A 25-year-old Johnson City, Tennessee woman is free on bond while waiting to face charges for her role in a 2009 fatal accident. According to local media reports the woman was charged with vehicular homicide by reckless operation of a motor vehicle. According to police reports the woman fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the centerline and slammed, head-on, into a vehicle coming the other way and killing the female passenger and injuring the driver and a child onboard.

It appears that denial had taken over as the operating thought pattern for the Johnson City woman. At her first court date she had not hired an attorney and the case was reset for this past Monday when she was to show up for trial, with an attorney. She didn’t. According to local media reports she failed to appear, her bond was revoked and the court issued a capias (warrant) for her arrest.

Sleepiness and driving is a dangerous combination. Most people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving but don’t realize that drowsy driving can be just as fatal. Like alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of crashing.

It’s nearly impossible to determine with certainty the cause of a fatal crash where drowsy driving is suspected. However, there are a number of clues at a crash scene that tell investigators that the person fell asleep at the wheel.

Unlike alcohol-related crashes, no blood, breath, or other objective test for sleepiness behind the wheel currently exists that investigators could give to a driver at the scene of a crash. This makes police training in identifying drowsiness as a crash factor very difficult.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drowsy or sleeping driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates

Drowsy Driving Kills

and find out about your rights and remedies.

Don't Try To Flee Police Stop

Without further facts it would be difficult to determine what set of conditions would have to be present for a former District Attorney General to ignore a police car trying to stop him for erratic driving, and attempt to flee the scene. As my readers are aware, fleeing a police stop in Tennessee rarely ends in success for the driver.

In this incident, after about a 90 second chase, the former DA ended up crashing into another police vehicle that had join in the chase. Local media reports were unusually light on facts about the incident. We don’t know if anyone was injured or if an arrest was made or if a blood alcohol test was administered.

As an experienced Nashville personal injury lawyer, based on the fact that the original officer attempted to stop the DA because he was driving erratically, I’d say the driver was under the influence of alcohol or was having a negative reaction to medication.

Drinking and driving do not ever mix. 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.

There are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving, education is an important tool and enforcement with stiff penalties is critical to changing the drinking driving culture that has developed in our country.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk, or otherwise impaired driver, contact the experienced Nashville automobile attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates.

Enjoy The Game And The Ride Home

With football season beginning over the Memorial Day holiday it’s a good time to remind fans of the dangers of drinking and driving. As and experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney, I have reviewed a number of studies and witnessed the facts first hand, that the drinking and driving that goes on during and after college games poses a very dangerous public health threat.

If you plan to drink alcohol while rooting for their team, whether it’s a tailgate event, bar or party, you need to see that they have a sober designated driver or else face some serious criminal and civil consequences. Also keep in mind that if you throw a pre or post game party and you serve alcohol to your guests, and the guests are drunk and drive and crash and hurt or kill someone you will certainly find yourself on the receiving end of a personal injury lawsuit.

Studies show:

A 2009 University of Colorado study found that college football home games were associated with a 13 percent increase in DUI arrests in areas surrounding the stadiums.

A University of Minnesota study that involved the results of breathalyzer exams of adults after baseball and football games, found that eight percent of the fans recorded blood-alcohol content (BAC) levels above the legal limit of .08 percent, while fans under the age of 35 were nine times more likely to be legally drunk after the game than others.

These and other studies make clear that if you are going to drink you ought not get behind the wheel. In Tennessee we continue to see a tragic number of people with debilitating injuries and deaths as a result of impaired driving.

This careless disregard for human life must stop. To help ensure that happens, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and local and county police are dedicated to arresting impaired drivers wherever and whenever they find them. Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk driver and you hope to recover all of the damages the law allows you need to consult with an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney like those at Phillip Miller & Associates. We offer a free consultation so that you can gain the information you will need to face this odyssey through the legal system.

Asleep At The Wheel

A Tennessee man admitted that he fell asleep moments before his truck crossed the centerline and slammed head-on into a car with 2 people aboard. The 43-year-old mother was critically injured and suffered massive head trauma, a crushed left arm, spinal cord injuries and broken legs, hip, and collarbone, her daughter was treated for a sprained ankle. My prayers go out to the family and friends of these two women.

In addition to the falling a sleep, he admitted he had been drinking and police found an open can of beer. According to local news media the DA will decide on what charges will be brought when he has a chance to review the results of the blood test.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.

