Drugged Driving Hard To Prove

A recent incident in East Tennessee caught my eye because it illustrates the same problem that exists here in Nashville. The problem is drugged driving. A woman in an SUV accompanied by her two children was so out of it that she drove her vehicle through the wall of a department store. Toxicology tests are pending but officers say enough evidence to place her under arrest for DUI, wanton endangerment and criminal mischief.

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.

Drunk, Drugged or Both?

It was 2 AM this past Saturday and a 38-year-old Lebanon, Tennessee man was driving the wrong way on State Route 840, an interstate like highway. Those facts alone tell this experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney that something was wrong with this driver and my first thought is that he was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

Unfortunately for two innocent human beings, a 39-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, this jerk slammed head-on into their vehicle and killed them both. Authorities will autopsy the man to determine if drugs or alcohol were present. I suspect that the tests will run to the positive side.

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.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. Alcohol was a factor in 10,839 highway deaths in 2009. In the past two decades, it accounted for 268,442 deaths. And 10 percent of people in the United States recently admitted to being drunk behind the wheel in the past year.

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

It's Not Smart To Flee A Tennessee Traffic Stop

Law enforcement officers often have to enter into a high-speed pursuit of criminal suspects. This dangerous decision on the part of the driver puts the lives of the police officer, other drivers and pedestrians at risk. As is usually the case, the decision to flee the police potentially raises the penalty from a speeding ticket to a murder charge.

Reference a recent case from last week in Elizabethton in which a 26-year-old man was tagged driving 56 in a 25 MPH zone. When the officer activated his emergency lights, instead of stopping the man put the pedal to the metal. The man was successful in evading the police but upon further investigation the police found the vehicle parked behind a residence. The driver was inside and admitted that he was driving the vehicle.

Unfortunately, the local media reports failed to determine why this guy fled instead of submitting to the stop. Had he been drinking? Was he using drugs? Was he driving on an expired or suspended drivers license? Facts like these are important in cases like this and without them we simply don’t have the complete story.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a police chase you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys a Phillip Miller & Associates and have a thorough case review to determine your rights.

Drugged Driving Kills

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) is one of the nation’s preeminent independent, nonprofit organizations focusing on individual and social problems associated with the use of alcohol and other drugs. PIRE is dedicated to merging scientific knowledge and proven practice to create solutions that improve the health, safety, and well-being of individuals, communities, nations and the world.

In a recent study focusing on drug use in fatal car accidents, the Institute found several interesting things I’d like to share with you. Although all states report drivers’ blood alcohol levels (BACs), only about 20 test for drugs. The study included fatally injured drivers involved in single-vehicle crashes killed in states in which more than 79% of the drivers in the file were tested for drugs and had a known result.

Although it’s not clear whether the drugs were to blame for the crashes, the proportion of drugs found in fatally injured drivers almost doubles that found ina similar study on 2007.

Interestingly, significant interactions between drugs and alcohol were observed, suggesting that the contribution of some drug to crash risk varies depending on the driver’s BAC. Furthermore, whatever the effects of different drugs, alcohol still appears to be the biggest roadway hazard. More than drugs, alcohol seems to be the largest contributor to fatal crashes.

The complexities involving drugged driving affects lawmaking, according to the researchers. With alcohol, drivers’ blood levels can be easily tested, and because studies have found that levels above a certain limit—.08%—impair driving, that blood alcohol concentration is the legal limit in all U.S. states.

With other drugs, however, there are no agreed-upon levels that impair driving, and testing drivers is not straightforward. For one, certain drugs can linger in the body for days or weeks after they are used. Right now, states differ in how they tackle drugged driving. More than a dozen have drugged-driving “per se” laws. In most states, that means “zero tolerance” for any detectable amount of certain drugs in a drivers’ blood or urine.

The specific drugs that are prohibited vary by state. Last year, the White House announced that it would be encouraging more states to adopt drugged-driving per se laws. So it is important, say the authors of the study, for researchers to keep studying how various drugs might impair drivers.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident by a drugged driver, contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates 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.

A 20-year-old Kingsport Tennessee man is lucky to be alive today. He was driving on I-26 at a high rate of speed while “huffing” the gas from an air duster used to clean electronic devices. He apparently got so high we forgot he was driving a car and left the road, crashed through a perimeter fance across a side street and slammed into a guard rail.

Police investigators found a half-empty can of air duster and the driver admitted to driving while huffing. He is lucky to be alive and lucky he didn’t kill another motorist or pedestrian. He was released on citations for driving under the influence, unlawful inhaling and failure to maintain proper control.

