Distracted Driving Fatlities

Any experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyer will tell you that U.S. Highway 43 in Lauderdale County Alabama just South of the Tennessee line is a deadly strip of highway. Between Friday January 29 and February 2 four people died and several others were seriously injured on a three mile strip of this road. Another accident during that same period that did not result in a fatality mirrored the latest fatal accident.

A 51-year-old Tennessee man was driving North on U.S. 43 when for no apparent reason he veered across the centerline and smashed into a Tractor-trailer truck heading the other direction. He was dead at the scene. The truck driver was not injured. In the earlier non-fatal accident the same thing happened, a driver spilled coffee on his lap and his cup tipped over on the floor of the car. He was distracted and reached to pick it up and in a second or two he drove across the centerline and struck a tractor-trailer.

What could have caused the distraction in this tragic accident? Investigators will inspect the car for signs of alcohol or drugs. They will retrace his steps to determine whether he had been drinking or had been having trouble sleeping and became drowsy. They will look at his cell phone records to determine whether he was using his phone to talk or text. Doctors will probably conduct an autopsy to determine whether he suffered a medical emergency that made it impossible to keep control of his car.

Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes, according to a landmark research report released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). 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 loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident by a distracted or 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 determine your rights and remedies,

Distracted Drivers

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I’ve seen all sorts of odd things but a recent automobile accident in Lauderdale County Alabama is an interesting case in point. Usually when a drunk tractor-trailer driver and a mini-SUV get together  you can pretty well count on  the drunk driver being at fault. Not the case here. A man driving a mini-SUV heading was heading south on US 43 when he suddenly veered across the center=line and clipped a tractor-trailer carrying large coils of steel.

The tractor-trailer driver veered to avoid the collision, then lost control, left the road and plunged down a 150 foot embankment. What causes a man to suddenly veer across the road, out of control, and smack another vehicle? Witnesses told investigators that the SUV driver told them that he had spilled coffee and when he reached for the fallen cup, he took his eyes off the road and lost control. This driver took his eyes and his mind off of the road and nearly killed himself and another because he momentarily took his eyes and his mind off the road.

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.

Distraction from the primary task of driving could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. There has been increased attention on the danger of distracted driving recently, specifically on the dangers of cell phone use and texting while driving. Other secondary task involvement includes eating, drinking, conversing with passengers, as well as interaction with invehicle technologies and portable electronic devices. Greater sophistication in these technologies may present greater physical and cognitive challenges for drivers than traditional information sources. Less obvious forms of cognitive distractions such as daydreaming or dealing with strong emotions also present potentially dangerous situations for drivers.

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

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.

Choose An Experienced Automobile Accident Attorney

One of the benefits of retaining an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney to protect your interests after you have been involved in a Tennessee automobile accident is that we understand that the best results come from the best beginnings. Immediate involvement of an experienced attorney means to the investigation will be thorough.

When a Tennessee automobile accident is caused by a drunk driver breath and blood tests can disclose the alcohol content of the driver. It becomes trickier when the accident is caused by a drowsy driver or one who suffered some sort of medical emergency. This is what we do at Phillip Miller & Associates. Our investigators know the ropes and have years of experience getting to the truth of the matter.

Dealing with an unexpected accident or serious injury caused by somebody else’s negligence can be a traumatizing and life-changing event, but you shouldn’t have to face the future alone.  If you are a Tennessee resident suffering from the effects of a serious Tennessee auto accident, workplace injury, tractor trailer accident, or motorcycle crash then the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates are here to fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.  We are a firm of local Tennessee attorneys and staff who for the past 25 years have dedicated our lives to protecting the rights of injured men, women, and children in Tennessee.

Keep The Pressure On

In my Blog, The Tennessee Auto Accident Attorney, I’ve been pleased to share the good news about the reduction of Tennessee highway traffic fatalities in 2009. Preliminary figures indicate the number of traffic fatalities on Tennessee roadways declined sharply again in 2009. The Tennessee Department of Safety (TDOS) and the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) are dedicated to continuing that trend in 2010. This year, the Tennessee Highway Patrol will once again participate in several enforcement initiatives aimed at saving lives.

