Running Red Lights Is A Fools Game

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.”

Moreover, 53 percent of drivers in a 2008 online poll said their cars were not equipped with head-protecting side-curtain air bags, even though these devices cut driver deaths in side-impact crashes by nearly half. (Last year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a new regulation that mandates that new passenger cars have side air bags by 2012.)

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 Tennessee automobile accident lawyer like those that you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Call 615-356-2000 for a free consultation so that you can learn about your rights and remedies.

Follow Carefully

There are several driving events that require intense concentration by the driver. A driver must always be on the defensive—thinking about what other drivers might do AND be prepared to respond with proper reactions. In addition, certain conditions, especially bad weather, trigger the need for special knowledge and skills.

To share the road safely, stay a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you. Nationally, safety agencies and driver education programs have tried to define a safe following distance for drivers to maintain. This has ranged from a two to four second following distance. Use the following tips to determine if you are following too closely:

A. As the car ahead of you passes a stationary point on the road (a sign post, driveway, utility pole, etc.), count the seconds it takes you to reach the same spot.

B. Count to yourself “one-thousand and one, one thousand and two,” etc. You should NOT reach the same point on the road before you finish counting to at least “one-thousand-two.” If you do, you are following too closely.

C. Slow down slightly to increase the space between you and the other vehicle. Find another spot to check your new following distance. Repeat this exercise until you are following no closer than two seconds.

This principle will hold true at any speed on state and federal highway with moderate speed limits. However, during inclement weather, interstate highway driving at higher speeds and night driving, the two-second rule should be increased to allow for improved visibility. A minimum of four seconds should allow for better reaction time and a safer space cushion under these conditions.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a driver who was following too closely contact the experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Elderly Drivers Keep Alert For Signs Of Aging

Most older people are capable and have a lifetime of valuable driving experience. For these reasons, decisions about a person’s ability to drive should never be based on age alone. However, changes in vision, physical fitness and reflexes may cause safety concerns. People who accurately assess these changes can adjust their driving habits so that they stay safe on the road, or choose other kinds of transportation.

Symptoms

Do you have problems reading highway or street signs or recognizing someone you know across the street?

Do you have trouble seeing lane lines and other pavement markings, curbs, medians, other vehicles and pedestrians, especially at dawn, dusk and at night?

Do you experience more discomfort at night from the glare of oncoming headlights?

What You Can Do

Make sure you always wear your glasses and that they are a current prescription. If you lose or break your glasses, don’t rely on an old pair; replace them right away with your newest prescription. Avoid eyewear with side pieces that may block your vision.

Do not wear sunglasses or tinted lenses at night. This reduces the amount of light that reaches your eyes and makes driving much more hazardous. Don’t darken or tint your car windows. Avoid driving at dawn, dusk and night. If you are extremely light-sensitive, check with your eye doctor to see if it can be corrected.

Keep your windshield, mirrors and headlights clean, and make sure your headlight aim is checked when your car is inspected. Choose a car with larger dials and easy-to-read symbols. Turn brightness up on the instrument panel.

Sit high enough in your seat so that you can see the road for at least 10 feet in front of your car. This will make a big difference in reducing the amount of glare you experience from opposing headlights at night. Use a cushion if your car seats can’t be raised.

Look to the lower right side of the road when there is oncoming traffic. Some vehicles have rearview mirrors that automatically filter out glare; you might find this feature beneficial, especially for nighttime driving.

If you are 60 or older, see an eye doctor every year to check for cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and other conditions associated with aging.

For these and other Tennessee highway safety suggestions contact the experienced Nashville trial lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take a look at our web site. Call 615-356-2000 with any questions about car wrecks.

Age Alone Should Not Count

The AAA Foundation for Driver Safety estimates that one out of every five drivers in America will be 65 or older by 2030. Many older people are capable and have a lifetime of valuable driving experience. For these reasons, decisions about a person’s ability to drive should never be based on age alone.

However, changes in vision, physical fitness and reflexes may cause safety concerns. People who accurately assess these changes can adjust their driving habits so that they stay safe on the road, or choose other kinds of transportation.

Older people are keeping their licenses longer, driving more miles and make up a bigger portion of the driving population as baby boomers age, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which reports that there were 21.6 million licensed drivers 70 and older in 2008, which amounted to 10 percent of drivers of all ages.

What role should the state play in the decision to turn over their car keys?

Tennessee is one of the least restrictive states in the country for older drivers. Most other states do have laws in place that impose heightened licensing requirements on older drivers, from accelerated renewal cycles to requiring that drivers over a certain age pass vision and/or reaction tests.

Some states go so far as to require older drivers to submit a doctor’s certification that they are safe to drive. Federal law already allows health-care providers to provide protected information to public officials if they believe there is a threat to public safety.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident involving an elderly driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Tennessee car accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies. Call 615-356-2000

Passenger Vans Require Special Care

Passenger vans are inherently dangerous for a number of reasons. The driver of a passenger van carrying young children owes a special duty of care to transport the children safely and without incident. A three-vehicle accident in Memphis on Friday shows just what can happen when the driver allows himself to be distracted.

Facts about what happened are somewhat sketchy in the local media report but the comment of a 6-year-old male passenger tells the story. The young man said that the driver wasn’t paying attention, that he was just driving along talking on his cell phone when the accident happened. None of the children were hurt but occupants of the two other cars were transported to local hospitals.

