School Bus Safety

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I’d like to take this opportunity to remind my readers that school is back in session and in your everyday drive you will be coming into contact with those large yellow things with blinking lights called school buses. They are yellow and have blinking emergency lights so that drivers will practice safety around them so that children don’t die.

Two Nashville area automobile school bus collisions leave three children hospitalized with injuries. The Nashville accident occurred when a pickup truck slammed into the rear of a school bus stopped at a railroad crossing. The second school bus automobile accident occurred when a teen aged driver slammed into the back of the bus.

Since 1996, 1,536 people have died in school transportation-related crashes an average of 140 fatalities per year. Most of the people who lost their lives in those crashes (72%) were occupants of other vehicles involved. Non-occupants (pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.) accounted for 20 percent of the deaths, and occupants of school transportation vehicles accounted for 7 percent.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I’m trying to visualize how these accidents could have taken place. School buses, as I mentioned above, are large and yellow and the rear end of the bus is adorned with an array of warning lights and signs that remind the drivers following them that the school bus always stops at rail road crossings.

Analyzing these case from only the information in the articles is difficult, but it’s obvious that both of the drivers who hit the buses were somehow distracted by something not related to their driving and not paying attention to the road in front of them. 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.

If you or a family member is injured or killed in Tennessee school bus accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and put a Board Certified Civil trial lawyer on your side.

Don't Fight The Insurance Company Alone

You need to have an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney on your side as soon after a car accident involving serious injury or death as you can get one. The U.S. insurance industry has trillions of dollars in assets, enjoys average profits of over $30 billion a year, and pays its CEOs more than any other industry. But insurance companies still engage in dirty tricks and unethical behavior to boost their bottom line even further.

The current economic turmoil affecting the insurance industry on Wall Street has only made the outlook bleaker for consumers living on Main Street. Insurance companies are likely to demand huge rate hikes and refuse more claims than ever. Some of America’s most well-known insurance companies, the same ones that spend billions on advertising to earn your trust—have endeavored to deny claims, delay payments, confuse consumers with incomprehensible insurance-speak, and retroactively refuse anyone who may cost them money. The following are some of the low down behavior that they engage in:

Denying Claims

Some of the nation’s biggest insurance companies deny valid claims in an attempt to boost their bottom lines. These companies have rewarded employees who successfully denied claims, replaced employees who would not, and when all else failed, engaged in outright fraud to avoid paying claims.

Delaying Claims

Many insurance companies routinely delay claims, knowing full well that many policyholders will simply give up.

Confusing Consumers

Insurance contracts are some of the most dense and incomprehensible contracts a consumer is ever likely to see. More than half of all states have enacted “plain English” laws for consumer contracts, yet many Americans still do not fully understand the risks they are subject to.

Discriminating by Credit Score

Increasingly, insurance companies are using credit reports to dictate the premiums consumers pay, or whether they can even get insurance in the first place. The practice penalizes the poor, senior citizens with little credit, and those who have suffered financial crisis through no fault of their own. Insurance companies have denied fiscally responsible people who paid their bills in cash, but refused renewals because of a lack of credit history. Others have seen auto rate hikes near 600 percent despite clean driving records after falling on economic troubles.

These are but a few of the despicable tactics these huge financial institutions use and they are seeking new ones daily, in fact, they reward employees who come up with new ways to screw consumers. This is why you need an experienced Tennessee Automobile accident attorney on your side when you need to make a claim. If you try to take them on by yourself they will crush you and leave you holding the bag.

When you hire an attorney from Phillip Miller & Associates, you’re getting the whole package.  You don’t just get an extremely qualified and dedicated lawyer, you also get a loyal Tennessee resident who cares about the quality of life in their community and who puts their time and money into standing up for causes and charities they believe in.  You can read about some of the causes we support on our home page, along with a summary of our professional qualifications.  Additional details about our attorneys and staff can be found by viewing our personal profiles, where you can get to know the men and women who will be looking out for your best interest.

Please contact Phillip Miller & Associates today and take your first step forward towards putting the frustration and horror of your auto accident experience behind you.

Mid-Size SUV Rollover Safety

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I am often asked by business and social friends my thoughts on the safety of certain SUVs in terms of crashworthiness. As Dirty Harry said, “A man has to know his limitations.” I am not an expert on this particular subject but I know just where to refer them for an answer.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an independent, nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property damage — from crashes on the nation’s highways. The Institute has just released a report on mid-size SUVs and to answer the question I will reprint the press release below.

New test results show that some automakers are doing a good job of designing vehicle roofs that perform much better than current federal rollover standards require. The roofs on other vehicles need improvement. In the first Insurance Institute for Highway Safety roof strength tests of midsize SUVs, 6 earn the top rating of good for rollover protection, 1 is acceptable, and 5 others earn the second lowest rating of marginal.

