Truck Drivers Testing Positive for Drugs and Alcohol in Georgia

Let’s talk today a little bit about whether positive alcohol tests or a positive illegal drug test can be admitted in your case. Alcohol, of course, clears the system fairly rapidly so a positive alcohol test usually will be admitted in a court of law as to the truck driver’s use of alcohol in your case. It will be necessary actually to determine the truck driver’s blood alcohol content at the time of the accident.
For that, lawyers will usually retain an expert to give testimony about what the truck driver’s actual blood alcohol content was at the time of the collision. The toxicologist can actually calculate the truck driver’s blood alcohol content at the time of the collision if the toxicologist is provided with basic information such as the truck driver’s height, weight, and so forth. The toxicologist will also want to know what the trucker has eaten at or near the time of the collision.
Sometimes, the toxicologist can come into court and testify in your case as to the level of impairment of the truck driver. Test results for drugs are somewhat different because drugs such as cocaine or marijuana or any other illegal drug can stay in the system for a long time. Usually, what happens in these cases involving a positive test for drugs is that the defense lawyer will argue that those results should not be admitted into evidence in your case because the truck driver might have used that illegal drug months ago, especially for example in marijuana, or even for cocaine.
If you have questions about whether the test results for either drugs or alcohol is likely to be admitted in the evidence in your particular case, call my office at 770-792-1000 and I’ll be happy to discuss