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.

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 automobile accident caused by a drugged driver, contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates at 615-356-2000.

Dallas Oaks is a small town just outside of Chattanooga Tennessee and the new home of  my pick for the Tennessee driver who most deserves to be banned from driving. My advice to meth heads all over the state is that if you are going to be transporting meth making equipment by car, obey all of the rules of the road, especially the speed limit.

Deputies stopped the car for speeding and found a complete do-it-yourself meth laboratory in the car. They also found a loaded .45 cal. Pistol and a set of brass knuckles. Were these guys on the ball, or what?

Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive and illegal stimulant known on the street as “Meth,” “Speed,” “Crank,” “Chalk,” “Fire,” “Glass,” “Ice,” “Tweak,” “Uppers,” “Yaba” and other names. Whatever it’s called, none of the names tell you what it really does.

Meth is different. People who use it can get hooked after just their first try, and once a person is addicted it’s extremely difficult to get off the drug. The ingredients used to make meth include toxic chemicals that do permanent injury to the body. Meth doesn’t just affect the user, it also impacts the user’s family and society as a whole.

This is one drug capable of destroying lives, families and communities. We’re talking about lasting destruction, including irreversible and serious damage to the body, parents in jail and kids in foster homes, and serious environmental damage from toxic chemicals in communities where meth is made.

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.

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.

Stay At Home To Smoke Your Crack

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I think I tell you with some authority that it is never a good idea to smoke a couple of rocks of crack and engage in a fist fight with another person while you are driving a car. Something bad is likely to happen. That’s exactly what happened to a Nashville man yesterday and the result was that he rammed, at high speed, into a building in an apartment complex. Luckily no one died.

A resident of the apartment was sitting in a lawn chair outside when he saw the car speeding toward him, at the last minute he had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit. His apartment didn’t fair as well.

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.

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.

Some states (Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin), have passed “per se” laws—in which it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle if there is any detectable level of a prohibited drug, or its metabolites, in the driver’s blood. Other state laws define “drugged driving” as driving when a drug “renders the driver incapable of driving safely” or “causes the driver to be impaired.”

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.

Who Bears Responsiblity?

An interesting, but frightening story that ended in the death of a young mother caught my attention the other day. The victim and her 6-year-old daughter set out on a road trip as a passenger in the vehicle driven by her stepmother. Shortly before the trip began the victim sent a text message to her sister in which she stated that she really didn’t want to go because her stepmother had taken too many pills and she was frightened. The message ended with the request to pray that they arrived alive.

Unfortunately the woman decided to go despite having knowledge of the pills. Two hours later, as they drove along I-75 the stepmother suddenly swerved, left the road and crashed. The stepmother claim that a white car had driven in her lane and caused the accident but witnesses claim they saw no white car and that the vehicle simply veered from the roadway. The woman died at the scene and the child was air lifted to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga.

Police at the scene found the stepmother to be coherent and didn’t take a blood sample but since they received the contents of the text they have re-opened the investigation.

Whenever an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney looks at a case one of the first things that we do is try to determine who or what casued the accident. In this case it seems clear that the driver was under the influence of drugs and that the white car excuse was either a hallucination or a fictional excuse to avoid liability.

But, what about the responsibility of the victim? She knew that the driver had taken pills and was obviously aware that they would alter her reality and put her an her daughter in jeopardy. She had a clear chance to stay home but chose to get into the vehicle anyway having clear knowledge of the danger. In Tennessee a jury would be asked to consider the comparative negligence of the actors, who was more responsible for her death, the driver who took the pills or the woman who knowingly got into the vehicle with a driver under the influence?

It’s cases like this one that make it clear why you need to consult with an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney like those you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates.

Drugged Driver

A recent incident in Lexington Kentucky caught my eye because, as an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer I can tell you that, it illustrates the same problem that exists here in Nashville. The problem is drugged driving. A woman in an SUV accompanied by her two children was so out of it that she drove her vehicle through the wall of a department store. Toxicology tests are pending but officers say enough evidence to place her under arrest for DUI, wanton endangerment and criminal mischief.

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.

Some states (Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin), have passed “per se” laws—in which it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle if there is any detectable level of a prohibited drug, or its metabolites, in the driver’s blood. Other state laws define “drugged driving” as driving when a drug “renders the driver incapable of driving safely” or “causes the driver to be impaired.”

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.