Lowlife Driver

It’s been several months since I called out a driver for being a low life, no-good, sorry, less then human being. Today, I’m hanging that tag on a Maryville man who was arrested after the pickup truck he was driving, departed the roadway, flipped over in a ditch and fled, leaving a woman who described herself as his wife, trapped in the vehicle.

Tennessee law requires a driver involved in a personal or property injury accident to remain at the scene, to await emergency responders. Charges are pending.

Wreck & Run drivers are, in my consideration, the second worst kind of human being. Most W&R drivers are under the influence of alcohol, others have already run afoul of the law and have lost their driving privileges, yet they continue to get behind the wheel and ignore the rules.

Many W&R drivers are trying to avoid detection because they don’t have insurance and they don’t want to face the responsibility for their actions. No matter which category they fall into they are the very worst type of person, someone who will leave an injured or dying passenger trapped in the wrecked vehicle.

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

Hit & Run drivers are, in my consideration, the worst kind of human being. Most H&R drivers are under the influence of alcohol, others have already run afoul of the law and have lost their driving privileges, yet they continue to get behind the wheel and ignore the rules.

Many H&R drivers are trying to avoid detection because they don’t have insurance and they don’t want to face the responsibility for their actions. No matter which category they fall into they are the very worst type of person, someone who will leave an injured or dying pedestrian lying in the street.

Right this very minute there are two lowlifes somewhere in Hamilton County who need to be found and who need to have the heavy hammer of the law come down on them with righteous fury. If I sound angry, then you have a good read on me.

These lowlifes were driving along and for some unknown reason struck a 58-year-old pedestrian, got out of their car and checked on the man and got back in there car and drove away. They did not call emergency responders to alert them to the man lying in the street. At the time of the local media report there was no information about the man’s condition.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident we urge you to contact our Nashville car accident attorneys today for a free consultation. When you hire a Nashville auto accident attorney from Phillip Miller & Associates, you’re getting a well- qualified and dedicated lawyer.

Buckle Those Babies

Every day in the United States, an average of 4 children age 14 and younger were killed and 529 are injured in motor vehicle crashes. In the 14-and-younger age group, males accounted for 60 percent of the fatalities and 48 percent of those injured in motor vehicle crashes during this same period

In 2008, there were 61 million children age 14 and younger in the United States. This age group made up 20 percent of the total U.S. resident population. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for ages 3 to 14.

Even though it’s the law, far too often we see a young child riding in a vehicle without a safety seat or, if there is a safety seat, the child is not properly restrained. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationchild safety seats (NHTSA) which studies all manner of highway safety issues says that using safety seats, properly installed, reduces the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats also reduces serious injuries by more than half.

It is a shameful fact that but true, Tennessee continues to have one of the lowest child safety seat usage rates in the nation and one of the highest child traffic death rates. In every county in Tennessee there are centers where parents can go to find out about properly securing their children. The people at these center are trained and will inspect the child safety seats in your vehicle and make sure you are doing everything you can to protect your children. To find one near to you call the Department of Safety at 615- 251-5166.

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

A Lucky Man

A Signal Mountain Tennessee man is lucky to be alive this morning after her drove his vehicle off of the road and ended up suspended in a tree, upside down on the side of a mountain. The cause of the accident was that the man dropped his cell phone to the floor and took his eyes off the road while reaching for it. A difference of seconds and inches could have meant the difference between life and death.

A distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the road (visual distraction), your mind off the road (cognitive distraction), or your hands off the wheel (manual distraction). So when you think about tasks that can be a driving distraction, you can see that they often fit into more than one category: eating is visual and manual, whereas using a navigation system is all three.

I advise people that before putting the key in the ignition, stop for a moment and remind your self that you are getting behind the wheel of a potentially deadly weapon and that if you want to arrive at your destination alive or without killing others, use common sense and avoid distractions. If you or a loved one is injured in a Tennessee car accident caused by a distracted driver, call one of our experienced Nashville car accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

What Casued the Distraction?

A 43-year-old Tennessee woman died yesterday morning as the result of a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer on US 41-A. My prayers go out to the family and friends of this unfortunate woman. Since she was driving alone we will probably never really know what caused her to be distracted from keeping her eyes on the road and causing her to cross the centerline and slam into an oncoming tractor-trailer.

Whenever you see an accident, usually involving one car that leaves the road, an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney starts thinking about driver distractions. Just what was the driver doing moments before the crash that caused his/her vehicle to go off the highway? What caused the driver to change focus from driving to other things?

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes. Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event.  Primary causes of driver inattention are distracting activities, such as cell phone use, and drowsiness.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney we know that these crashes are referred to as “Roadway Departure Crashes” (RDCs). The Federal Highway Administration defines a RDC as a non-intersection crash that occurs when a vehicle crosses an edge line or a centerline, or otherwise leaves the traveled way.

According to the Federal Highway Administration roadway departure crashes are frequently severe and account for the majority of highway fatalities.

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

Red Means Stop

Two Johnson City, Tennessee men were injured and one was trapped in his sport utility vehicle Monday morning when their vehicle ran a red light on North State of Franklin Road, police said. The Blazer, driven by a 37-year-old man, struck a box delivery truck from Grissom’s Salads, out of Nashville. The truck was turning left with the light in the intersection.

