Interstate 24

The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced that the number of overall traffic fatalities reported in 2008 hit their lowest level since 1961 and that fatalities in the first three months of 2009 continue to decrease. The fatality rate, which accounts for variables like fewer miles traveled, also reached the lowest level ever recorded.

According to the fatality data for 2008 placed the highway death count at 37,261, a drop of 9.7 percent from 2007. The fatality rate for 2008 was 1.27 persons per 100 million VMT, about 7 percent below the rate of 1.36 recorded for 2007.

Substantial declines occurred in virtually every major category, led by declines in passenger car occupant fatalities which dropped for the sixth year in a row, reaching the lowest level since DOT began keeping records. Light truck occupant fatalities fell for the third straight year. Alcohol-impaired fatalities also declined by more than 9 percent over 2007.

Continuing this trend, the January-March 2009 estimate of 7,689 deaths represents a nine percent decline from a year ago. It was the twelfth consecutive quarterly decline. The fatality rate for the first quarter of 2009 reached 1.12 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Preliminary data collected by the Federal Highway Administration showed that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) during the first three months of 2009 declined by about 11.7 billion miles.

The 2008 annual statistics did report, however, that motorcycle deaths increased for the 11th straight year and now account for 14 percent of all highway fatalities.

“While the number of highway deaths in America has decreased, we still have a long way to go,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

He added that the country has made major strides in increasing seat belt use, curtailing impaired driving, making roads and highways safer, and maximizing vehicle safety, all of which play important roles in the declining death rate.

Click here to view the 2008 fatality figures, including a state-by state rundown. State fatality data for 2008 was also made available. For more detailed individual state data, click here. Click here to view the preliminary 2009 first quarter estimates.

The National Highway Safety Administration has announced National Child Passenger Safety Week during the period September 12-18, 2009

Securing our Most Precious Cargo is the theme of this special week to highlight child motor vehicle safety. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children ages 2 to 14, due in large part to the nonuse or improper use of child seats and seat belts. Working with parents and our partners our goal is to ensure every child is properly secured and safe every trip, every time.

Parents – Not Sure Which Car Seat to Use?

Are you looking for a new car seat for your infant, toddler or 4-8 year old child but overwhelmed by the choices and worried about how to properly install your car seat? The following links in the 4 Steps for Kids campaign will help you properly choose and install the correct car seat for your child.To link to pages with specific information regarding children of all ages click on the following categories. For Babies, Toddlers, Kids (4-8), Age 8 and up.

Is your child safety seat properly installed?

Click HERE to find the child seat inspection station nearest you. Trained child seat inspectors will verify – free of charge – the installation of your child seat.

As an experienced Tennessee car accident lawyer my staff and I at Phillip Miller & Associates highly recommend that you take some time and visit the links in this blog and share the information with friends and family. Children truly are our most precious resource and a couple of minutes spent looking over this information might save lives.

Drowsy or Sleepy Drivers Pull Over...Please

A recent Tennessee car crash caused me to ponder the problem of overtired or drowsy drivers on the highways in Tennessee. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that if you are driving a car and you are falling asleep that nothing good is going to come from that situation. It only makes sense that when you find yourself nodding off that you ought to pull over and rest, get a cup of coffee or get out of your vehicle and exercise to wake yourself.

The Kingsport TimesNews reported that a N.C. man on I-26 near Kingsport, Tennessee who had exercised reasonable care by pulling off the Interstate to answer a cell-phone call was crashed into by a driver who had fallen asleep while driving in the same direction. The Church Hill, Tennessee man told investigating officers that he must have dozed off prior to the collision.

I wonder what the odds are that you are pulled over in the emergency lane of an Interstate highway in rural Tennessee and another driver falls asleep at just the right time so that he drifts off of the highway directly into your vehicle. They have to be astronomical and that’s a good reminder of the dangers that await you when you get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and head out onto the highways and by-ways of Tennessee.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident we urge you to contact our Nashville car accident attorneys

Sleeping Tennessee Drivers Always Crash

today for a free consultation.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported a one-car accident this past Thursday in rural Seymour in Sevier County, Tennessee in which a Sheriff’s Deputy was injured. Deputy Daniel Webb was responding to a house fire call when he lost control of his patrol car, left the road and ran up an embankment before hitting a utility pole. He was wearing his seatbelt and the airbags deployed.

The Patrol Car was totaled and the Deputy was transported by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where he was treated and released. A fire engine responding to the fire came upon the Deputies wrecked Patrol Car and stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. In the meantime the house, valued at $500,000.00 was destroyed.

