Alcohol And SUVs - A Deadly Combination

A Clarksville man died yesterday at Vanderbilt Medical Center after being injured in a one-car accident on Monday on I-24 just outside the Clarksville city limits. The Leaf-Chronicle, relying on a report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, said that Thomas John Hennessey IV, 31 was a passenger in an SUV driven by Michelle LaLonde, 41. The accident took place at 2 A.M. when the vehicle left the road and initially hit the guardrail slid along the rail for over one hundred feet and then flipped again sliding on the rood before it hit a tree and rolled again.

According to the article, alcohol was likely a factor, based on evidence of alcohol beverage debris found on the road and in the median, The Highway Patrol report noted that Lalonde had a strong smell of alcohol and the investigating Trooper said it appeared Lalonde fell asleep before hitting the guardrail. Both occupants were wearing seat belts. On behalf of the staff at Phillip Miller & Associates our condolences go out to the family and friends of Mr. Hennessey.

According to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than 51 billion dollars. In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

There are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving. Effective measures include:

* Aggressively enforcing existing 0.08% BAC laws, minimum legal drinking age laws, and zero tolerance laws for drivers younger than 21 years old in all states.

* Promptly revoking the driver’s licenses of people who drive while intoxicated.10

* Utilizing sobriety checkpoints.

* Implementing health promotion efforts that use an ecological framework to influence economic, organizational, policy, and school/community action.

* Using multi-faceted community-based approaches to alcohol control and DUI prevention.

* Requiring mandatory substance abuse assessment and treatment for driving-under-the-influence offenders.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident involving a drunk driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out everything you need to know to make informed decisions about how to proceed.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes total more than $51 billion. In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year. Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost twice as likely as female drivers to be intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or greater. It is illegal to drive with a BAC of 0.08% or higher in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Liquor Impairs Driving Ability

According to a report on Nashville TV station WSMV, a Clarksville Police patrol car was damaged when it was rear-ended by a 2005 Lincoln LS, driven by Kenneth Davis, 20, of Fort Campbell, Ky. The patrol car was stopped and had it’s emergency light flashing while, based on the information in the article, the officer, Brad Holder, was investigating another accident on Interstate 24 between exits 8 and 11. After being rammed the police car hit the vehicle in front of it. The driver and two other Fort Campbell soldiers in the Lincoln were hospitalized. Investigators told WSMV reporters that alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer you have to believe that the soldier/driver had to have been either under the influence or otherwise seriously distracted. I’m thankful that Officer Holder was uninjured, doing what he and his comrades do is so dangerous and who would think that in the dark of night, with his emergency flashers on, that a driver would ram his car. Under Tennessee law when a driver approaches an emergency vehicle, if possible, should change lanes and on interstate ramps the driver should slow down and pass the emergency vehicle carefully.

If you or a loved on is injured by a Nashville driver under the influence contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.