Nashville Auto Accident Lawyer Reports That Blind Driver Pleads Guilty In Death Of Tennessee Pedestrian
Blind Driver Kills Pedestrian
Back in August 2009 in my blog “The Tennessee Auto Accident Attorney” I reported on an incident in Johnson City Tennessee in which a driver who was legally blind and receiving Social Security Disability for his blindness, was driving a pickup truck when he ran down and killed a pedestrian. As strange as it sounds, it’s true.
Yesterday, the 59-year-old man plead guilty to vehicular homicide by recklessness and three counts of reckless endangerment. As the result of his plea he was sentenced to seven years in prison on the vehicular homicide and three years each for the reckless endangerment. He’s already served 25 months in jail and with credit for time spent he will served fifteen years on probation.
The facts showed that even after he killed the pedestrian he was stopped driving three more times, once when he drove himself to the police station to give a statement about the pedestrian fatality. This guy obviously doesn’t get it. I read several media reports about the sentencing and did not find in any of them a procription by the sentencing judge on this man driving in the future.
So why is it that one fatal crash in five (20%) involves a driver who is unlicensed or whose license is suspended, canceled, or revoked? Unlicensed drivers are almost five times more likely to be in a fatal crash than are validly licensed drivers. Nationally two-thirds of drivers continue to drive while under suspension. I assume that if this guy is caught driving again his probation will be revoked and he will be sent back to jail for the remainder of his sentence. I just hope no one else has to die before he gets the picture.
On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 113 minutes and injured in a traffic crash every 8 minutes. There were 70,000 pedestrians injured in traffic crashes in 2007. Most pedestrian fatalities in 2007 occurred in urban areas (73%), at non-intersection locations (77%), in normal weather conditions (90%), and at night (67%). More than two-thirds (70%) of the pedestrians killed in 2007 were males. In 2007, the male pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 population was 2.19 more than double the rate for females (0.91 per 100,000 population). In 2007, the male pedestrian injury rate per 100,000 population was 26, compared with 20 for females.
If you or a loved one is injured or killed by an unlicensed driver getting compensation might prove difficult without the help of aan experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer like those you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Come in for a free consultation so that you can make an informed decision on what action you will need to take to secure your remedy.
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