Deer Related Fatality

A local media report came across my desk that tells of a family highway tragedy. Seven people in a minivan full of relatives were killed, and four were injured when their vehicle hit a deer on an Indiana highway and slowed down or stopped just before a Tractor-trailer slammed into them from behind, this past Friday.

Several things came to mind. The first is that all drivers are required to maintain a safe distance while following so that if something happens that cause the vehicle ahead to slow, that there is plenty of time and space for the following vehicle to respond.  From what I’ve read, the cause of the fatalities is the truck driver’s failure to follow at a safe distance and maintain control of his/her vehicle.

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney, I want to take this opportunity to once again remind you all of you to pay particular attention, especially in the morning and at dusk, for deer. The Tennessee Department of Safety cautions motorists to watch out for deer, especially during the months prone to deer-related crashes, October through December.

Deer-related crashes are on the rise in Tennessee as urban growth encroaches into rural areas. In 2006, there were 5,884 deer-related crashes, including 289 that involved injuries and two that were fatal. That was up 19 percent from 4,942 in 2005. Since 2003, deer-related crashes in Tennessee have risen over 33 percent.

In the month of November Tennessee recorded 1,334 deer-related crashes, by far the highest month for such crashes. December and October were the second and third highest months, which saw double the average number of deer-related crashes throughout the year.

A couple of suggestions:

If you see one deer there will probably be several more

If you happen to collide with a deer, never approach it, an injured deer can prove very dangerous.

Do not try to swerve around an animal.

If you swerve you could lose control of your vehicle and hit a tree or another vehicle, both potentially much worse than hitting a deer. If you swerve, there’s also a chance that the animal will panic and run into your path. Instead, keep your lane position and sound your horn while braking in a controlled manner.

What does this mean to you if you or a family member are the victim of a Tennessee tractor-trailer accident and suffer a serious or life threatening injury?  It means that the trucking company has a huge advantage in investigating the cause of the accident and developing a strategy for its defense to any claim that arises. During one of these situations evidence can disappear and negligent drivers can be coached on what to say to police investigators. The trucking company has the benefit of an expert that was actually at the accident scene. This may not be possible for the victim since injuries are usually severe in nature. Needless to say it is important to act quickly so that an expert can examine the evidence on your behalf.

Time is of the essence in these kind of  cases. Although most cases can be reconstructed at a later time it is important to have someone looking out for your best interests as soon as possible. That’s why it’s important to contact an experienced Tennessee tractor-trailer accident lawyer like those you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. If you or a loved one is injured in a car tractor-trailer accident act quickly and take advantage of a no-cost no-obligation consultation and learn about your rights and put our crack team of lawyers and investigators on the case.

Four Dead

Four Jasper, Tennessee men were killed the other day when the Mustang they were riding in left the road and flipped multiple times. All three passengers were ejected from the vehicle, which usually means that they were not wearing their seat belts.

What actually caused the accident may never be known. Was the driver somehow distracted? One of the leading driving distractions is chatting it up with passengers and failing to keep an eye on the road. There was no mention in the local media report as to whether drugs or alcohol was involved.

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. Each of these accidents had the potential to have taken numerous other lives but somehow that didn’t happen

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 car crash by a distracted driver or a case like the present one that will require an experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer contact the lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Drunk Driver Runs Through Closed Garage

An intoxicated Baxter, Tennessee woman was arrested by Putnam County Sheriff’s deputies after she drove through the front garage door of a detached garage (not on her property) through the garage and out the back wall destroying the goarage and many of it’s contents.

Sheriff’s dispatchers received a 911 call at about 2 a.m. last Sunday from the homeowner and responded to find the driver dazed and confused. She told police she didn’t remember what happened. She failed a field sobriety test and was booked into the county jail pending a November court appearance.

On average, a human being is killed by a drunk driver every 45 minutes. In 2008, an estimated 11,773 people died in drunk driving related crashes a decline of 9.8 percent from the 13,041 drunk driving related fatalities of 2007.

In Tennessee we are serious about keeping people like this lady off of the road. The legislature has made legal consequences for multiple DUI/DWI severe and can make for a serious change in your lifestyle.

Penalties can be:

* Fines range from $600 to $10,000

* Minimum jail time ranges from 48 days to 120 days

* Maximum jail time can extend to almost one year

* License revocation ranges from two to ten years

The statute also provides for vehicle confiscation and there will be no opportunity to get a temporary drivers license for school, work, hospital, doctor’s visits or church. Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. Here in Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 377 people killed in 2007 with a BAC of .08 or higher.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident by a drunk driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation so that you can get a complete picture of your rights and remedies.

Why Did She Leave The Road and Why Didn"t She Buckle Up?