As an experienced Nashville car accident lawyer when I read this story a number of things came to mind. My first thought was that no matter how well trained or experienced one might be, no one is immune from car crashes. Deputies undergo specific driver training, much more than civilian drivers, but the rules of the road apply to each and every one of us. No matter what the hurry, nothing is more important than keeping control of your vehicle. Was this officer distracted the police radio? Was he going too fast for the road conditions? It’s hard to say from reading a newspaper report but further investigation will determine what happened so that the Department can relate the cause to other deputies so that they can avoid similar collisions.

When you see emergency flashers, whether they are on a police or fire vehicle always yield immediately by pulling over and stopping. If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident we urge you to contact our car accident attorneys

Tennessee Deputy Injured in One-Car Crash

today for a free consultation.

Teen Drivers Face Many Difficulties

My blog usually tells of people who have been involved in accidents, drivers who are drunk and inattentive and down right stupid when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. The Purpose of my blog is to educate my client’s and readers as to the hazards that they face with people like this on the road. It is my distinct pleasure to tell you of some good news about three young people who are trying to make a difference and maybe save lives.

On it’s website Bridgestone Americas, Inc., the worldwide maker of automobile and truck tires, announced the Grand Prize winners of its third annual Safety Scholars video contest, a national competition that is part of the company’s overall youth auto safety education efforts. In the competition, Safety Scholars entrants, who are between 16 and 21 years old, created short videos about auto safety and, new for this year, how to be more environmentally conscious when using a vehicle. More than 800 videos were submitted and more than 12,000 votes were cast at www.safetyscholars.com to determine the grand-prize winners. This years 3 winners have each been awarded college scholarships, those videos can be seen on the Web site.

The website identifies the winners as;

Christopher Baugh, an 18-year-old from of Glen Allen, Va., created a humorous piece reminiscent of a typical hip-hop music video. Instead of boasting about flashy rims, hydraulics and nice cars, however, the rapper focuses on safety tips such as buckling seat belts and reading road signs. Baugh is an incoming freshman at Syracuse University.

Eric Dachman, an 18-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., and rising freshman at Arizona State, warns of texting while driving. His video shows the windshield of a moving car, and as the driver sends more and more texts, it becomes covered with them, impairing his driving ability. The video ends with the simple message: “Use a designated texter.”

Juliana Hinojosa, a 19-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, is a sophomore at Texas State University. Her emotional video is inspired by her 22-year-old brother Ryan, who was killed in an auto accident at the hands of a drunk driver. The video depicts various family members and friends who were impacted by Ryan’s death. Hinojosa summarizes her message to other drivers with, “Don’t drive drunk…you never know who you’ll wind up hurting.”

As an experienced Nashville car accident lawyer I suggest that you sit down with your teenagers and watch these videos together and then tell other parents.

Driver Rolls The Dice Craps Out

As an experienced tennessee car crash lawyer I would think that after receiving three speeding tickets most thinking people get the point. I had better slow down or I’m going to have more tickets, thousands of dollars in fines and court costs and at some point I’m going to lose my drivers license. I have choices. I can continue to drive in excess of the speed limit and suffer the consequences or I can leave earlier and drive the speed limit so I don’t have negative consequences and be late.

And then there are those, best described as non-thinkers, like Mr. Matthew Glenn Piatt of Kingsport, Tennessee. It appears that Mr. Pruitt did in fact have three speeding tickets in a short period of time and yet the guy chooses to drive with a non-functioning headlight and guess what? The police officer does what he is charged to do, he lights up his roof rack to pull over Mr. Piatt’s vehicle and issue him a ticket. Once again, I ask, what does a reasonable thinking man do? Well, we have already established the Mr. Piatt might not fall into that category but when you hear what he then does your going to find certainty in your opinion.

The rack lights of the Patrol Car go on and Mr. Pruitt doesn’t want to get another ticket so he takes off and tries to out-run the Patrol Car. The officer follows clocking Mr. Piatt at 90 mph in a zone marked 45 mph. He runs a red light narrowly missing another car before deciding that he might ought to pull over. When questioned by the arresting officer the driver told the officer he had been stopped three times recently and he didn’t want another ticket and he did not have insurance on his vehicle.

Well, he still got a couple of tickets, one for no insurance and the other for speeding but that was topped of with a count of felony evading and reckless driving. If I were a betting man I wouldn’t be that this guy was going to get. Not even after this experience.

Citizen Action

As an experienced car accident lawyer I am always looking for interesting stories that I can bring to the attention of my client’s and blog readers. Yesterday I found a great story with a wonderful message. The Journal News wwwthejournalnews.com of the lower Hudson Valley in New York state ran a story about an 83 year-old man who, along with his daughter, were on their way to a wedding when a drunken driver in a pick-up truck who had rear-ended them while driving along Interstate 684 in Southeast New York.