Sleepiness and driving is a dangerous combination. Most people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving but don’t realize that drowsy driving can be just as fatal. Like alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of crashing.

Stay awake and stay alive. If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Tennessee car accident, please contact Nashville injury attorney Phillip Miller and the Tennessee personal injury attorneys at Phillip Miller and Associates at (615) 356-2000, or contact our office online here.

Some People Just Don't Get It

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney, I regularly run across people who can’t seem to get the idea that drinking and driving is dangerous. These people drive drunk, get into the system, pay fines, go to alcohol school, lose their licenses, and yet they continue to driver drunk.

A 29-year-old Campbellsville, Kentucky man, is this exact kind of person. Operating a vehicle drunk, on a DUI suspended license, he drove his car off the road and slammed into a tree, killing one passenger and seriously injuring himself and two others.

The driver faces charges of murder, two counts of assault, second-offense aggravated DUI and second-offense operating on a DUI suspended license. One would think that this would be enough to get his attention but, we’ll have to wait and see.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville auto accident caused by a drunk driver, you owe it to your family to contact the experienced Nashville auto 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.

Motorcycle + Alcohol = Disaster

A 54-year-old Clinton, Tennessee man was injured when his motorcycle went airborne after hitting poles blocking the entrance to a parking lot near the Hickory and Calumet Street intersection in Centralia, Illinois early Saturday morning.  Centralia Police say Douglas Coward ran a stop sign while southbound on Hickory Street.

After hitting the poles, the cycle went airborne for 90 feet and the rider was thrown airborne for 75 feet.  Police say there were skid marks indicating Coward had tried to stop.   Coward was initially taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia and then transferred to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis.

Coward was ticketed for driving under the influence, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and no insurance.  The wreck occurred at 12:28 Saturday morning.

Have you or a loved one been injured in a Nashville motorcycle accident or auto accident as a result of distracted driving or other negligent driving?  If so, you should call the experienced Nashville personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates, a Nashville motorcycle accident lawyer from our law firm will fight to help you win. We will treat you with the utmost compassion and respect. Call us today and speak with an experienced Nashville personal injury lawyer to discuss the details of your case. Call (615) 356-2000.

Drunk Driver Tries To Run

Many times we have spoken of the danger that our brave police officers face as they go about their business of making the highways and byways safe for you and I. A recent incident on this past Friday brings home that point in spades.

Two Nashville police offices were working a traffic stop near the Hickory Hollow Mall around 1 a.m. when another driver sped by at a high rate of speed and came within inches of hitting one of the officers. But for the quick action of his partner in pulling him out of the way, the people of Nashville might well have lost one of their finest.

Instead of stopping when the officers got into pursuit this guy compounds his trouble by refusing to stop. Thinking he could outrun the police, this bozo reaches speeds of up to 85 MPH before the inevitable loss of control and a high speed crash into an innocent tree at the corner of Apache Trail and Bart Drive.

We here at Phillip Miller & Associates are thankful for the work of these brave officers and are pleased that they were not injured. We don’t know anything about the driver but in my experience as a Nashville automobile accident attorney, I’d bet the ranch that the guy was drunk, and because of previous drinking and driving problems did not have a drivers license or insurance. Good work and congratulations to these brave officers who were just doing their jobs.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident caused by a drunk driver, contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Last November a Blountville man was ruled by the court to be an Habitual Traffic Offender for having 5 DUI convictions. He didn’t get the picture and was arrested in April for driving drunk on the wrong side of the road on a riding lawnmower for his 6^th DUI.

Last week the 36-year-old man was sentenced to six years in the penitentiary and ordered to serve at least 35% before he is eligible for parole.

Drinking and driving do not ever mix. 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.

There are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving, education is an important tool and enforcement with stiff penalties is critical to changing the drinking driving culture that has developed in our country. In cases like this it appears the only way to keep people like this off of the road is to take them off of the street.

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

In the quarter century from 1985 through 2009, the lives of 1,055,881 men, women, and children have ended violently as the result of motor vehicle crashes in the United States. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children, teens, and young adults.

Statistics from the United States Department of Transportation indicate that 33,808 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2009. Although this represents the fewest people killed in crashes in a single year since 1950, it also represents an average of 93 lives needlessly cut short on an average day as the result of crashes on our roads.

