Agressive Driving

Lately this Tennessee automobile accident lawyer has been giving a lot of thought to acts of aggressive driving. A recent article on the website of the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution points out an incident on I-285 that epitomizes the thoughtless nature of aggressive drivers who choose to put the lives of other drivers on the line so that they can get the thrill of drag racing.

According to the article two cars were racing on I-285 when one of them clipped another car and then, at high speed, hit three other cars, sending at least three people, with moderate to mild injuries, to the hospital and leaving thousands of dollars of damaged vehicle. Instead of stopping to see if they could help the inured, the cowardly jerks fled the scene.

Aggressive driving is a traffic offense or combination of offenses such as following too closely, speeding, unsafe lane changes, failing to signal intent to change lanes, and other forms of negligent or inconsiderate driving. Unfortunately, these actions put the rest of us at risk.

Aggressive driving is a major concern of the American public, ranking at or near the top of traffic safety issues in national surveys of motorists. In Tennessee and throughout the country, the public’s concern over aggressive driving continues to grow. Some studies indicate the public is actually more fearful of aggressive drivers than it is of impaired drivers. Aggressive driving is truly dangerous and cannot be tolerated.

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

Fatal Tractor Trailer Accident

I wonder what could have diverted the attention of a Tractor-trailer driver to the extent that she wasn’t aware that traffic on the interstate in front of her had stopped. I mean, what about the rear-end of another tractor-trailer with it’s brake lights on? This driver is going to have an opportunity to give this question some serious thought, you see, she had her 3-year-old grand-daughter with her and she was killed. What could it have been? Was she talking on her cell phone, texting, fooling with a CB, GPS, Radio, CD or god forbid, a DVD player.

Distraction from the primary task of driving could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. In 2008, 5,870 people lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in police-reported crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction was reported on the crash report. While these numbers are significant, they may not state the true size of the problem, since the identification of distraction and its role in the crash by law enforcement can be very difficult.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car tractor-trailer wreck caused by a distracted truck 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 find out about your rights and remedies.

Distracted Driving

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer I try to watch for dangerous trends in Tennessee automobile accidents so that I can bring them to the attention of my readers to warn them to be careful. Over the last several months and ominous trend is developing. That trend is drunk or distracted (or both) drivers crossing the centerline and hitting another vehicle head-on.

On the 17th and 22^nd of this month I wrote about a pair of fatal centerline crossing accidents. Reference an article from the web site of WATE TV in Knoxville that reports on a similar crash on Saturday night. According to the article a fellow named Frankie Langley was driving one of the vehicles at a high rate of speed when he crossed over the centerline and crashed head-on into another vehicle killing it’s two occupants.

What causes a driver to leave the highway, cross the median and slam into another vehicle? I don’t have any independent information about this accident other than what I read in the article, but as an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I am familiar with a number of reasons that a fatal collision like this one could happen.

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 in vehicle technologies and portable electronic devices.

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.

The lesson here for Nashville drivers is that you must keep all of your attention on the acting of driving and avoid distractions. You never know when another driver is going to fall asleep, have a medical emergency or get distracted and leave their lane and initiate a deadly collision. If you or a family member is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident caused by a distracted or drunk driver contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Need Help Installing Child Safety Seats?

As a Nashville automobile accident attorney I try to focus my Blog on issues of importance to Tennessee drivers. This morning I read an interesting and important op-ed piece in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal regarding children’s safety seats. Tennessee was the first state in the country to pass a Child Passenger Protection Law requiring children to be restrained in child safety seats (car seats and booster seats).

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 article points out some less than comfortable statistics. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14. Every day during 2007 in the United States an average of five children age 14 and younger were killed and another 548 injured in such accidents.

She goes on to state, “Today in Shelby County, the child seat misuse rate, or rate of children incorrectly seated, is a staggering 84 percent.” The Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office has been focused on educating the public about the need to properly restrain our children when we set out on the highways and byways of Tennessee.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which studies all manner of highway safety issues says that using child safety seats 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 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 centers 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. In Shelby County call 385-4223.

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

Speed = Teen Fatalities

Nashville TV station WSMV reports that two Nashville teen girls are hospitalized in critical condition and an adult is dead after he lost control of his speeding vehicle and crashed his car into a commercial building.

Speeding is one of the most common contributing factors of traffic crashes. Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) show that the driver-level attribute “driving too fast for conditions or in excess of posted speed limit” is the critical contributing factor in more than 99 percent of all speeding-related fatal crashes, as defined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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 2008, nine teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash. Fortunately, teen motor vehicle crashes are preventable, and proven strategies can improve the safety of young drivers on the road.

How big is the problem?

In 2008, about 3,500 teens in the United States aged 15–19 were killed and  more than 350,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes. Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population. However, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.

