Zero Tolerance

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I approach the Christmas holiday season with mixed emotions. It’s a time for family and friends, a time of hope and joy, the ending of another year, and on the other hand it’s the high season for drunk drivers. This morning I thought I might make a list of drunk driving facts to show yoou how this problem manifests itself.

* Between 2004 and 2008 in Tennessee, impaired women drivers involved in fatal crashes increased by 4.7 percent.

* The group most likely to be involved in an alcohol related fatal crash will be men and women in the 21-24-year-old range. During the 2006 holiday season, alcohol was a factor in almost 37 percent of the fatal crashes with drivers this age. Compare that to drivers 44-54, where 20 percent of the fatal accidents involved alcohol

* While drivers 21-24 constituted 11 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2007, they made up 18 percent of all alcohol-impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes.

* In 2008, about one-third of all fatal crashes involved alcohol-impaired drivers.

* Nationwide in 2008 there were 37,261 total highway fatalities with 11,773 of them involved alcohol-impaired drivers.

* In Tennessee there were 1035 fatalities during this same period with 327 involving alcohol-impaired drivers

December is National Drunk & Drugged Driving Prevention Month and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, with assistance from other agencies, will staff more than 100 sobriety and driver’s license checkpoints through New Year’s Day. Don’t be a statistic, if you drive, don’t drink and if you drink don’t drive. If you see a or suspect a driver of being under the influence take action and call the police, you may save a life. In an urban are dial 911 and in a rural area dial *847 for the State Troopers.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident 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 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.

Holiday Highway Deaths

Encouraging news from The Tennessee Department of Safety. The Department of Safety announced that seven (7) people were killed in seven fatal crashes on Tennessee roadways during the 2009 Labor Day holiday, compared to 12 fatalities last year in 10 fatal crashes. The 2009 Labor Day holiday period started at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 4, 2009, and ran through 11:59 p.m. Monday, September 7, 2009.

During the 78-hour holiday period, all seven fatal crashes were in single vehicle crashes. Two of the fatalities occurred in alcohol-related crashes. Last year, none of the 12 fatalities occurred in crashes where alcohol was involved. Six of the fatal crashes involved single vehicles. Two of the fatalities occurred in alcohol-related crashes. Five of the people killed were vehicle occupants and three of the five were not wearing safety restraints. The deaths occurred in Bedford, Gibson, Jackson, Lawrence, Scott, Henry and Shelby. This year, one of the victims was a motorcyclist. This is a decrease from last year, when five motorcyclists were killed during the long holiday weekend.

The THP participated in numerous special enforcement initiatives aimed at reducing fatalities during the Labor Day weekend, including more than 80 driver license and sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols and speed enforcement. During the holiday weekend the Highway Patrol issued 2230 hazardous moving violations, 1878 for speeding, 55 DUIs and others for following too closely, failure to yield, improper passing, reckless driving, improper turns and 30 for disregarding signals/signs.

As an experienced car accident attorney it’s never good news that seven (7) humans lose their lives but it appears that educational efforts and heavy enforcement paid off with the reduction in fatalities. If you or a loved one is injured in a vehicular accident call the experienced accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates

and find out about your rights and remedies.