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.