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.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that speed was a factor in a fatal one-car crash in rural Karns Tennessee. Tennessee automobile accident lawyers see this situation far too often. The driver speeds and loses control and a passenger, possibly a family member or friend pays with his life. Nearly 1/3rd of accident fatalities involve speeding.

A 22 year old man was driving a 1994 Acura at a high rate of speed on a narrow two lane road when he lost control, left to road and hit a tree on the passenger side. His forty-four year old friend and neighbor was pinned in the car and died at the scene. The passenger was wearing his seatbelt but the driver was not. The driver was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center and released later.

There is no question that use of seat belts save lives, but instances like this tend to reinforce those who want to deny the science and statistics. There is no doubt that seat belts save lives. This was an unfortunate death where the passenger was trapped in the car. We can be glad that someone survived, nothing would have been proven by the death of the 22 year old driver. We can only hope that this lucky young man appreciates this gift of life, and lives the rest of his life paying back for what he has taken away from the family and friends of his passenger.

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As a Nashville and Tennessee car accident lawyer I am still amazed when I hear of someone driving a motor vehicle without securing his/her seatbelt. In my Tennessee car accident practice I have seen so many automobile collisions that ended up with fatalities that could have been prevented if they would have just taken a second to buckle up.  Although Nashville police and Tennessee State Troopers can issue tickets for seat-belt violations, it isn’t enough for some people.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported just such an accident last week in New Tazewell. Steven Thomas was driving his 1994 Ford pickup truck at a high rate of speed, over-corrected sending the truck up an embankment tossing Thomas out of the truck to the roadway. The truck continued up the embankment, rolled over and crushed Thomas who died immediately. A Tennessee state Trooper opined that the victim most likely would not have died, nor even sustained serious injury had he been wearing his seatbelt.

Remember, when you get behind the wheel and you speed you are putting the lives of others in danger. Luckily for other Knox County drivers no one else was injured by Mr. Thomas’ bad driving.

Allstate Insurance Co. a major player in the car accident insurance business has recently released a report ranking Nashville 35^th among the 200 biggest U.S. cities for safe driving. Gannett Tennessee in a recent article noted that the report shows Nashville drivers average 10.6 years between collisions based on insurance claims in 2006-2007.

Unfortunately Nashvillians are trending upward and are a bit more accident prone than they were four years ago, when the average was 11.4 years between collisions.

The bad news is in the area of teen drivers (as opposed to older drivers who have far fewer fatalities). The report showed that the Nashville ranked fourth in the nation for driving deaths among 50 metropolitan areas. The article quotes Elizabeth Hosmer of the Governors Highway Safety Office as saying that, “A lot of it’s speed, and their driving skills aren’t as good as they should be.” As Tennessee car accident lawyers we see too often that teen drivers don’t understand the responsibility that they have when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. All too often the death of a friend or family member has to occur before it gets their attention. 4th in the Nation for teen fatalities? Nashville drivers and parents should be concerned.

July 30, 2009

Nashville, TN

Tennessee car accident lawyers know all too well the dangers that automobile drivers face each time the venture out onto the interstate highway system. Every year in Tennessee several hundred Interstate drivers lose their lives needlessly because one driver chooses to violate the rules of the road disregarding the lives of those traveling along with them. These same Tennessee car accident lawyers know that there are other unforeseen hazards that can only be avoided by paying strict attention to those driving near them.

A case in point; A tractor-trailer traveling Eastbound through Nashville hauling a full load of steel through a construction zone along I-40, left the road without any warning, crashed into a concrete barrier set up to protect the construction workers, and rolled over, dumping his load of steel into the oncoming lanes of traffic. The driver died and luckily no other vehicles were involved in this potentially catastrophic situation.

Authorities believe the cause of the rollover seems to be that the 42 year old Michigan based driver suffered some sort of medical emergency, possibly a heart attack. Unfortunately the driver was not wearing his seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The lesson here is that you never know from where the danger will come, and if you ask any Tennessee car accident lawyer they will surely advise you to familiarize your selves with the rules of the road and not to take anything for granted when you get on the interstate.