Nashville East Precinct officers reported a fatal roadway departure crash at approximately 11:30 p.m. this past Wednesday. The facts in a local media report are scarce as to a possible cause, but the woman left eastbound Briley Parkway, went down and embankment onto a street below.

She was ejected from the vehicle, which means she was most probably not wearing her seat belt. She was dead at the scene of the accident. Although police reported no evidence of drug or alcohol use, blood tests will determine if one or the other were involved. Our prayers go out to the family and friends of this young woman.

This tragedy brings to mind several important issues of highway safety. The first and most obvious, what distraction caused the driver to drift off of the roadway creating the need to over-correct? The second is that this woman may well have survived had she taken the few seconds to buckle-up her seat belt.

For more information about highway safety and some good accident prevention tips go to my website at www.seriousinjury.com.  If you need further information and or the advice of a group of experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyers call Phillip Miller & Associates for the answers.

Drunk Hit & Run Driver Should Pay The Price

The local Knoxville media report was limited on facts, but it appears that an 18-month-old boy was hit by a car Thursday, and that the driver of the vehicle fled the scene. The child is in stable condition. There is nothing in the media report that gives an indication as to why an 18-month-old child would be in the street at 10:30 PM, or how the accident occurred.

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 fellow human being lying in the street.

Quick action by the Knoxville police and with the help of witnesses, lead to the capture and arrest of a 43-year-old Knoxville woman, who was charged with driving with a revoked license and leaving the scene of an injury accident. We, just the other day spoke about DUI repeat offenders and steps that can be taken to keep them off the street.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed by a Hit & Run driver in a Tennessee automobile accident contact the experienced Nashville car crash lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to determine how you want to proceed.

Motorcycle Accident

Wednesday evening turned into a hectic time for local emergency responders on the streets of Nashville.  First on the agenda was a serious motorcycle crash on Vietnam Veterans Parkway. Information about the cause of the accident are not in yet but it appears the the biker left the road at speed and hit the median guardrail.

Minutes later the call went out to respond to a very serious pedestrian accident at the intersection Nolensville Pike and Harding Place. The latest on the pedestrian’s condition is unknown at this time but we will keep you filled in as facts come to light. According to local media reports it appears that the driver involved will not be cited.

Later that evening, another pedestrian was seriously injured as she walked along a drak section of road without a sidewalk on Wilson Pike. She is now at Vanderbilt in critical condition. Our prayers go out to all three victims for a speedy and complete recovery.

Keep up with issues related to Tennessee traffic related situations by visiting this Blog and our website at Phillip Miller & Associates. Call 615-356-2000.

Nelson Andrews is a local Nashville businessman. This morning I had the opportunity to read an article he wrote for a local media outlet. The subject of the article is timely and so important that I would like to share it with you in it’s entirety.

I recently read a story in The Tennessean about a child who was run over by her father as he backed out of the driveway. As a father of four, I can tell you that it is the often preventable dangers, such as these, that keep me up at night. My thoughts are with the child’s family. Unfortunately, accidents like the one in Chattanooga happen too often. In the United States, at least 50 children are backed over by vehicles every week — 48 of whom are treated in hospital emergency rooms — and at least two children are fatally injured, according to KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit child safety organization dedicated to preventing injuries and death to children in or around motor vehicles.

According to statistics provided by the Tennessee Department of Health’s Division of Health Statistics, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 18, with motor-vehicle traffic being the leading cause of death for children 5-18 and the second-leading cause of hospitalized injuries for children 5-14 years old.

Working with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the local Safe Kids chapter, I have learned that educating families and children about the dangers of vehicles in driveways and parking lots is the best way to prevent these accidents. Many safety organizations offer resources and events on motor-vehicle safety where children and families participate in activities that include front- and back-over awareness.

Safe Kids provides the following tips that may prevent these tragedies from occurring:

Walk all the way around your parked vehicle to check for children and items that attract children, like pets and toys. Be sure to look under your vehicle before you get in and start your engine.

Accompany young children when they get in and out of vehicles.

Identify safe play areas for children that are away from parked or moving vehicles.

Designate a safe spot within a driver’s sight for children to wait when nearby vehicles are about to move.

Hold the hand of each child when walking near moving vehicles and when in driveways, in parking lots or on sidewalks.

The prevalence of back-over injuries has the attention of the U.S. government. Legislation was recently passed that requires new vehicles to have rear-view cameras, allowing drivers to see areas not visible by rear-view and side mirrors, by 2014. But car buyers do not need to wait. Many automobile dealers now offer the option of purchasing rear-view camera packages, and some vehicles, marketed to families, include the cameras as a standard feature.