Parents cannot count on others to teach their teens the dangers they face when they were on the highways and byways of Tennessee. Teens don’t learn to drive in driver’s education classes, they learn to drive when Mom and Dad give them the car keys to the family car and send them out on their own. Some say experience is the best teacher but the problem with experience as a teacher is that you get the test before you get the lesson.

If you or a loved one is killed or injured in a Nashville automobile accident by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

GDLs Pay Off

A recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study shows communities with nighttime and passenger restrictions for teen drivers have 20 percent lower death and injury crash rate for 16-year old drivers. Fatality and injury crash rates for 16-year-old drivers were 20 percent lower in a state with nighttime and passenger restrictions than in a comparison jurisdiction that lacked these building blocks of safer teen driving, according to a study released today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

In addition, the study also showed that twice as many crash-free teens reported never having violated their state’s passenger restriction provision compared to teens that had crashed. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, and government data show that 16-year-olds are involved in more than five times as many fatal crashes per mile driven as are adults in their 30s, 40s, or 50s.

The significant differences between crash-free and crash-involved teen drivers were: overall compliance with provisions found in state graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws, adherence to traffic laws and regulations, and parental involvement. “Teens who obey traffic rules and regulations, follow GDL regulations, and have actively involved parents are much less likely to crash,” said J. Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.  “Just think how many lives could be saved with the combination of the right laws and parental involvement.”

The study found that compliance with passenger restrictions was especially problematic, and teens involved in crashes reported more frequent violations when compared to crash-free teens.  For example, 30 percent of crash-free teens, but only 16 percent of crash-involved teens, reported never violating their jurisdiction’s passenger restriction during their first six months of the intermediate stage of GDL. Nearly half of crash-involved teens reported violating the passenger restriction “more than a few times.”

In Tennessee drivers under 18 years old are required to go through graduated steps of driving experience to gain full, unrestricted Driver License status.  The graduated Driver License steps are designed to incrementally teach young drivers how to drive by requiring minimum levels of driving experience and a safe driving history record before allowing teenage drivers to receive a “full-fledged” Class D driver license.  Motor vehicle crashes are the major cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 20. By requiring more supervised practice, the State of Tennessee hopes to save lives and prevent tragic injuries.

In Tennessee there are four steps to becoming a full, unrestricted Driver License holder:

1. Learner Permit

2. Intermediate Restricted License

3. Intermediate Unrestricted License

4. Regular Driver

The AAA Foundation offers an interactive and engaging DVD for teens called Driver-ZED™, which puts users through 100 driving scenarios allowing them to experience conditions it could take several years to encounter on the road. Also included is supplemental information to aid parents in the process. Visit www.driverzed.org to learn more or contact your local AAA club.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident that is the fault of a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Distracted Or Drowsy?

Without warning a woman driving a Mercedes Benz heading east-bound on I-40 , left the road, crossed the median and hit a tractor-trailer head-on. The tractor-trailer then skidded into another tractor-trailer and came to a stop across the west-bound lane. According to an article on the website of NewsChannel5 in Nashvile, the Benz and the furniture truck caught fire and the female driver was killed at the scene. My prayers and sympathy goes out to the family and friends of this unidentified woman.

Investigators and family members of the victim will try to understand, and may never know the reason she left the road and died. After toxicology tests are concluded we will know whether alcohol or drugs were involved, but they will not be able shed light as to whether she simply fell asleep at the wheel or she was distracted by something in here car such as a cell phone, radio or navigation device. It only takes a second for a vehicle moving at interstate speed to actually leave the highway.

It seems to me, that distracted drivers cause most Tennessee car accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes. Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event.

In studies by the NHTSA the most common distraction for drivers is the use of cell phones.  However, the number of crashes and near-crashes attributable to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening.  Dialing is more dangerous but occurs less often than talking or listening. Reaching for a moving object increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by 9 times; looking at an external object by 3.7 times; reading by 3 times; applying makeup by 3 times; dialing a hand-held device (typically a cell phone) by almost 3 times; and talking or listening on a hand-held device by 1.3 times. Drivers who engage frequently in distracting activities are more likely to be involved in an inattention-related crash or near crash.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident by a distracted driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile tractor-trailer attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Safe Driving Pays Off

At lunch the other day one of my friends posed the question, “What steps can be taken to make me a safe driver?” I’ve been thinking about that question since then and then I read an article on the web site for the AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety which I’d like to share with you. Although nothing can make you 100% safe as you cruise the highways and byways of Tennessee these tips might just save a life.

Tips to Being a Heads Up Driver

1. PLAN AHEAD – Read maps and check traffic conditions before you get on the road.

2. STOW ELECTRONIC DEVICES-  Turn off your phone before you drive so you won’t be tempted to use it while on the road. Pull over to a safe place to talk on the phone or to send and receive text messages or emails.

