As an experienced Tennessee auto accident attorney my experience with medical emergency collisions usually relates to a middle age or old driver suffering some sort of a stroke or heart attack that precipitates the accident.  Incidences of drivers who had crashes precipitated by medical emergencies while driving are relatively rare and account for only 1.3 percent of all road fatalities. Older drivers have relatively higher incidences of crashes precipitated by drivers’ medical emergencies when compared to young and middle-age drivers. Drivers in crashes precipitated by medical emergencies were more likely than other drivers to be severely injured or to die as a result of the crash.

Reference a recent accident, luckily non-fatal, in Oak Ridge Tennessee in which a teen driver drove off of the road and hit several trees before rolling over in a ditch. She was seat belted in her car and was only slightly injured. The caused of the accident, according to the teen, was an interaction of prescribed medication.

Another type of emergency is a drug interaction for prescription drugs. It is critical, not only when you are behind the wheel, but anytime you are prescribed drugs for treatment of a medical condition, that you make sure that your doctor is aware of any and all other drugs you might be taking. When taking prescription drugs while driving you should pay particular attention to any strange feelings and if you are troubled you should pull over to the side of the road and contact a friend or family member to assist you.

Patient education by health care providers on early warning signs of a health or prescription crisis, such as warning signs before seizure attacks, diabetic or hypoglycemic comas and potential side effects of medications are recommended as the most effective countermeasure.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile traffic accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to determine your rights and remedies.

As an experienced Tennessee motorcycle attorney one of the main things I try to do with my blog is to bring information to my readers that might not get much traction in the present day entertainment only press. A report released recently by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reveals that motorcycle fatalities declined in 2009 by at least ten percent. Based on preliminary data, GHSA is projecting that motorcycle fatalities declined from 5,290 in 2008 to 4,762 or less in 2009. The projection is based on data from 50 states and the District of Columbia. The declines come on the heels of 11 straight years of dramatic increases in motorcyclist deaths.

The new report–the first state-by-state look at motorcycle fatalities in 2009–was completed by Dr. James Hedlund of Highway Safety North. Dr. Hedlund surveyed GHSA members, who reported fatality numbers for every state. While data are still preliminary, most states have quite complete fatality counts for at least nine months, making GHSA confident to forecast that deaths are down at least ten percent for the full year.

GHSA is projecting declines in approximately three-fourth of states. The declines are notable in many states and in every region of the country. In California, for example, based on data for the first nine months, motorcycle deaths are predicted to be down 29 percent, while Florida and New York are down 27 and 16 percent, respectively.

As part of the report, GHSA members were asked to suggest reasons for the decline. States offered several reasons, including: less motorcycle travel due to the economy, fewer beginning motorcyclists, increased state attention to motorcycle safety programs, and poor cycling weather in some areas. According to GHSA Chairman Vernon Betkey, “Clearly the economy played a large role in motorcycle deaths declining in 2009. Less disposable income translates into fewer leisure riders, and we suspect that the trend of inexperienced baby boomers buying bikes may have subsided.”

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee motorcycle accident caused by the negligence of another driver contact Phillip Miller & Associates and talk to an experienced Tennessee Motorcycle accident attorney

Motorcycle Fatalities Decline

and find out about your rights and remedies.

Medical Emergency Accident

It appeared that a Covington Tennessee attorney suffered from a medical emergency moments before his car went through a t-bone intersection and crashed head-on into an embankment, killing him instantly.

Incidences of drivers who had crashes precipitated by medical emergencies while driving are relatively rare and account for only 1.3 percent of all road fatalities. Older drivers have relatively higher incidences of crashes precipitated by drivers’ medical emergencies when compared to young and middle-age drivers. Drivers in crashes precipitated by medical emergencies were more likely than other drivers to be severely injured or to die as a result of the crash.

Patient education by health care providers on early warning signs of a health crisis, such as warning signs before seizure attacks, diabetic or hypoglycemic comas and potential side effects of medications are recommended as the most effective countermeasure.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile traffic accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to determine your rights and remedies

Road Rage In Tennessee

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I can tell you that taking a walk, even on a sidewalk, requires one to stay alert for all sorts of traffic hazards. According to a number of studies, in the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community. More than 43,000 Americans, including 3,906 children under 16 have been killed this decade alone. This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month, yet it receives nothing like the kind of attention that would surely follow such a disaster.

Reference an incident the other day in Murphreesboro, Tennessee in which a pedestrian crossing the street was almost run down by a motor vehicle. When the pedestrian yelled at the driver to slow down, the driver backed up, got out of the car, pulled a pistol and threatened the pedestrian. After some threats the gunman got into his car and drove away.