Commercial Drivers

Troopers will participate in a campaign entitled, Operation “Speeding Trucks And Negligent Drivers”. The (S.T.A.N.D.) campaign will focus on commercial motor vehicles with emphasis being placed on commercial drivers who speed, drive recklessly, follow too closely, and change lanes improperly. Approximately 4,000 hours have been dedicated to this campaign through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Young Drivers

Statistical data also reveals that a disproportionally large number of “under 21” drivers are involved in fatal crashes.  Alcohol presence and the lack of safety belt use are also indicated in many of these crashes. For this reason, the Tennessee Highway Patrol is participating, once again, in the Strike Three Program to target young drivers who fail to wear safety belts and/or drink and drive. Funding from the GHSO will allow Troopers to work an additional 4,100 hours on this program.

Construction and Work Zones

The Construction Accident Reduction (C.A.R.) program targets drivers who violate traffic laws while traveling through Tennessee highway construction and work zones when road workers are present. Funding from the GHSO will permit Troopers to work an additional 4,300 Hours in construction and maintenance zones throughout the state.

As an experienced Nashville accident attorney I want to enlist you in this grand effort on behalf of the Bredesen Administration to make Tennessee highways safe for everyone. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident you owe it to your family to contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about yor rights and remedies.

Medical Emergencies

It appears that a Tennessee automobile accident near Russellville, TN that took the lives of two Tennesseans, was caused by a medical emergency that incapacitated an 84 year-old woman driver. According to an article at the website of the Knoxville News, whatever the medical episode, it prevented the driver from stopping at a stop-sign. As she ran through the stop-sign she hit a tractor-trailer going the opposite direction and then she hit head-on with another automobile. The driver of the second vehicle a 50-year-old woman also died at the scene. The driver of the commercial truck was injured and transported to an area hospital.

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.

Holiday Fatalities Down

Although ten people were killed in Tennessee highway accidents during the New Years holiday weekend there is a positive side to the statistic. According to the Tennessee Department of Safety in Nashville preliminary reports indicate that the ten people killed in Tennessee traffic crashes during the 2009-2010 New Year’s holiday weekend, is down from last years 12 fatalities. Preliminary reports also indicate two people were killed during the 2009 Christmas holiday weekend, compared to 9 fatalities during last year’s Christmas holiday.

Ten people were killed in eight fatal crashes during the 2009-2010 New Year’s holiday period. Two of the ten fatalities occurred in alcohol-related crashes in DeKalb and Sumner counties. Four of the eight people killed who were vehicle occupants were not wearing safety restraints and two of the fatalities were pedestrians. Troopers said two of the 10 fatalities involved alcohol and occurred in DeKalb and Sumner counties. Four passengers who were killed weren’t wearing seat belts, and two of the fatalities were pedestrians. According to the THP, one of the fatalities was a 16-month-old girl who wasn’t properly restrained and died in a triple fatality crash on Interstate 75 in McMinn County.

Over the two holiday weekends, the Tennessee Highway Patrol conducted more than 100 sobriety and driver license checkpoints across the state as Troopers arrested drivers for driving under the influence and speeding. Preliminary statistics indicate that 954 people died in Tennessee roadway accidents in 2009, a decline of 89 deaths compared to 1,043 fatalities in 2008.

One of the things that stood out to this Nashville automobile accident attorney is that if four of the eight fatalities had been wearing their seat belts as required by Tennessee law, the fatality rate might just be half of what it is. It’s real simple folks, it just takes a second or two to secure yourself and your passengers. Seat belts work if you work them.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed in a Tennessee car crash during the holiday season 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.

Fatal Tractor-Trailer Car Crash

As an experienced Nashville auto accident attorney I cannot for the life of me picture the moments preceding a fatal accident between a speeding tractor-trailer and a mini-van occupied by a Pittsburgh family. An article on the website of WSB-TV in Atlanta Georgia reports that a tractor-trailer driven by Willie Hill of Jacksonville Florida was traveling at a high rate of speed moments before it rammed into the rear-end of a 2007 Toyota Siena and forced it off the road and into trees lining the interstate.