Since 2006, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been sponsoring research to better understand traffic safety culture. The Foundation’s long-term term vision is to create a “social climate in which traffic safety is highly valued and rigorously pursued.” In 2008, the AAA Foundation conducted the first annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, a nationally-representative telephone survey, to begin to assess a few key indicators of the degree to which traffic safety is valued and is being pursued.

Summary of Major Findings

Personal experience with crashes

• One of every two Americans has been involved in a serious crash, has had a friend or relative seriously injured or killed in a crash, or both.

Perceptions of safety

• More than half of all drivers (52%) say driving feels less safe today than it did 5 years ago a 17-percentage-point increase from only a year ago. Nearly half cite some form of driver distraction as the main reason or as a reason for their feeling less safe.

Attitudes and behaviors: Drinking and driving

• Drivers view drinking and driving as a very serious threat, virtually all drivers disapprove of drinking and driving and acknowledge that others also disapprove of it, and very few drivers admit drinking and driving (fewer than 2 drivers in 100 admit having done so in the past month).

• There is almost universal support for requiring alcohol-ignition interlocks for drivers convicted of DWI more than once, and more than 2 in 3 Americans support requiring interlocks for first-time DWI offenders.

Attitudes and behaviors: Cell phone use and texting

• Cell phone use while driving has become widespread—more than 2 in 3 drivers report talking on their cell phone while driving in the past month; more than 1 in 3 say they do so fairly often or regularly. There is moderate social disapproval toward using a hand-held cell phone while driving, but over half of all drivers believe incorrectly that most others actually approve of it. Presently, people are generally accepting of hands-free cell phone use.

• Most people view drivers texting and emailing while driving as a very serious threat to their own personal safety and consider it completely unacceptable. However, many drivers don’t perceive social disapproval from others. Nearly 1 in 4 drivers (24%) admit to texting or emailing while driving.

• A two-thirds majority of Americans support restricting the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, but more people oppose (50%) than support (46%) an outright ban on using any type of cell phone (including hands-free) while driving. There is strong support for laws restricting texting while driving.

Attitudes and behaviors: Speeding

• Speeding on freeways is widespread—45% of drivers say they have driven 15 mph over the speed limit on a freeway in the past month—and nearly 1 in 3 say they consider it acceptable to do so. In contrast, driving 15 mph over the speed limit on residential streets is much less common, and is rated as one of the most unacceptable things that a driver can do.

• Nearly 2 in 3 drivers report at least occasionally feeling pressure from other drivers to drive faster than they want to drive; more than 1 in 3 say they feel such pressure fairly often or regularly.

• More than 2 in 3 Americans support having more police on the roads to enforce speed limits.

Attitudes and behaviors: Red light running

• Most drivers view it as unacceptable to drive through a traffic light that has already turned red if they could have stopped safely; however, 1 in 3 drivers admit doing this in the past month.

Attitudes and behaviors: Drowsy driving

• Most drivers view driving while extremely drowsy as a serious threat to their safety and a completely unacceptable behavior, however, more than 1 in 4 still admit to driving when they were so tired that they had a hard time keeping their eyes open at some point in the past month.

Attitudes and behaviors: Seat belt use

• Most drivers view it as unacceptable to drive without wearing a seatbelt, and more than 3 of 4 say that they never do; however, nearly 1 in 10 admits that they drive without wearing their seat belt fairly often or regularly.

• 2 of every 3 Americans support laws allowing police officers to stop and ticket a driver for not wearing a seat belt even if they’re not breaking any other law.

For information on Tennessee highway safety issues and advice if you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident contact Phillip Miller & Associates.

A frightening Nashville interstate accident might have been caused by the driver falling to sleep at the wheel. According to local media reports a vehicle with a driver and three passengers, one a four-year-old child was driving west on I-40 when the driver lost control on the curve of an interstate overpass.

The car went down the embankment into the southbound lanes of I-65 and slammed into an oncoming pickup truck. Neither the driver, or the passenger of the pickup were seriously injured. The driver of the car and one of the passengers were transported in critical condition.

One of the passengers of the pickup told police the driver might have fallen asleep. Sleepiness and driving is a dangerous combination. Most people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving but don’t realize that drowsy driving can be just as fatal. Like alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of crashing.

Stay awake and stay alive. If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Tennessee car accident, please contact Nashville injury attorney Phillip Miller and the Tennessee personal injury attorneys at Phillip Miller and Associates at (615) 356-2000.