Seat Belts Save Lives

A Maynardsville, Tennessee woman is dead after she lost control of her vehicle late Friday night, according to local media reports. The 38-year-old woman was driving on Monroe St. in Maynardville when she lost control of her Chevy Blazer and was ejected when it overturned on an embankment. The article mentioned that she was not wearing her seat belt. Our prayers go out to her family and friends.

This Tennessee highway fatality presents two important issues, the first one is seat belt use, or rather, failure of seat belt use and the other is what caused her to run off the road.

Restraint use is clearly designed to reduce injury severity and prevent occupants from being ejected from their vehicles. Tennessee law requires the use of seat belts. An overwhelming number of studies show that seat belts, when used correctly, save lives. As an experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyer, whenever I read about an accident in which a driver or passenger is ejected, I automatically relate it to failure to wear seat belts.

The primary cause of this accident was that she left the roadway. Police investigators will look to see whether speed was a factor, or whether the driver was somehow distracted and not paying attention to the road ahead. Distraction is a factor in 80% of  all accident in the United States, and the leading cause of distraction is the use of a cell phone. Police investigators will look to her cell phone records to see if she was using the device at, or near, the time of the crash.

The lesson here for Tennessee drivers is to take a few seconds to secure yourself and keep your eyes and mind on the road.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a negligent driver, contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Teen Driver Dies

According to local news reports an 18-year-old Cookeville teenager was killed in a traffic crash on the Gainesboro Grade in Jackson County on Wednesday afternoon. Three passengers, a 39-year-old woman, an 80-year-old man, and a 57-year-old woman, all of Gainesboro, Tennessee were injured.

The facts of the accident are confusing, at best. It appears that the teen driver was driving westbound in the eastbound lane and crashed head-on into an oncoming van. The driver was not wearing his seatbelt. The three people in the van were all injured but the report doesn’t describe their injuries.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney, I’ll have to say, I’m confused and have lots of questions. The main question is why was the young driver in the wrong lane, followed by why he was not wearing his seatbelt. I’ll keep up with this story and try to gather more facts. Was he passing another car? Was he somehow incapacitated by a medical problem? Was he distracted in some way?

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident contact the experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

Distracted Driving Kills

The source of the distraction that caused a Giles County, Tennessee man to take his eyes off the road long enough for his vehicle to veer across the center line into oncoming traffic and then leave the road and end up in a creek, will be the focus of the police investigation into the death of the man’s wife and injury to an infant in the car.

Whenever you see an accident, usually involving one car that leaves the road, an experienced automobile accident starts thinking about driver distractions. Just what was the driver doing moments before the crash that caused his/her vehicle to go off the highway? What caused the driver to change focus from driving to other things?

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. Each of these accidents had the potential to have taken numerous other lives but somehow that didn’t happen.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to avoid distractions while we are behind the wheel or we are going to die or kill someone else. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a distracted driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

A Seat Belt Would Have Mattered

When we talk about distractions leading to Tennessee fatal automobile accidents we are talking about a serious issue in these days of cell phone’s, GPS and other navigation devices. The distraction can take only seconds and lives change forever. Take for example a recent crash in Thorn Hill, Tennessee. A Grainger County man was killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash Saturday night on state Highway 131 near Delmer Welch Road at approximately 7:35 p.m. when he lost control of his 2004 Dodge SRS.

According to local media reports his right front tire dropped off the roadway, he driver overcorrected, lost control, crossed both lanes and went airborne over an embankment. His car struck several trees and came to rest on its roof in a small creek.

The report quoted the investigating Trooper Toby Cameron as saying that the deceased was not wearing his seat belt, and he thought it would have made a difference. The man possibly lost his life because of two errors, he failed to take a second to buckle up and he took his attention off the road for a second. Our prayers go out to the family and friends of this unfortunate man.

The personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates plead with your to take a minute and buckle up before you head out onto the highways and byways of Tennessee, and above all avoid distractions. Call 615-356-2000 to find out all you need to know if you are injured in a Nashville auto accident.

Distracted Tennessee Driver

Whenever you see an accident, usually involving one car that crosses the centerline and crashes into another, an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer starts thinking about driver distractions. Just what was the driver doing moments before the crash that caused his/her vehicle to go off the highway? What caused the driver to change focus from driving to other things?

This is the question several families in Fentress County, Tennessee will be asking themselves following a 2-vehicle crash. A 26-year-old Jamestown woman crossed the centerline and crashed head-on into an oncoming vehicle driven by a 40-year-old woman, also of Jamestown. The 26-year-old was dead at the scene and the other woman was injured.

What was she doing that took her eyes and her mind off of the task of driving? It only takes a second for the distraction to lead to calamity. Distraction from the primary task of driving could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. In 2008, 5,870 people lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in police-reported crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction was reported on the crash report. While these numbers are significant, they may not state the true size of the problem, since the identification of distraction and its role in the crash by law enforcement can be very difficult.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident caused by a distracted driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

It's Big and Yellow and has Blinking Lights

A Memphis man, the driver of a Jeep Cherokee, told police he was distracted and didn’t see the emergency lights, or the stop sign on a huge yellow school bus, nor the hearing impaired child prior to striking the child. According to local media reports the driver of the school bus activated the red lights and stop sign at which time the 13-year-old left his driveway and proceeded to board the bus.

The young man suffered injuries to his head and was transported by ambulance to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. He is in critical but stable condition. Our prayers go out to him for a speedy and complete recovery.

He did not tell the police what had distracted him, but I’d bet a dollar to a donut he was using his cell phone. 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. Investigators will most probably review her cell phone records and find that she was engaged in a conversation with someone.