Midsize SUVs earning good ratings are the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox (twin GMC Terrain) built after March 2010, Jeep Liberty (twin Dodge Nitro), Toyota Highlander and Venza, plus the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Kia Sorento, both 2011 models. The 2010 Ford Edge is rated acceptable. The worst performers, which earn marginal ratings, are the Honda Accord Crosstour, Honda Pilot, Mazda CX-7, Mitsubishi Endeavor, and Nissan Murano, all 2010 models.

In addition to earning good ratings for rollover protection, the Equinox, Grand Cherokee, Highlander, Sorento, and Venza also earn the Institute’s Top Safety Pick award. To achieve this, a vehicle has to earn good ratings for occupant protection in front, side, rear, and rollover crashes. It also has to have electronic stability control.

The rollover rating system is based on Institute research showing that occupants in vehicles that roll benefit from stronger roofs. Vehicles rated good must have roofs that are more than twice as strong as the minimum required under the current federal safety standard. The ratings, products of the Institute’s roof strength testing program, add to consumer information tests that rate vehicles’ front, side, and rear crashworthiness. The rollover test is designed to help consumers pick vehicles that will protect them the best in one of the most serious kinds of crashes.

“Midsize SUVs are a big group so we’re testing them in stages,” says Institute president Adrian Lund. “First results show that automakers are making progress in rollover protection, but it’s disappointing that a new design like the Crosstour didn’t perform better.”

Top performance in the roof test is important because nearly 10,000 people a year are killed in rollover crashes. When vehicles roll, their roofs hit the ground, deform, and crush. Stronger roofs crush less, reducing injury risk from contact with the roof itself. Stronger roofs also can prevent people, especially those who aren’t using safety belts, from being ejected through windows, windshields, or doors that have broken or opened because the roof deformed. Roofs that don’t collapse help keep people inside vehicles when they roll.

The best occupant protection is to keep vehicles from rolling in the first place. Electronic stability control is significantly reducing rollovers, especially fatal single-vehicle ones. When vehicles roll, side curtain airbags help protect people. Safety belt use is essential.

In the Institute’s roof strength test, a metal plate is pushed against 1 corner of a roof at a constant speed. To earn a good rating, a roof must withstand a force of 4 times the vehicle’s weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. For an acceptable rating, the minimum strength-to-weight ratio that’s required is 3.25. A marginal rating value is 2.5, and anything lower than that is poor. The Grand Cherokee, Highlander, Liberty, and Venza, for example, withstood forces of nearly 5 times their weights. This compares with 2.8 times weight for the Crosstour and about 3 times weight for the Endeavor and Pilot. A strength-to-weight ratio of 4 reflects an estimated 50 percent reduction in serious or fatal injury risk in single-vehicle rollover crashes, compared with the current federal standard of 1.5.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a mid-size SUV rollover and you intend to seek compensation for your loss you have entered a very complicated and confusing area of Tennessee tort law and you are going to need an experienced Tennessee certified civil trial practitioner if you want to have any chance of success. You can find just such a lawyer at Phillip Miller & Associates. Give us a call 615-356-2000.

Poorly Marked Railroad Crossings

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I can tell you that a 20-year-old Chattanooga Tennessee man is one lucky son-of-a-gun. The man was crossing a railroad crossing that has only minimal signage and his pickup truck was struck by a train, pushed from the tracks, overturned and ended up in a ditch. The only injury he sustained was a minor shoulder injury from his seatbelt holding him in position. He traded a little shoulder pain for much more serious injury if he had been ejected from his vehicle.

Neighbors said the crossing is unsafe because of a curve that only allows motorists to see approximately 75 feet down the track. They say that there have been many close calls and a number of collisions. This accident, as well as those that occurred previously should put the railroad operators on notice of this dangerous condition and force them to add additional warning signs to prevent further injury or loss of life.

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 Tennessee 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.

An interesting article on the website of Nashville TV station WKRN discusses the safety of wheelchairs being transported on buses and vans. According to the staff and contributors at the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Wheelchair Transportation Safety, riding in a wheelchair designed primarily for mobility is more dangerous than being in a car seat because most wheelchairs and scooters on the market aren’t made to withstand the forces in a highway accident.

Researchers recommend moving the person from the wheelchair to a seat inside a bus or van. If that’s not possible, crash-tested restraints should be used for both wheelchair and rider. They also say it’s best to buy wheelchairs that meet voluntary industry standards for safety.

If you are interested in more one this subject you can follow their work on Facebook.

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 Tennessee 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.

Roadway Departure Crash

In March media sources all over the country covered the tragic tractor-trailer roadway departure crash in Kentucky that took the lives of eleven people. A report yesterday by the Kentucky State Police said that an Alabama truck driver who caused the collision was on his cell phone sending and receiving calls leading up to the crash.

