What Is Failure to Exercise Due Care in Georgia?

Failure to exercise due care in Georgia is a violation of O.C.G.A. 40-6-241, which requires every driver to stay focused on safe operation of the vehicle and keep their hands off phones and other electronic devices while driving.¹ A first ticket carries a fine of up to $50 and one point on your record. The bigger costs usually show up later, in your insurance premium and in any civil suit if the distraction caused a crash.

What the Statute Actually Covers

The law has two layers. The first is a general duty: when you’re driving on a Georgia highway, you must exercise due care and avoid any action that distracts you from safe operation.¹ That language is intentionally broad. Eating a messy sandwich, turning to deal with kids in the back seat, or digging through the glovebox can all qualify if an officer concludes the behavior pulled your attention off the road.

The second layer is Georgia’s Hands-Free Law. You cannot physically hold or support a wireless phone or stand-alone electronic device with any part of your body while driving.¹ You cannot write, send, or read text messages, emails, or other text-based content on a device while driving. Watching video on a phone is prohibited, and so is recording video, with a narrow exception for continuous-recording equipment like dash cams.

What You Can Still Do With Your Phone

The law doesn’t ban all phone use. You can make and receive calls through an earpiece, headphone, smartwatch, or your vehicle’s Bluetooth system.² A phone sitting in a dashboard or windshield mount is fine as long as you aren’t holding it. Voice-to-text is allowed because you’re not manually typing.

GPS and navigation apps are permitted while the vehicle is moving, but the device has to be mounted rather than held. If you need to type a destination, pull over and park first.¹

Exceptions to the Device Rules

Subsection (g) of the statute carves out a handful of situations where holding or using a device is allowed:

Reporting a traffic accident, medical emergency, fire, crime, or road hazard that creates an immediate safety threat.
Police officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel acting in the scope of official duties.
Utility employees or contractors responding to a utility emergency.
Operating a vehicle that is lawfully parked.

Sitting at a red light or stopped in congested traffic is not “lawfully parked,” so that exception does not help you there.¹

Fines and Points

Penalties escalate with repeat offenses inside a rolling 24-month window:

First offense: up to $50, plus 1 point on your driving record.
Second offense within 24 months: up to $100, plus 2 points.
Third or subsequent offense within 24 months: up to $150, plus 3 points.

The fine amounts come from the statute itself,¹ and the point values from the Georgia Department of Driver Services.³ The statute also bars courts from tacking on additional surcharges or prosecution costs, which is unusual for Georgia traffic offenses.

There’s a one-time break built in. If you’re charged with holding a device for the first time and you show up to court with a hands-free device or proof of purchase, the court can dismiss the charge. You only get to use that pass once.¹

Accumulating 15 points within any 24-month period triggers a license suspension.⁴ A single due care ticket won’t get you there alone, but it can push you closer if other infractions are already on your record.

When a Distraction Becomes a Bigger Charge

The modest fine range only applies when nobody is injured. If distracted driving causes a serious crash, prosecutors can bring charges that carry far heavier penalties.

Reckless driving under O.C.G.A. 40-6-390 applies when a driver shows reckless disregard for the safety of people or property. A conviction is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000, up to 12 months in jail, or both.⁵ Egregious distracted driving, such as watching video while weaving through traffic, can cross from a due care violation into reckless driving.

If someone dies, Georgia’s vehicular homicide statute kicks in. A traffic violation that causes a fatality, where the conduct doesn’t involve DUI or reckless driving, is second-degree vehicular homicide, punished as a misdemeanor. If the conduct qualifies as reckless driving, the charge becomes first-degree vehicular homicide, which carries 3 to 15 years in prison.⁶

Defenses to a Due Care Charge

Sudden Emergency

Georgia courts recognize the sudden emergency doctrine, which applies when a driver faces an unexpected danger they didn’t create and has to react instantly. You generally need to show the emergency was genuinely unforeseeable, that you didn’t cause it, that you had almost no time to deliberate, and that your reaction was reasonable. A deer in the road or another car swerving into your lane can qualify. Running a red light because you were already speeding does not.

Medical Emergency

Losing consciousness from an unforeseeable medical event, such as a first-ever seizure or sudden cardiac episode, can serve as a defense. The word that matters is “unforeseeable.” A known seizure disorder with missed medication will usually not qualify. Medical records showing the condition was previously undiagnosed carry weight.

Mechanical Failure

A vehicle malfunction like brake failure or a tire blowout can negate the violation. Expect to need maintenance records or expert testimony establishing that the failure wasn’t the result of neglect on your end.

The First-Time Device Dismissal

For a first charge of holding a device, bringing proof of a hands-free setup to court can get the case dismissed. It’s not a defense on the merits, but the outcome is the same.¹

Insurance and Civil Liability

The ticket itself is cheap. The civil and insurance consequences are where the real money goes.

In a personal injury lawsuit, a due care conviction can serve as strong evidence of negligence. The injured person doesn’t have to prove you were careless from scratch when a court has already found a distraction-related offense. Georgia follows modified comparative negligence under O.C.G.A. 51-12-33: fault is divided among everyone who contributed to the crash, and each person pays their share. There’s a hard cutoff, though. If the injured person was 50 percent or more at fault, they recover nothing.⁷ If you were the distracted driver and the other party bears less than half the blame, you’re on the hook for your proportional share of their medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.

Insurers read due care convictions as a sign of higher risk. One conviction can raise your premium at renewal. Repeat violations compound the hike and can lead a carrier to drop you, which pushes you into Georgia’s more expensive assigned-risk pool.

Getting Points Off Your Record

Licensed Georgia residents can complete a certified Driver Improvement course, often called defensive driving, and have up to 7 points removed.⁴ The option is available once every five years. Save it for a situation where it genuinely helps rather than spending it on a single 1-point ticket. Bring the original certificate to a DDS Customer Service Center to have the reduction applied.

Commercial Drivers

O.C.G.A. 40-6-241 includes a separate subsection with tighter restrictions for commercial motor vehicle operators.¹ Federal FMCSA rules also prohibit texting and handheld phone use by commercial drivers in interstate commerce, with consequences that can include disqualification from driving commercially. A commercial driver caught with a phone in hand on a Georgia road may face penalties under both the state statute and federal regulations.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 40-6-241 – Distracted Driving; Restrictions on Operation of Wireless Telecommunications Devices and Stand-Alone Electronic Devices; Penalty; Exceptions
2
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Chapter 2 – Traffic Laws and Safe Driving
3
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Points Schedule
4
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Points and Points Reduction
5
Justia. Georgia Code 40-6-390 – Reckless Driving
6
Justia. Georgia Code 40-6-393 – Homicide by Vehicle
7
Justia. Georgia Code 51-12-33 – Reduction and Apportionment of Award or Bar of Recovery According to Percentage of Fault of Parties and Nonparties