2021 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 9 - Reporting Accidents; Giving Proof of Financial Responsibility
Article 2 - Reporting Accidents; Giving Security for Damages
§ 40-9-33. Suspension of Driver's License or Operating Privilege for Failure to Deposit Security

1. In the event that any person required to deposit security fails to deposit such security within 30 days from the date of mailing of notice as provided in Code Section 40-9-32 and such person does not make a timely request for a hearing, or in the event any person fails to deposit security after the department has determined that there exists a reasonable possibility of a judgment being rendered against such person, the department shall thereupon suspend:
   1. The driver's license of such person; and
   2. If such person is a nonresident, the privilege of operating or permitting the operation of a vehicle within this state.
2. The license or nonresident's operating privilege shall remain so suspended and shall not be restored, nor shall any such license be issued to such person, nor shall such nonresident's operating privilege be restored, until:
   1. Such person shall deposit or there shall be deposited on his or her behalf the security and proof of financial responsibility for the future as required by this chapter;
   2. One year shall have elapsed following the date of such suspension and evidence satisfactory to the department has been filed with it that during the period of suspension no action for damages arising out of the accident has been instituted; or
   3. Evidence satisfactory to the commissioner has been filed with him or her of a release from liability or a final adjudication of nonliability.

(Ga. L. 1951, p. 565, §§ 5, 7; Ga. L. 1956, p. 543, § 9; Ga. L. 1963, p. 593, § 4; Code 1933, § 68C-303, enacted by Ga. L. 1977, p. 1014, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 334, § 20-2/HB 501.)

- For comment on Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 91 S. Ct. 1586, 29 L. Ed. 2d 90 (1971), discussing the revocation of a motorist's license pursuant to the state's financial responsibility laws, without a hearing to determine fault, prior to the enactment of Ga. L. 1977, p. 1014, § 1, see 8 Ga. St. B.J. 252 (1971).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 92A-605, are included in the annotations for this Code section.

No prior hearing is necessary for suspension of a driver's license under due process requirements. Roberts v. Burson, 322 F. Supp. 380 (N.D. Ga. 1969) (decided under former Code 1933, § 92A-605).

- Safety Responsibility Act requires the depositing of security as proof of ability to respond in damages for the liability by the operator or owner of a motor vehicle involved in an accident so that the owner or operator will not have their operator's driver's license and registration certificate suspended. Fitzgerald v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 132 Ga. App. 610, 208 S.E.2d 619 (1974).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 7A Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, § 173 et seq.

- 60A C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 379 et seq., 387 et seq.