Federal regulations prohibit commercial drivers from talking on cell phones when in motion, but I think this driver has bigger problems when his employer reviews his actions.

The lesson here, is that cell phone use distracts a driver and a cell phone distracted driver, according to studies, is a just as distracted as a legally drunk driver. Put the phone down and if you need to take or make a call, pull over and get out of traffic.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee traffic accident involving a passenger van contact the experienced Nashville personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates. Call 615-356-2000.

Seat Belts Save Lives

A Maynardsville, Tennessee woman is dead after she lost control of her vehicle late Friday night, according to local media reports. The 38-year-old woman was driving on Monroe St. in Maynardville when she lost control of her Chevy Blazer and was ejected when it overturned on an embankment. The article mentioned that she was not wearing her seat belt. Our prayers go out to her family and friends.

This Tennessee highway fatality presents two important issues, the first one is seat belt use, or rather, failure of seat belt use and the other is what caused her to run off the road.

Restraint use is clearly designed to reduce injury severity and prevent occupants from being ejected from their vehicles. Tennessee law requires the use of seat belts. An overwhelming number of studies show that seat belts, when used correctly, save lives. As an experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyer, whenever I read about an accident in which a driver or passenger is ejected, I automatically relate it to failure to wear seat belts.

The primary cause of this accident was that she left the roadway. Police investigators will look to see whether speed was a factor, or whether the driver was somehow distracted and not paying attention to the road ahead. Distraction is a factor in 80% of  all accident in the United States, and the leading cause of distraction is the use of a cell phone. Police investigators will look to her cell phone records to see if she was using the device at, or near, the time of the crash.

The lesson here for Tennessee drivers is to take a few seconds to secure yourself and keep your eyes and mind on the road.

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

Highway Design Defect

In the past we have talked about the responsibility of governments for poorly engineered roadway projects that cause property damage and personal injuries. One of the key aspects of recovering damages is proving that the government entity had prior knowledge of the dangerous situation.

State and federal transportation officials could not argue that they didn’t have knowledge of the dangerous situation that exists in Kingsport, Tennessee, just off I-81. According to local media reports, since summer several vehicles, including a tractor-trailer, have lost control and left the roadway and crashed into yards and homes in one particular area.

It’s happened again, this past Saturday afternoon when a car from North Carolina hydroplaned, left the road, crashed through some trees and crashed into a camper parked next to a families garage, leaving the neighbors in a panic.

From my point of view the Tennessee Department of Transportation is certainly, or with the exercise of due diligence, aware of the danger the design flaw of this highway has caused and any personal or property damage caused by a similar crash might well put them in line for damages.

If you or a loved one suffer a loss due to a design flaw in or on a highway, contact the experienced Nashville personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

Drugged Driving Hard To Prove

A recent incident in East Tennessee caught my eye because it illustrates the same problem that exists here in Nashville. The problem is drugged driving. A woman in an SUV accompanied by her two children was so out of it that she drove her vehicle through the wall of a department store. Toxicology tests are pending but officers say enough evidence to place her under arrest for DUI, wanton endangerment and criminal mischief.

The principal concern regarding drugged driving is that driving under the influence of any drug that acts on the brain could impair one’s motor skills, reaction time, and judgment. Drugged driving is a public health concern because it puts not only the driver at risk, but also passengers and others who share the road.

Despite these acknowledged concerns, drugged driving laws have lagged behind alcohol legislation, in part because of limitations in the current technology for determining drug levels, and resulting impairment. For alcohol, detection of its blood concentration (BAC) is relatively simple and concentrations greater than .08% have been shown to impair driving performance.

Thus, 0.08% is the legal limit in this country. For illicit drugs, there is no agreed upon limit for which impairment has been reliably demonstrated. And determining current drug levels can be difficult, since some drugs linger in the body for a period of days or weeks after initial ingestion.

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

A survey in the year 2002 found that more than one in three drivers admitted having fallen asleep while driving at some point in their lives; more than one in ten reported doing so in the past year. The most frequently cited statistics suggest that drowsy driving might contribute to roughly 1 to 4 percent of crashes; however, research using more sophisticated methodology suggests that the true prevalence may be much higher.

An ongoing study by the Institute of Traffic Safety will develop new estimates of the prevalence of drowsy drivers on U.S. roads using data from a nationally-representative survey of drivers, and examines the role of drowsy driving in a nationally-representative sample of crashes.

If you are having trouble staying awake, please pull over and allow another person to drive. If you are alone, get outside and get yourself awake by walking, jumping and other physical activity. If necessary, pull to safety and take a brief nap.

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

Cell Phone Distraction

A 47-year-old Tennessee woman lucked out when her car left US Highway 41, over-corrected, lost control then left the roadway again striking an embankment and then rolled over. The cause of the crash was that she had dropped her cell phone and took her eyes off of the road in her attempt to reach it. She was transported with non-life endangering injuries.

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.

Drivers who use a cell phone – either handheld or hands-free, are four times more likely to be involved in a crash, according to a 1997 New England Journal of Medicine examination of hospital records, and a 2005 study funded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety linking injury crashes to cell phone records.

About 30 research studies conclude that there is an increased crash risk when using a cell phone while driving. Many of these studies further conclude that using a hands-free phone while driving is just as risky as talking on a handheld phone.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I implore you to put the cell phone down when you are driving. You might think that you are a good enough driver to driver and talk at the same time, but statistics say you are not.

If you are injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a cell phone using driver, you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Tennessee personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and secure your rights and remedies.