Protect Your Babies

A child was killed and four people were injured in an accident near Kenton, Tennessee on Tuesday. Local media reports say, a 47-year-old Kenton woman was traveling southbound on Highway 45, near the intersection of Taylor Road, in a Ford SUV being followed by a tractor-trailer when a Chevrolet Blazer driven by a 22-year-old woman from Tulsa, Okla., traveling northbound, crossed the center line and struck the SUV, knocking the mirror off the vehicle.

Her vehicle continued into the southbound lane, striking the tractor-trailer head on and then exiting the east edge of the road before coming to a final rest facing east. She and one of two children, who were passengers in the vehicle, were ejected. The woman was not wearing a seat belt. The tractor-trailer also exited the east edge of the road before coming to a final rest facing east.

A male child, aged 10 months, of Tulsa was killed in the accident. He was not in a safety restraint, according to the report. Safety restraints would have made a difference in the accident, according to the THP report. The other child, aged 2, of Tulsa, who was injured, was not wearing a safety restraint either. All three drivers were all injured in the accident.

Reports indicate the young Tulsa woman was apparently under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident. Tests have been requested.

Where does one start analyzing this tragic situation? The woman had two babies in her care and she didn’t take time to secure them in their safety seats. Police believe the dead child would have survived had he been secured. The woman is driving under the influence of drugs and for some reason she took her eyes off the road for a long enough time to cross the centerline. My prayers go out to the family of this child and his mother. The deaths were totally preventable.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drugged driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville personal injury lawyers at Philip Miller & Associates and share your facts with us for a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

Share the Road Safely

As an experienced Nashville auto accident attorney I have seen a whole array of different highway collisions, but I can only remember a few that involved a tractor-trailer and a horse-drawn buggy. A collision like that can’t ever have a happy ending.

Hopkinsville Kentucky Police are investigating a Friday evening collision between a tractor-trailer and an Amish horse and buggy that left a 3-year-old little girl dead.

Police say the child was a passenger in her family’s horse and buggy on Highway 41-A, a four- lane highway with a grassy median. The child was killed instantly when an 18-wheeler, driven northbound on Highway 41-A, by a 52-year-old man, from Robinson, Illinois struck the buggy. The truck had just left the Wal-Mart distribution center. The highway does have signs warning of horse and buggy travelers.

The police report and local media went on to say that the truck driver failed field sobriety tests, and was deemed under the influence of a drug, or narcotic. Police believe that lab results from blood and urine tests will give them a precise and more scientific idea of what foreign substance might have been in the truckers system at the moment of impact.

The driver of the tractor-trailer told police he glanced down to get a cigarette at the precise moment he came upon the horse and buggy he rear-ended. In a media report out of Nashville it appears that the Commonwealth Attorney plans to charge the trucker with murder, driving under the influence, three counts of assault, first degree, and criminal mischief.

The rest of the child’s family, her father, mother and teenage sister are all being treated at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.

The principal concern regarding drugged driving is that driving under the influence of any drug that acts on the brain will impair one’s motor skills, reaction time, and judgment. Drugged driving is a public health concern because it puts not only the driver at risk, but also passengers and others who share the road.

As an experienced Tennessee tractor-trailer accident attorney I can tell you that it takes less than 2 seconds of taking your eyes and mind off of your driving before you can lose control of whatever vehicle you are driving and crash.

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.

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

Brandon and Jenilyn Franklin – husband 21, wife 18 – had been married barely six weeks, when a drunk and seriously drugged man’s truck hit their motorcycle head on. The man had no license, three previous convictions for driving under the influence, and a “cocktail” of prescription drugs in his system and in the truck he borrowed.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but after 4 ½ years he told the parole board that he was a changed man, and that he was ready to return to society. The parole board didn’t agree and denied his request. He will be eligible for parole again in 2017.

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.

Finally, the authorities are looking at this serious crime with a critical eye and the lesson for all Tennessee drivers is that, if you drink and drive you must be ready to stand for the consequences.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to determine your rights and remedies.

What Kind Of Mom?

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I regularly identify, in my Blog, people who should be banned forever from driving on the highways and byways of Tennessee. I wish to introduce you to a Johnson City, Tennessee woman, 31-year-old Christina Cochran who was arrested this past Sunday afternoon and charged with child abuse and neglect, driving under the influence and child endangerment, leaving the scene of the accident and having no driver’s license.

Police responded to a call about an accident in which a vehicle had run off of the road, gone into a ditch, hit a tree and rolled over on it’s side. Ms. Cochran, the driver fled the scene of the accident leaving her 8-year-old son, who suffered facial injuries, in the vehicle to fend for him self.

An officer captured this person a short distance away from the crash. She was incoherent and fought with police. After subduing her the officer found a bottle of heavy-duty pain pills. From evidence at the scene police believe she had taken 57 pills in 24 hours. This is her second offense and she did not have a valid driver’s license.

In my book she is the perfect candidate to receive a lifetime ban from having driving privileges. If you feel the same as I do you might want to contact Tony Clark the District Attorney General at 423-434-6840 and let him know how you feel.

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

Drugged Driving

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I can only guess what caused a Sweetwater Tennessee to lose control of his car, cross the centerline and hit two oncoming motor vehicles. The driver was killed and his three other passengers, one a young child, are listed in a local hospital in critical condition. When police searched his vehicle they found materials and equipment for making Methamphetimine.

Meth is a dangerous drug that creates a total maniac behind the wheel of a car. The products and equipment used in making the drug are toxic and can cause everything from unconsciousness to long-term brain damage.

The principal concern regarding drugged driving is that driving under the influence of any drug that acts on the brain could impair one’s motor skills, reaction time, and judgment. Drugged driving is a public health concern because it puts not only the driver at risk, but also passengers and others who share the road.

Despite these acknowledged concerns, drugged driving laws have lagged behind alcohol legislation, in part because of limitations in the current technology for determining drug levels, and resulting impairment. For alcohol, detection of its blood concentration (BAC) is relatively simple and concentrations greater than .08% have been shown to impair driving performance. Thus, 0.08% is the legal limit in this country. For illicit drugs, there is no agreed upon limit for which impairment has been reliably demonstrated. And determining current drug levels can be difficult, since some drugs linger in the body for a period of days or weeks after initial ingestion.

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