The drunken driver failed to stop and continued along weaving in and out of traffic, driving on the shoulder and generally making the Interstate dangerous for all others on the road. The 83 year-old was determined to stop this drunk before he hurt someone. Putting aside his goal of getting to the wedding on time he followed the drunk for 15 miles while his daughter was in contact with the State Police. They followed the man all the way to his driveway and stayed there until police arrived on the scene and made the arrest.

The article went on to say that by the time they finished filing police reports they missed the wedding. The drunk driver

was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license and was being held in the Sleepy Hollow jail.

This man could have just as easily decided to get on to the wedding and let someone else worry about this drunken driver, but he did exactly the right thing. Concerned that the drunk would hurt another person he took it upon himself to follow, not confront, the drunk and contact the authorities. This is the kind of commitment to our fellows that makes this a great country. I say Bravo, to this man and his duaghter.

The JohnCityPress.com reported that a habitual motor vehicle offender, may finally have taken his last illegal drive for quite a while. As an experienced Nashville car accident lawyer when I read this story I had to shake my head in disbelief. I’m not sure if I want to know what was going through the mind of this Johnson City man who was drunk and under the influence of drugs, while speeding on a winding creek road in a stolen car. Under those conditions it was not surprising to read that he lost control of the car, left the road, and slammed the passenger side of the vehicle, and his passenger, into a utility pole.

Totally unconcerned about his severely injured companion, thinking only about himself, this guy leaves the scene and his critically injured passenger alone in the wrecked vehicle. It didn’t take long for the police to round up this guy several blocks away. He suffered only minor injuries and was released to the Washington County Sheriff. The passenger remains in critical condition in the intensive care unit with life threatening injuries. The driver has been charged with Aggravated Assault, DUI, driving on a revoked license, habitual motor vehicle offender and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and car theft.

When someone like this bozo gets high and behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and sets off speeding through the community he puts the lives of hundreds of people in dire jeopardy. I urge every citizen of Tennessee and especially those good folks in Washington County to contact their District Attorney General and make it clear that you want this guy to go away for a long time. Please Mr. DA, no plea-bargains here. Let this guy go before a jury of citizens and explain why they should not throw the book at him.

In October 2008, 17 year old Markie Voyles went on a date with 19 year old Travis Young. He was drinking that night and lost control of his pick-up, slamming it into a tree. Young Ms. Voyles, a promising track star that would have been starting college this year was killed.

Mr. Young has now pled guilty and been ordered to serve 1 year in prison for the death, a punishment that the Voyles family feels is not tough enough. Neither do I.

Mr. Young was also charged with underage drinking and driving on a suspended license.

The loss of the Voyles family cannot be measured, but questions need to be asked. Questions that might save another family from this kind of loss. What about Mr. Young’s family? He had a suspended license but they let him drive anyway? Why did he have a suspended license?  He wasn’t old enough to drink but he was still able to get alcohol? From who? What are the chances that he had done this before  and gotten away with it? What are the odds that his family didn’t know he drank? Were there no responsible adults or family members around Travis Young?  19 year old boys make mistakes, and they should pay for them when they do, but what about those family members who weren’t young and dumb like this 19 year old? Should Travis be the only one behind bars?

It all started with a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a funeral and it ended in four deaths, eighteen others injured including a 56 year-old man with two children confined for life to a nursing home, unable to walk or talk, when a tractor-trailer driver answered a cell-phone call and took his eyes off a suburban St. Louis Interstate highway and the traffic ahead. The Associated Press reported this week that a Federal Judge awarded the survivor confined to the nursing home a judgment of $13.8 million dollars against the driver and the Muscle Shoals Alabama trucking company that employed. His wife was also awarded $4.2 million.

The driver of the truck told authorities that he was distracted by a cell-phone call, causing him to ram his speeding tractor-trailer into stopped traffic. Authorities also determined during their investigation that the Driver was in violation of federal regulations by driving beyond the maximum hours allowed during an eight-day period. The driver has been charged with multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter.

As an experienced Nashville car tractor-trailer accident lawyer I have come to understand how the slightest distraction can lead to such a tragic ending. I have seen this same situation play out more times then I care to remember. In this accident so many lives were changed in just seconds because this tractor-trailer driver took his eyes and his attention off of the road ahead. The man in the man confined to a nursing home for life was 53 years old and had two children. He was a father, son, husband and a contributing member of society. His children will have to grow-up without his counsel and guidance.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident we urge you to contact our car accident attorneys today for a free consultation. When you hire an auto accident attorney from Phillip Miller & Associates, you’re getting a qualified and dedicated lawyer. Details about our attorneys and staff can be found by viewing our website at www.seriousinjury.com where you can get to know the men and women who will be looking out for your best interest.