3. PREPARE KIDS AND PETS FOR THE TRIP-  Get the kids safely buckled in and situated with snacks and entertainment before you start driving. If they need additional attention during the trip, pull off the road safely to care for them. Similarly, prepare and secure pets appropriately in your vehicle before getting underway.

4. SATISFY THAT CRAVING OFF THE ROAD-  Eat meals and snacks before getting behind the wheel, or stop to eat and take a break if driving long-distance.

5. STORE LOOSE GEAR AND POSSESSIONS-  Stash away loose objects that could roll around and take your attention away from driving.

6. GET YOUR VEHICLE ROAD-READY-  Adjust seat positions, climate controls, sound systems and other devices before you leave or while your vehicle is stopped.  Make sure your headlights are spotless so you can see everything on the road and every other driver can see you better. Keep your windshield clean and remove dangling objects that could block your view.

7. DRESS FOR SUCCESS – BEFORE YOU GET IN THE CAR-  Your car isn’t a dressing room.  Brush your hair, shave, put on make-up, and tie your necktie before you leave or once you reach your destination.

8. GET YOUR BRAIN IN THE GAME-  Focus on the task at hand, driving safely. Scan the road, use mirrors and practice identifying orally what you just saw to enhance your engagement as a driver. Really focusing on maintaining your thoughts about the road, when you’re on the road, can help you improve your overall awareness and behavior as a driver, and help you see the importance of ‘being in the game.’

9. EVALUATE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR FROM THE ‘OTHER’ SIDE OF THE ROAD-  When you’re on the road as a passenger or a pedestrian, take a look around and honestly evaluate whether you engage in poor driving behaviors that worry you when observed in other passengers or pedestrians.

Even if you use all of these suggestions there is no guarantee that something bad won’t happen but if each and every one of us would practice these simple safety principles the fatality rates would decrease quickly. If you have teen age drivers think of the example you are showing them.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Tennessee automobile accident you owe it to yourself to take advantage of a free consultation with an experienced Tennessee accident lawyer from Phillip Miller & Associates.

A mysterious yet tragic tractor-trailer car accident in Sequatchie County claims the life of  a man and his three-year old passenger. According to an article on the website of WRCB TV in Chattanooga Wayne Seals, 71, was driving on State Highway 111 when the Ford Taurus he was driving drove up under a tractor-trailer hauling logs. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. The tractor-trailer driver was not injured. The THP reported that no drugs or alcohol was involved in the collision.

My sympathy and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victims of this terrible tragedy. We can only guess what happened that caused the driver to end up under the tractor-trailer. As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney several things come to mind; did Mr. Seals have a medical emergency that caused him to lose control of the vehicle? Was he distracted? I think back on my own experience having my nieces and nephews in the car with me, and how we talked, laughed and sang songs, and I thank God that we were not involved in a collision.

The lesson here for all of us is that you never know when tragedy will strike and when we get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle we must always have our focus on the road  ahead. If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates

Tragedy Strikes Without Warning

and get a free consultation.

Avoid Distrations

Monday, two young men working on a cable barrier along I-75, were killed by a distracted truck driver. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that a commercial truck veered off the highway in Anderson County and struck the two men, identified as Cheyenne Dakota Burke, 18, and Jeffrey Brian Thompson, 19. Although an investigation into the crash is ongoing, one must conclude that something caused the truck driver to be distracted and caused him to leave the road. My deepest sympathy goes out to the families and friend of these two young men.

These days, people are bombarded with devices that can help accomplish more in less time. With people spending an average of about one hour and 15 minutes in their vehicles every day, unfortunately, other activities –from talking to the kids to eating dinner, often take place behind the wheel. Experts estimate that drivers are doing something potentially distracting more than 15 percent of the time their vehicles are in motion. So little time, so many multi-taskers. If you’re driving your vehicle, you are already multitasking. At a minimum you are: operating a piece of heavy machinery at high speed; navigating across changing terrain; calculating speeds and distances; and responding to all the other drivers and obstacles around you. Putting one more activity in the mix –even talking to your passengers or changing a radio station, can be enough to make you lose control of your vehicle or fail to respond in an emergency.

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. 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. FHWA uses the Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to compute statistics on roadway departure crashes.

Accidents like this require the families of the deceased to find an experienced automobile accident and workers compensation attorney. Both of these men were on the job when they were killed and should be compensated under the Tennessee Workers Compensation Law. Unfortunately workers comp might not pay for the complete loss. Civil claims will have to be pressed against the driver and the company for whom he was working. Both of these courses are complicated and if complete compensation is to be had, the families need experienced help.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident by a distracted driver at least check out our website for information about the process of pressing your claim. The best law firms offer free consultations. At Phillip Miller & Associates we offer free consultation to the victims and families of injured parties.