What Is Negligence Per Se in Georgia?
Short answer: Negligence per se means a person is treated as negligent because they broke a statute, ordinance or regulation meant to protect people like you. In Georgia, it can establish that the other side was careless, but you still have to prove the violation caused your injuries and damages.
Definition
“Per se” is Latin for “by itself.” Normally you must prove someone failed to act as a reasonably careful person would. With negligence per se, the violation of a safety law stands in for that proof. Georgia recognizes the idea in O.C.G.A. § 51-1-6: when the law requires a person to act, or not act, to protect others, an injured person may recover for the breach.
How it works in Georgia
- Two-part test. Courts ask whether you are in the class of people the law was meant to protect, and whether your harm is the kind it was meant to prevent.
- Common examples include holding a phone in violation of the hands-free law (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241), driving under the influence (§ 40-6-391), speeding and running red lights.
- Causation and your own fault still matter. The violation must be a proximate cause of your injuries, you must prove your damages, and your own share of fault can reduce or bar recovery (§ 51-12-33).
- Seat belts. For claims arising on or after April 21, 2025, SB 68 allows evidence that you were not buckled up on negligence, causation and fault. Georgia law had long excluded it.
Example
A driver in Marietta is watching a video on a hand-held phone and drifts into your lane. Holding the phone violated the hands-free law, which exists to protect people on the road from exactly this kind of crash. That can establish the driver’s negligence, but you still need medical evidence that the crash caused your injuries.
Why it matters for your claim
- It can make fault much simpler to prove.
- Phone records, toxicology results and crash reports often become key evidence.
- A violation alone does not decide the case. It must connect to your injuries.
Read more: How Georgia’s hands-free law can make your case and DUI accident claims.
Related terms
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the other driver have to get a ticket?
No. A ticket can be useful evidence, but the question in your civil case is whether the law was actually broken, which video, witnesses or phone records can show.
Can a city ordinance or building code count?
It can, when the two-part test is met.
Browse the full Georgia personal injury glossary
Questions about how this applies to your accident? Call 888-BIG-GUNN or request a free case review. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
This is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice for your situation.
