As a Nashville and Tennessee car accident lawyer I am still amazed when I hear of someone driving a motor vehicle without securing his/her seatbelt. In my Tennessee car accident practice I have seen so many automobile collisions that ended up with fatalities that could have been prevented if they would have just taken a second to buckle up.  Although Nashville police and Tennessee State Troopers can issue tickets for seat-belt violations, it isn’t enough for some people.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported just such an accident last week in New Tazewell. Steven Thomas was driving his 1994 Ford pickup truck at a high rate of speed, over-corrected sending the truck up an embankment tossing Thomas out of the truck to the roadway. The truck continued up the embankment, rolled over and crushed Thomas who died immediately. A Tennessee state Trooper opined that the victim most likely would not have died, nor even sustained serious injury had he been wearing his seatbelt.

Remember, when you get behind the wheel and you speed you are putting the lives of others in danger. Luckily for other Knox County drivers no one else was injured by Mr. Thomas’ bad driving.

Allstate Insurance Co. a major player in the car accident insurance business has recently released a report ranking Nashville 35^th among the 200 biggest U.S. cities for safe driving. Gannett Tennessee in a recent article noted that the report shows Nashville drivers average 10.6 years between collisions based on insurance claims in 2006-2007.

Unfortunately Nashvillians are trending upward and are a bit more accident prone than they were four years ago, when the average was 11.4 years between collisions.

The bad news is in the area of teen drivers (as opposed to older drivers who have far fewer fatalities). The report showed that the Nashville ranked fourth in the nation for driving deaths among 50 metropolitan areas. The article quotes Elizabeth Hosmer of the Governors Highway Safety Office as saying that, “A lot of it’s speed, and their driving skills aren’t as good as they should be.” As Tennessee car accident lawyers we see too often that teen drivers don’t understand the responsibility that they have when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. All too often the death of a friend or family member has to occur before it gets their attention. 4th in the Nation for teen fatalities? Nashville drivers and parents should be concerned.

July 30, 2009

Nashville, TN

Tennessee car accident lawyers know all too well the dangers that automobile drivers face each time the venture out onto the interstate highway system. Every year in Tennessee several hundred Interstate drivers lose their lives needlessly because one driver chooses to violate the rules of the road disregarding the lives of those traveling along with them. These same Tennessee car accident lawyers know that there are other unforeseen hazards that can only be avoided by paying strict attention to those driving near them.

A case in point; A tractor-trailer traveling Eastbound through Nashville hauling a full load of steel through a construction zone along I-40, left the road without any warning, crashed into a concrete barrier set up to protect the construction workers, and rolled over, dumping his load of steel into the oncoming lanes of traffic. The driver died and luckily no other vehicles were involved in this potentially catastrophic situation.

Authorities believe the cause of the rollover seems to be that the 42 year old Michigan based driver suffered some sort of medical emergency, possibly a heart attack. Unfortunately the driver was not wearing his seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The lesson here is that you never know from where the danger will come, and if you ask any Tennessee car accident lawyer they will surely advise you to familiarize your selves with the rules of the road and not to take anything for granted when you get on the interstate.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Chattanooga, TN

We have all experienced the totally inconsiderate rush hour driver who disregards the lives of others by speeding and cutting off other drivers to gain a slight advantage. As Tennessee car accident lawyers, we know that there is no good time to speed and swerve through Interstate traffic, but the morning rush hour is a particularly bad time. So it was this morning for an as yet unidentified Bradley County woman. Driving her 1995 Saturn at a high rate of speed, witnesses said she swerved back and forth across multiple lanes of southbound traffic on I-75 before running into the rear end of a tractor-trailer causing the trailer to roll over on the speeding car killing the passenger. It was truly a miracle that no one else was injured or killed by this thoughtless driver. The driver was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. To gain a little time this foolish driver has caused thedeath of a friend or family member, stealing from others a mother, father, son or daughter. When released from the hospital will most surely be called upon to face criminal charges.

Driver Distractions Can Prove Fatal- A brief look at handheld communication devices and the law in Tennessee

It shouldn’t take a Tennessee automobile accident lawyer to tell most thinking people that driver distractions can prove fatal. Have you ever been driving along and you look over at the driver next to you and see that he is reading a newspaper or book? How often have you been following a car down the road and observe that the vehicle is swerving back and forth across the lane, or slowing down to a crawl, only to find that the driver has a cell phone stuck in their ear while the chat away without paying attention to what it is they are doing behind the wheel of a three thousand pound deadly weapon? Along with handheld technology advances these distractions have become an everyday affair for law-abiding drivers.

As a Tennessee automobile accident lawyer it is my responsibility to advise my clients of the pertinent Tennessee vehicle laws relating to these devices. Tennessee has several specific laws dealing with cell-phone use while driving. The first law prohibits drivers with a learner’s permit or an intermediate license from using a mobile telephone while operating a motor vehicle. If a driver with a permit or intermediate license is caught driving while using a cell-phone they will be fined $100 and may receive delayed eligibility for their next license type. This law does not permit the use of a hands-free device. The other law prohibits the driver of a school bus from using a cell-phone while the bus is in motion and transporting children.

The newest legislation relates to text messaging. Beginning July 1st, 2009 text messaging is banned for all drivers. “Using a hand held mobile telephone or a hand held personal digital assistant to transmit or read a written message while such vehicle is in motion”.  Deaths due to texting while driving have already occurred in other states, let’s try to avoid having fatal car wrecks in Tennessee due to texting.

We remind you that when you get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle you are responsible for your own life, your passengers and all of the other drivers that you encounter. That is a big responsibility and we hope you take it seriously.

Car Accident Kills Drunk Driver
Oak Ridge, TN
July 20, 2009

As Tennessee car accident lawyers, we know that alcohol and speed are
trouble. Alcohol, speed and an unused seat belt proved to be a deadly
combination for an Anderson County man early this morning. The
Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that the man ran his truck off the
road, struck an exercise area and launched the truck in one direction
and the unbelted driver in another. It took officers an hour to find
the body after they arrived at the scene. As Tennessee car accident
lawyers who sue drunk drivers, we believe that drunk drivers are a
hazard to all of us, but this was a high price to pay. Our sympathies
to this man’s family.