Come on people, it’s up to us to change the culture of distracted driving. Education is the first step and enforcement is the next. The distracted driver was charged with Failure to Maintain Control and Safe Lookout along with Overtaking and passing a school bus. Alcohol and speed were not factors in the accident.

If you or a loved one are involved in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a distracted driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies. Call 615-356-2000

From The Highway To The River

The good news is that the vehicle driven by a 23-year-old man, that included his 21-year-old woman passenger, missed a concrete barrier after they ran off US Highway 72, near Scottsboro, TN. The bad news is that the vehicle also missed two separate guardrails that would have prevented the vehicle from flipping several times before ending up in the Tennessee River. Fortunately, both people were able to get out of the vehicle and make their way to the shore, underneath a bridge to await rescue.

Police investigators will try to piece the minute-by-minute scenario of what the driver was doing in the time prior to leaving the highway.

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.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car crash by a distracted driver or a case like the present one that will require and experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer contact the lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Distractions Kill

National Transportation Safety Board

Office of Public Affairs

December 13, 2011

Following today’s Board meeting on the 2010 multi-vehicle highway accident in Gray Summit, Missouri, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called for the first-ever nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) while operating a motor vehicle.

The safety recommendation specifically calls for the 50 states and the District of Columbia to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers. The safety recommendation also urges use of the NHTSA model of high-visibility enforcement to support these bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and heightened enforcement.

“According to NHTSA, more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents”, said Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.”

“No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life.”

On August 5, 2010, on a section of Interstate 44 in Gray Summit, Missouri, a pickup truck ran into the back of a truck-tractor that had slowed due to an active construction zone. The pickup truck, in turn, was struck from behind by a school bus. That school bus was then hit by a second school bus that had been following. As a result, two people died and 38 others were injured.

The NTSB’s investigation revealed that the pickup driver sent and received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes preceding the accident. The last text was received moments before the pickup struck the truck-tractor.

The Missouri accident is the most recent distraction accident the NTSB has investigated. However, the first investigation involving distraction from a wireless electronic device occurred in 2002, when a novice driver, distracted by a conversation on her cell phone, veered off the roadway in Largo, Maryland, crossed the median, flipped the car over, and killed five people.

Since then, the NTSB has seen the deadliness of distraction across all modes of transportation.

In 2004, an experienced motorcoach driver, distracted on his hands-free cell phone, failed to move to the center lane and struck the underside of an arched stone bridge on the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria, Virginia. Eleven of the 27 high school students were injured;

In the 2008 collision of a commuter train with a freight train in Chatsworth, California, the commuter train engineer, who had a history of using his cell phone for personal communications while on duty, ran a red signal while texting. That train collided head on with a freight train – killing 25 and injuring dozens;

In 2009, two airline pilots were out of radio communication with air traffic control for more than an hour because they were distracted by their personal laptops. They overflew their destination by more than 100 miles, only realizing their error when a flight attendant inquired about preparing for arrival.

In Philadelphia in 2010, a barge being towed by a tugboat ran over an amphibious “duck” boat in the Delaware River, killing two Hungarian tourists. The tugboat mate failed to maintain a proper lookout due to repeated use of a cell-phone and laptop computer;

In 2010, near Munfordville, Kentucky, a truck-tractor in combination with a 53-foot-long trailer, left its lane, crossed the median and collided with a 15-passenger van. The truck driver failed to maintain control of his vehicle because he was distracted by use of his cell-phone. The accident resulted in 11 fatalities

In the last two decades, there has been exponential growth in the use of cell-phone and personal electronic devices. Globally, there are 5.3 billion mobile phone subscribers or 77 percent of the world population. In the United States, that percentage is even higher – it exceeds 100 percent.

Further, a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study of commercial drivers found that a safety-critical event is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing, or accessing the Internet.

“The data is clear; the time to act is now. How many more lives will be lost before we, as a society, change our attitudes about the deadliness of distractions?” Hersman said.

If you or a loved one is seriously injured or killed in a Nashville auto accident caused by a distracted driver contact the experienced Nashville personal injury accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates. Call 615-320-2000.

Avoid Distracted Driving

During the holiday season I can’t say enough about avoiding driving distractions. Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event. The only way we are going to change the culture of distracted driving is for each one of us to commit to making a conscious effort to avoid multi-tasking when we drive.

Multi-tasking is a fact of life – we all face constant demands for our time, and we all have to juggle more than ever before. Unfortunately, many people try to multi-task while driving, which is NEVER a good idea. In fact, a recent study by the University of Utah has reconfirmed that our brains are simply not wired to multi-task. Being distracted behind the wheel for even just a few seconds greatly increases your chance of a crash. Distracted driving contributes to up to 8,000 crashes every single day – the facts speak for themselves.

Distraction from the primary task of driving could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. In 2008, 5,870 people lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in police-reported crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction was reported on the crash report. While these numbers are signi!cant, they may not state the true size of the problem, since the identification of distraction and its role in the crash by law enforcement can be very difficult.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident caused by a distracted driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies. Call 615-356-2000.

Why Did He Leave The Road?

A Knoxville firefighter who had just gotten off work was seriously injured Wednesday morning when his car veered into the oncoming lane of traffic and slammed into an SUV. The 29-year-old man was trapped in his vehicle for more than 30 minutes as fellow firefighters worked to free him from his crushed car.

The man was driving north bound on Chilhowee Drive about 7:41 a.m. when his four-door 1995 Toyota crossed the center line and struck an oncoming 1997 Ford Explorer. Both drivers are in stable condition in a local hospital.

The firefighter had just finished a 24-hour shift and investigators will have to look carefully to see if lack of sleep caused him to drive off of the road. Other options are cell phone distraction or medical emergency.

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.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car crash by a distracted driver or a case like the present one that will require and experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer contact the lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.