident motor vehicle operators’ or drivers’ licenses, 82 A.L.R. 1392. Validity of statute or ordinance relating to granting or revocation of license or permit to operate automobile, 108 A.L.R. 1162; 125 A.L.R. 1459. Lack of proper automobile registration or operator’s license as evidence of operator’s negligence, 29 A.L.R.2d 963. Construction, applicability, and effect of traffic regulation prohibiting vehicles from passing one another at street or highway intersection, 53 A.L.R.2d 850. Validity of state statutes, regulations,

MOTOR VEHICLES & TRAFFIC

or other identification requirements restricting or denying driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, 16 A.L.R.6th 131.