The report also says that the Jasper, Alabama driver was driving in excess of the 70 mph speed limit and did not have his tractor-trailer under control when he crossed the median on March 26 and struck a van carrying Mennonites to a wedding in Iowa.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the trucking industry, gave Hester Inc. a driver safety evaluation area of 88.4 in February, based on inspections of the company’s 30 drivers during the past 30 months. The agency uses a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the worst score. The company was not considered deficient in other areas, so the agency had not targeted it for a compliance review.

Federal records show the agency has conducted 194 driver inspections on Hester drivers in the 30 months before the wreck. Those inspections resulted in 21 drivers being taken out of service for log book violations, exceeding the 11-hour driving limit or the 14-hour on duty limit.

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.

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.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car crash caused by a distracted driver or a case like the present one that will require an experienced Tennessee automobile/tractor-trailer accident lawyer contact the lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Keep A Safe Distance

It was just a tiny article in a Nashville media source about a Tennessee school bus accident involving athletes from University School of Nashville. To an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney the article spoke volumes. Simply stated, the school bus was traveling on I-40 in Knoxville following a car that stopped suddenly and the school bus rammed into it.

Tennessee law states: “The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway.” When another driver makes a mistake, you need time to react. Give yourself this time by keeping a “space cushion” around your vehicle.  This space cushion will give you room to brake and avoid hazards when needed. Good drivers keep this safe following distance or space cushion to have a better view of the road. The more space you allow between your car and the car ahead, the more time you will have to see and react to traffic hazards or crashes down the road. Many drivers don’t see as well as they should because they follow too closely (tailgating).  The vehicle ahead of them blocks their view of traffic and road conditions.

The Two-Second Rule 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 U.S. highways 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.

Another thing an experienced Tennessee car crash lawyer would look into would be whether the bus driver did have sufficient time to stop but was somehow distracted, maybe by a cell phone and hopefully not by texting. No matter how much time you have to react, if you are distracted, all bets are off.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident caused by a tailgating or distracted driver 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 well 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.

Sleeping Drivers Kill

As the economy begins it’s recovery, one of the first signs will be the increasing numbers of tractor-trailers on the highways and byways of Tennessee.  As an experienced Tennessee tractor-trailer accident attorney , I have handled dozens of cases involving tractor-trailer wrecks on Interstate highways and when investigating these accidents, drowsiness or drivers falling asleep as a cause, are the hardest to prove, unless the driver survives.

However, there are a number of clues at a crash scene that tell investigators that the person fell asleep at the wheel. For example, drowsy driving accidents usually involve only one vehicle where the driver is alone and the injuries tend to be serious or fatal. Also, skid marks or evidence of other evasive maneuvers are usually absent from the drowsy driving crash 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.

Sleepiness and driving is a dangerous combination. Most people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving but don’t realize that drowsy driving can be just as fatal. Like alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of crashing.

Reference an article on the website of Knoxville TV station WVLT which reports on two men injured in an early morning tractor trailer accident in East Knox County. In this case the driver and his driving partner survived the crash and he told investigators that he had fallen asleep and as he veered off the road he awoke and over-corrected causing the trailer to overturn. Thankfully no one was killed or seriously injured.

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

Engineering Defects Kill

As a Tennessee automobile accident attorney I find interesting the choices buyers make about the make and model of vehicle they buy. The process by which most Tennesseans buy a new car is an individual decision that usually takes into account many different factors. The main focus is on style, color, lifestyle, fuel economy and what they think the type of car says about them. Very few buyers think about automobile safety and the various and sundry built in engineering defects that the different cars have.

Many of these defects are responsible for highway collisions, injuries and death. The most recent defect to draw major attention is with several models of Toyotas. It appears that the design of the accelerator linkage was faulty and would cause high acceleration at the most inopportune times. The list is lengthy with some brands experiencing more problems than others.

It is important to look into the various factors leading up to a car accident in order to determine cause and liability. If an auto product defect causes a fatal accident, then the auto manufacturer could be held liable. This is the time when the victim or victim’s family needs the guidance of an experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer. Having a lawyer that certified as a civil trial specialist, which most lawyers are not, is a critical element in finding out the cause and prosecuting the case on behalf of the family.

I am an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney and a certified Tennessee civil trial specialist. I handle complex civil  cases all over the United States. In fact, I am regularly employed by law firms all over the country to consult with them about complex litigation on behalf of injured parties. I can put that experience and training to work on behalf of your family.

The next time you buy a new or used car I suggest that you go to the website of an organization like http://autosafety.org/ and see what they have to say about known defects that the dealers don’t tell you about.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident which was caused by a defective vehicle you owe it to your self to contact the experienced and certified civil law specialists at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to determine your rights and remedies.