This incident brings into focus the difference between aggressive driving and road rage. Aggressive driving is a traffic offense or combination of offenses such as following too closely, speeding, unsafe lane changes, failing to signal intent to change lanes, and other forms of negligent or inconsiderate driving. , on the other hand, Road rage is a criminal offense. This occurs when a traffic incident escalates into a far more serious situation.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car accident involving an aggressive driver or a road rager, contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

A couple of teenagers had done it numerous times in the past and they were just having fun. The fun ended when the teenager fell out of her moving car and hit her head on the pavement leaving her in a coma. The young lady was riding as a passenger in her own car driven by a 20-year-old friend. As was their custom, the young lady was sitting in the open window with her feet on the front seat when her friend took a sharp curve at approximately 60 mph and she fell out of the window onto the pavement on her head. The narrow rural road had a speed limit of 35 mph.

My prayers go out to the two young women and their parents and friends.

Teen drivers, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), have the highest crash risk of any age group. I also share some sobering statistics. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of teen fatalities, accounting for 38% of all teen deaths in the United States.

In 2008, about 3,500 teens in the United States aged 15–19 were killed and  more than 350,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes. Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population. However, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.

Most Americans typically learn to drive during their teen years, when the brain is not fully mature. Recent research is beginning to give us insight into why many teens have difficulty regulating risk-taking behavior:

* The area of the brain that weighs consequences, suppresses impulses and organizes thoughts does not fully mature until about age 25.

* Hormones are more active in teens, which influence the brain’s neuro-chemicals that regulate excitability and mood. The result can be thrill-seeking behavior and experiences that create intense feelings.

If you or a loved is injured in a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Fatal Tennessee Child Fatality

It may sound like a one time event when a wife jumps out of a tractor-trailer as it rolls down an interstate highway and gets run over by the trailer wheels. But, an Arkansas highway fatality involving a Tennessee married couple is the second such fatal accident, with these very same facts, that I have reported on this year.

According to local media reports a 45-year-old woman was riding with her husband when she opened the door of the truck’s cab and jumped out. Accident investigators are investigating the circumstances surrounding the why and the how of her death.

In another tragic Tennessee highway fatality a Chattanooga man is charged with vehicular homicide after his one-year-old baby son died of head injuries following a high speed loss of control accident. The child was not secured in a child safety seat when the speeding vehicle went out of control, flipped over and crashed into an embankment.

The use of safety belts, child restraint safety seats and child booster seats, is required by Tennessee law. They can help save you and your passengers’ lives in the event of a traffic crash.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

As an experienced Nashville automobile personal injury lawyer I can tell you that when you have a crash involving a bus and a tractor-trailer it isn’t going to be pretty. That was the case last Friday in Memphis Tennessee. According to an article on the website of  WMC-TV, one passenger on the bus said, “It was like a rollercoaster ride.”

Eight people were ambulanced to the hospital, while the able bodied riders were taken aboard another bus and taken to the hospital for treatment. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. The driver of the bus was cited for failure to yield, making an improper left turn and failure to maintain a safe lookout.

Since the bus company is a quasi-governmental agency, if you were a victim of their negligent acts there are certain specific avenues that you must take if you intend to secure compensation for damages for pain and suffering, lost work, hospital bills and other incidental damages.  You are going to need an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney like those that you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Check out our website at www.seriousinjury.com and give us a call.

Head-on Roadway Departure Crash

A recent Tennessee roadway departure crash differs in one important respect than most of those that I have dealt with over the years. As an experienced Tennessee auto accident attorney when a vehicle goes out of control and crosses a divided highway the crashes that follow are almost always immediate. Usually it’s just some poor unlucky victim in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Reference a recent multi-victim fatal accident in Johnson City Tennessee the other day in which a 31-year-old woman in a small pickup truck left the southbound lane, crossed the median and gained control heading the opposite direction in the northbound lane. She continued driving in the wrong direction until she hit a Nissan head-on killing both the driver and his passenger.

What is one to think? Did she have a medical emergency? Had she been rendered unconscious by the trip across the median? As an experienced Nashville personal injury lawyer with a couple of decades of experience, my bet would be that she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any inside information, nor have I been in contact with the investigating officer, but from media reports I would opine that the autopsy reports will prove me right on this one.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by an impaired driver you owe it to yourself to contact an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer like those at Phillip Miller & Associates, and find out about your rights and remedies.

Impaired Driving Fatality

As an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer I can’t tell you how many accident victims I’ve spoken with who have told me, “It all happened so fast.” A fatal accident takes only seconds but the ramifications of those few seconds, for the families of the victims lasts forever.

We will never really know how impaired a Kentucky woman was when she departed the roadway, crossed the median and hit an oncoming car in the opposite lane resulting in her death and the death of the passenger of the other car. An autopsy will reveal her blood alcohol level, but two families will be left asking a simple, but unanswerable question, why?

Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion dollars.

How big is the problem? In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.