When Police Officers May Remove Vehicles; Uninsured Vehicles

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Motor Vehicles and Traffic
  4. Uniform Rules of the Road
  5. Stopping, Standing, and Parking
  6. General Provisions
  7. When Police Officers May Remove Vehicles; Uninsured Vehicles

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  1. Whenever any police officer finds a vehicle in violation of any of the provisions of Code Section 40-6-202, such officer is authorized to move such vehicle or require the driver or other person in charge of the vehicle to move it to a position off the roadway.
  2. Any police officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed to a place of safety any unattended vehicle illegally left standing upon any highway, bridge, or causeway or in any tunnel.
  3. Any police officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed to the nearest garage or other place of safety any vehicle found upon a highway when:
    1. Report has been made that such vehicle has been stolen or taken without the consent of its owner;
    2. The person or persons in charge of such vehicle are unable to provide for its custody or removal;
    3. The person driving or in control of such vehicle is arrested for an alleged offense for which the officer is required by law to take the person arrested before a proper magistrate without unnecessary delay;
    4. Any such vehicle has been left unattended for 24 hours or more; or
    5. Such vehicle is stopped, except when traffic congestion makes movement impossible, on a controlled-access highway which is part of The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways for more than eight hours, unless such vehicle constitutes a traffic hazard, in which case it may be removed immediately.
  4. Because uninsured vehicles pose a threat to the public safety and health, any law enforcement officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed to the nearest garage or other place of safety the vehicle of a person who is charged under subsection (a) or (b) of Code Section40-6-10 if such person admits to the law enforcement officer that there is no insurance in effect on the vehicle or if the law enforcement officer verifies that the proof of insurance provided by such person is fraudulent.

(Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556, § 91; Code 1933, § 68A-1002, enacted by Ga. L. 1974, p. 633, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1286, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 40; Ga. L. 1987, p. 542, § 5; Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 5; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 40.)

Cross references.

- Right of person to have removed any car parked without authorization upon property possessed by such person, § 44-1-13.

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2001, a comma was deleted following "Defense Highways" in paragraph (c)(5).

Law reviews.

- For comment on Wilkinson v. Townsend, 96 Ga. App. 179, 99 S.E.2d 539 (1957), see 9 Mercer L. Rev. 372 (1958).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

No lien arises under Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec., Sess., p. 556, and detention of the automobile by the garage against the demands of the owner amounts to a conversion. Wilkinson v. Townsend, 96 Ga. App. 179, 99 S.E.2d 539 (1957) commented on in 9 Mercer L. Rev. 372 (1958).

Indefinite retention of vehicles not authorized.

- Enforcement officers initially authorized to remove or impound a vehicle do not have a duty to retain possession indefinitely; the statutes require only the removal to a "garage or other place of safety," not necessarily into the custody of the authorities, and there is nothing about the vehicle's ultimate disposition. Strickland v. Vaughn, 221 Ga. App. 636, 472 S.E.2d 159 (1996).

Cited in State v. Lamb, 202 Ga. App. 69, 413 S.E.2d 511 (1991); Ahmad v. State, 312 Ga. App. 703, 719 S.E.2d 563 (2011).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Possible liability of officers removing vehicles personally liable for gross negligence.

- Peace officers who cause vehicles to be removed from the public roadway are personally liable for those acts which constitute gross negligence with respect to the vehicle. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 74-99.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 7A Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, § 313.

C.J.S.

- 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, § 63. 60A C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 789, 790.

ALR.

- Lien for towing or storage, ordered by public officer, of motor vehicle, 85 A.L.R.3d 199.

State or municipal towing, impounding, or destruction of motor vehicles parked or abandoned on streets or highways, 32 A.L.R.4th 728.


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