The driver had to be removed with special equipment and was transported to a local hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. The truck driver was injured and released from the hospital.

More than 100,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers running red lights, killing some 950 people and injuring 90,000 others, making it a leading cause of fatal crashes in metropolitan areas, according to the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

Worse, the numbers are on the rise: Fatal motor vehicle crashes at traffic signals increased 19 percent nationally between 1992 and 1998 (the last year for which FHWA had statistics); over the same period, all other types of fatal crashes increased just 6 percent. This is a situation where people are dying from something that’s 100 percent preventable.”

The high fatality rate associated with red-light-running crashes is partly attributable to the fact that they are usually “T-bone,” or side-impact, crashes involving high speeds (since drivers often accelerate to get through a red light quickly). Indeed, images of vehicles broadsided at intersections often show cars cut in two or with pulverized midsections. “Of all the injuries we see, these are some of the worst,” says Harry Teter, executive director of the 2,200-member American Trauma Society. “You’re hitting the most vulnerable part of the car.”

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee red light running crash, you owe it to yourself and your family to contact an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer like those that you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Call for a free consultation so that you can learn about your rights and remedies.

Drowsy Driving

It’s nearly impossible to determine with certainty the cause of a fatal crash where drowsy driving is suspected. However, there are a number of clues at a crash scene that tell investigators that the person fell asleep at the wheel.

Reference a recent case near Clarksville Tennessee that doesn’t have this problem. The driver survived to tell his story and it was a classic case of drowsy driving. A 51-year-old man traveled all night from Memphis and went directly to work. He was experiencing extreme fatigue and his boss sent him home.

On the way home in his 1999 Ford Taurus, he fell asleep near the River Run subdivision at about 12:55 p.m. He veered off the road, hit the utility pole and overturned into a ditch. Power lines landed on his car, causing it to catch fire. Firefighters from Clarksville Fire Rescue responded and had to put out the fire twice. The driver managed to climb out and was not seriously injured, according to responders at the scene.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving “is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities.” But among all the major factors that cause or contribute to crashes, like speeding, alcohol use, and weather situations, drowsiness is the most difficult for police and other crash investigators to detect and quantify.

If you or someone you love has been hurt in a serious Tennessee car accident due to somebody else’s negligence, then you may be feeling angry, frightened, or even alone in your suffering. There is no reason for you to bear your burden alone.  The experience of a Tennessee auto accident is traumatic enough and your recovery will bring its own challenges.  You don’t need the added stress of worrying about who will pay for the medical care you need, how your car will be repaired, and if the individuals responsible for your suffering will be brought to justice.

This is the time to call Phillip Miller & Associates, the law firm of local Nashville personal injury attorneys and staff who for the past 25 years have dedicated their lives to protecting the rights of injured men, women, and children in Tennessee.

The last place you would expect to have an automobile breakdown is after having your car serviced and as you are backing out of the parking lot. That’s exactly what happened to a Johnson City woman. She was backing out of the auto shop parking lot after having her car serviced, oil change and brake inspection, Thursday afternoon when she realized her brakes were out.

She backed, out of control, out of the parking lot, she side-swiped her daughters car and right out into a busy roadway and was fortunate not to be hit by another vehicle. After crossing the road she ended up going down the bank and into a creek. This accident could have gone wrong in so many ways, but luckily it ended as best it could.

The repair shop is going to have to be looking long and hard at the protocol they followed while working on this vehicle and should make a call to their professional liability carrier to cover the costs and damages incurred by this lady and her daughter.

I can’t think of anything the car owner could have done to prevent this accident but I would have some serious questions for the shop owner. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident because of the negligence of a mechanic who has worked on you car, 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.

Teen Siblings Die Together

The Chattanooga police investigating a double fatal accident earlier this month blame the death on the teenage driver speeding and specifically deny that road design had anything to do with it. It’s an old story, inexperienced teen driver speeding and losing control.

An 18-year-old driver and his 16-year-old daughter, according to investigators were going between 57 and 61 MPH when they left the road and crashed. My prayers go out to the family and friends of these teens, the horror of losing two children in one fell swoop is more than I can comprehend.

But local residents tell local media outlets that the way the road is configured has attracted numerous teen thrill seekers and the neighbors have seen more than a dozen similar accidents. One neighbor said that the kids come flying down through the area and play a game of trying to go airborne.

Speeding may have played a role in this and the other accidents but if the road design is dangerous and the city and county have, or through the exercise of due care, should have known that a dangerous situation exists and do nothing about it, that entity may be liable for damages.

According to The Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group. In 2005, twelve teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries.

The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash. In 2005, the motor vehicle death rate for male drivers and passengers ages 16 to 19 was more than one and a half times that of their female counterparts.

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

Medical Emergency?

It only takes a second when you are somehow distracted while driving and you find yourself off the road and hitting something that doesn’t move. The distracted roadway departure crash has reached epidemic proportions in Tennessee over the past several years and the problem only seems to be getting worse.

A 48-year-old Nashville man and his girlfriend were driving along Buena Vista Pike in north Nashville when the car veered from the road hit a tree and rolled over. Police investigators say that both people were wearing their seat belts and that a medical emergency may have been the cause of the accident.

Incidences of drivers who had crashes precipitated by their 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.