Accidents do happen, but hopefully the combination of education, community vigilance and technology will help protect families from injuries and deaths related to back-over incidents.

Nelson Andrews is the general manager at Andrews Cadillac and Land Rover Nashville. Every fall, Andrews partners with advocates to host Child Safety Day, a public service event.

To keep up with Tennessee highway safety issues visit the website of the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates or call 615.356.2000.

Tennessee Teen Driver

A Jackson, Tennessee driver involved in a roadway departure crash in Willets, California is uninjured but his passengers were not so lucky. Of the five passengers a 21-year-old woman suffered major injuries and the other four were hospitalized.

According to local media reports the man was driving his 2006 Toyota along the roadway when, for some unknown reason, the car left the road and slammed into a tree. The driver was wearing his seat belt and the airbags deployed. According to the media report, the police ruled out alcohol and drugs as a cause.

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. In 2008, there were 19,794 fatal roadway departure crashes resulting in 22,080 fatalities, which was 53 percent of the fatal crashes in the United States.

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. Investigators will most probably review her cell phone records and find that she was engaged in a conversation with someone.

If you or a loved one are involved in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a distracted driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Drunk Teen Driver

An 18-year-old Johnson City teen driver will have to stand trial as an adult on charges that he injured two passengers in a crash while driving drunk. The teen was charged with two counts of vehicular assault, DUI, underage consumption of alcohol, and failure to show proof of insurance.

The crash, according to local media reports, occurred about 4 a.m. Sunday. The teen driver was injured in the crash and taken to Johnson City Medical Center, so police were unable to perform field sobriety tests. Police reported a strong odor of alcohol on the man at the crash scene, found a half empty bottle of Vodka in the vehicle and a nurse at the emergency room found a half empty bottle in his pants pocket.

The teen consented to a blood alcohol test and the results are pending. Impaired driving is a serious issue, and it affects many more than only those involved in drunk driving crashes. The misuse or abuse of alcohol greatly increases the chance of injuries in the workplace and beyond, and American businesses bear much of the costs in higher insurance premiums for employer-based health insurance tied to alcohol problems.

Whether it’s referred to as drunk driving, driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence, impaired driving simply means a person’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle is compromised by alcohol and other drugs that change the function of the brain and body.

The experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates have handled hundreds of cases involving drunk drivers and can help you if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in such an accident. Contact us for the free consultation and find out about your rights. Call 615-356-2000.

Deter Repeat DUI Offenders

I’m not sure what makes them do it, I’m referring to the propensity of some folks to get drunk and then get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. At lunch the other day I posed this question to a good friend who has been sober for many years and who regularly works with alcoholics trying to call it quits.

His reply, “They don’t want to miss anything”, caught me off guard, but he went on to explain that alcoholics have a disease that is characterized by self centered fear and self will run riot. Following up on the puzzled look on my face he went on, “ they are so afraid that they are going to miss out on the fun, although for the chronic alcoholic the fun has ceased long ago.”

Reference an article in the local Johnson City, Tennessee media in which a 50-year-old woman with a previous DUI conviction, driving on a suspended license, got drunk, got into a vehicle and headed out onto the road. She lost control of her car, jumped a curb, ran through some bushes, went through a busy parking lot at a local murder mart and slammed into the building. Using her best thinking, she then attempted to flee the scene.

How can society protect itself from these repeat DUI offenders? My first thought is that the authorities ought to confiscate the vehicle and let the owner, if other then the offender, come to court and explain why they should get their car back and what they intend to do in the future to keep the offender from driving it.

Alcohol ignition interlocks are a proven tactic to reduce repeat offenses for driving while intoxicated (DWI), but given a choice most offenders don’t voluntarily put them in their vehicles. Even when installation is mandatory, some offenders may sidestep the requirement by agreeing not to drive at all or claiming not to have a vehicle.

When the alternative is house arrest, though, convicted DWI offenders pick interlocks 7 out of 10 times. This is the main finding of a Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation study of one New Mexico counties experience with interlocks. The study looks at Santa Fe, where four judges agreed to a 2-year pilot to sentence all DWI offenders, including first-timers, to home confinement via electronic monitoring as an alternative to interlocks if they claimed to have no car or no intention to drive. The aim was to boost DWI offenders’ use of interlocks.

In May 2010, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed into law a tougher interlock law requiring the use of ignition interlock devices if the offender has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 percent or higher; is accompanied by a person under 18 years of age; or violates the present implied consent laws. The legislation also provides that those convicted of drunk driving with a BAC under 0.15 have the option to install an ignition interlock device instead of being geographically restricted by a court.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a drunk driver contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out all you need to know about obtaining a full and complete financial recovery.