According to the article a three-year-old boy was killed, his mother is in critical condition and another child is in serious condition. The article goes on the report that charges are pending against the truck driver. My sympathy goes out to the family and friends of this innocent family whose lives are transformed by this thoughtless tragedy.

So many things go through the mind of an experienced Tennessee tractor-trailer car crash attorney in an accident like this. What could have caused the truck driver to ignore the slower moving vehicle directly in front of him? The first thing that comes to my mind would be to check his driving log and determine whether he had been driving for too long and had become drowsy and had fallen asleep at the wheel. The next thing I would do is determine whether he had any medical conditions that might have prevented him from controlling his vehicle.

Other avenues of inquiry would be to determine from investigative toxicology tests whether the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. And finally I would subpoena his cell phone records and determine whether he was distracted by texting at or near the time of collision. The United States Department of Transportation recently announced new measures that restrict the use of cell phones and banning texting by operators of commercial motor vehicles. 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 loved one is injured or killed in a roadway collision caused by a negligent tractor-trailer driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

Tennessee Car-Tractor-Trailer Fatality

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney, when I read about a traffic accident I try, in my mind’s eye, to visualize the crash and the moments leading up to it. Reference an article on the website of WSMV-TV of Nashville which describes a Tennessee car tractor-trailer collision on I-24 near Pleasant View, Tennessee. According to the article a 19-year-old woman rammed right into the rear of a tractor-trailer traveling in the same lane directly in front of her. My sympathies and prayers go out the family and friends of this young lady. I hope they find the answers to the questions they have.

It’s difficult for this Tennessee car crash lawyer to see how this could have happened unless the teen driver was distracted, drowsy or under the influence of alcohol. I don’t have enough information to make a determination as to the cause of this accident, I’m simply relying on the information in the article, but something had to be going on moments before, and at the time of the collision, to cause the young lady to take her eyes and her mind off of her driving and ram the rear end of a tractor-trailer truck.

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 loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee interstate highway collision caused by a distracted teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Fatalities from crashes involving young drivers have accounted for one-fifth of all fatalities on the Nation’s roads. This population of young drivers has specific characteristics that set them apart from older drivers as well as a specific set of laws pertaining to their ability to drive. Previous research has shown that young drivers lack the experience behind the wheel that most older drivers have, do not have the same maturity level as older drivers, and are more prone to risk-taking behavior

Medical Emergency or Texing?

Back on October 12, 2009, in my blog The Tennessee Auto Accident Attorney I wrote about a fatal Nashville interstate accident involving an ambulance and a TDOT road safety truck. For some unknown reason the ambulance rammed into the rear-end of the TDOT truck. In my blog I asked the question, “How does an accident like this happen?” In an accident report released yesterday we still aren’t sure, but investigators have boiled it down to one of two reasons, texting or a medical emergency.

An article on the website of WKRN TV in Nashville reports that a medical emergency may have been the cause. It appears that the deceased ambulance driver suffered from narcolepsy and epilepsy and had a history of seizures. In fact, the report says that he had a similar accident ten years ago when he suffered a seizure and swerved off the road and struck a utility pole. At the time his license to drive was suspended but it was later reinstated.

Toxicology reports showed an increased level of amphetamines in his system from his anti-narcolepsy medication but showed none of the traces of his epilepsy medication.

Telephone records also show that the driver was sending and receiving text messages at the time of the accident. As an experienced Nashville automobile accident/personal injury attorney I’m somewhat astounded by the medical findings. How in the world could a man suffering from these conditions be considered for employment as an ambulance driver in the first place? I don’t represent the victims, Ms. Sue Bly, or TDOT worker Mr. Robert Green, who recently underwent brain surgery as the result of this accident, but if I did, I would certainly be asking the employer to answer that question.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville, Tennessee automobile accident caused by a driver with a serious medical condition or one who was texting while driving you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.