Tractor-Trailer Fatality

According to local media reports, a Tennessee State Trooper suggested that had the tractor-trailer truck driver been wearing his seat belt he might not have died in a serious roadway departure crash. The media report said that the 61-year-old truck driver lost control of his rig hit both sides of a bridge before leaving the road and crashing into an embankment.

The crash occurred on Dixie Highway (U.S. Highway 25E) near the intersection with Bullen Valley Road, and the truck ended up on an embankment alongside the Clinch River. We will probably never know what caused the driver to lose control. If he had a medical emergency an autopsy might help, if he was distracted by a cell phone or other electronic device a review of his phone log might be helpful, tire marks on the highway and witness statements might show if he was speeding.

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I find it hard to believe that people still get into an automobile and fail to secure their safety seat belts. I mean this isn’t rocket science and it’s not like they don’t know that it’s a deadly mistake.

Tennessee law requires the use of seat belts. An overwhelming number of studies show that seat belts, when used correctly, save lives. In 2009, 388 people in passenger vehicles died in motor vehicle crashes in Tennessee between the nighttime hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly two-thirds (64%) of those killed in traffic crashes at night nationwide were not wearing their seat belts, compared to less than half (45%) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed during the daytime hours of 6 a.m. to 5:59 p.m.

According to NHTSA, when worn correctly, seat belts have been proven to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent, and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee motor vehicle accident contact the experienced Nashville tractor-trailer  accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and learn about your rights and remedies.

A Culleoka, Tennessee woman must be thankful to be alive after surviving a rollover traffic accident in Maury County. The woman lost control of her car after she swerved to avoid a roll of wire that had fallen off of a truck and landed in the middle of the road. After leaving the roadway she ended on the top of her car and emergency responders found her hanging upside down in her seatbelt.

Had she not been wearing her seatbelt the outcome may have been very different.  Special regards to the brave men and women of the Maury County Fire and Rescue Team for their quick action that saved her and her dog.

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

Watch For Road Obstructions

to discuss the details of your case. Call (615) 356-2000.

Texting Teen drivers

There are steps parents and others can take to drive down the dreadful rate of teen traffic injuries and fatalities. Overall an estimated 6,000 people are killed and 500,000 people are injured annually because someone was texting, e-mailing or talking on a mobile phone while driving and this problem is bigger for teens than for adults.

First, kids text more. Texting is the teenagers preferred mode of communication. According to a recent survey conducted by LG Mobile phones, while half of all teens admit to texting while driving, only 4 percent of parents are aware of this.

Secondly, teens are novices when it comes to driving. They especially need to focus on the road to compensate for any lack of driving skill or experience.

Third, teens can easily be prone to distraction. If a teen is caught up in a dramatic or tense texting conversation, it could be too enticing to focus on the phone instead of the road, and it only takes a second or two and they are off of the road and on their was to the hospital or morgue.

The U.S. government’s official website on distracted driving, www.distraction.gov, cites multiple statistics on the dangers of this careless behavior:

• Using a mobile phone while driving, whether it’s handheld or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.

• Driving while using a mobile phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.

• Drivers who use handheld devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves as those who don’t.

• An estimated 11 percent of drivers are talking on cell phones while driving at any point during the day.

As parent’s, educators, and highway safety experts, we need to impress upon teens the need to not text or talk on the phone while driving. The very best way to do this is for you to avoid these activities while you drive

Educate your teens as to the seriousness of the situation and let them know that it is important to have a plan in order to avoid temptation. For example, have them always keep their cell phone off while driving or in the backseat out of reach to avoid distraction completely.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a serious Tennessee auto accident caused by a texting teen driver stop by or call the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find about your cause of action.

Share the Interstate

Construction zones can present a driver with a challenge. The zones are usually well marked in advance and require vehicles to start reducing speed in preparation for the upcoming area on the road where the construction equipment and workers are located.

This weekend I drove from Nashville to St. Louis for some business and was amazed at how many drivers ignore the signs warning drivers to slow down for a construction zone and instead of following the slow-down suggestions they use the opportunity to speed up and get ahead of the people in front of them. This dangerous behavior in turn brings out bad behavior in others who don’t want the cheaters to get ahead of them. Some of those people who are slowing down and forming one lane as directed begin to attempt to block and retaliate against the speeders by refusing to allow them to merge.

The other danger I noticed was the tailgating by some on those who reduce their speed as directed. When you reduce your speed from 70 mph to 55 mph you should, according to the Tennessee Rules Of The Road, keep one car length for every ten miles per hour you are traveling, not so in these Interstate construction zones. What happens is that the danger of a rear-end collision is magnified. Driver one is worried about the driver 2 right on his tail and is paying more attention to the tailgater then he is to the driver in front of him.

The Tennessee Department of Safety suggests the following:

* Slow down! Drive within the posted speed limits, which are usually reduced in work zones. If you don’t, you’ll pay the price.

* Don’t tailgate! Most work zone accidents are caused by rear-end collisions.

* Eliminate distractions! Put down the cell phone; leave the radio dial alone. This is not the time to look for a new CD!

* Keep your ears open! Do not wear earphones while driving.

* Merge early! You can be ticketed and the cause of an accident for being a last chance merger.

* Watch for flaggers! Follow their signals, and don’t change lanes within the work zone unless instructed to do so.

* Expect the unexpected! Work zones change constantly.

* Turn your lights on before you enter the zone! Turn on your vehicle’s headlights to become more visible to workers and other motorists.

* Stay calm! Remember the work zone crew members are working to improve your future ride.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee construction zone accident it’s important that you secure the services of an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney like those that you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Time is of the essence in these cases so contact us immediately at 615-356-2000

Fatal Roadway Departure Crash

A one-car crash in Hardin County, Tennessee ended with the death of the 39-year old driver and his 20-year-old passenger. According to local media and police reports the vehicle left the road when it failed to negotiate a turn. Under normal circumstances highways are designed to allow vehicles going the posted speed limit to safely negotiate turns.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney my thoughts go to two possible causes for this tragedy. Either the driver was speeding or he was somehow distracted and took his eyes off the road.

Accident investigators have methods of determining the speed of a vehicle that includes tire marks on the roadway and the shoulder, as well as distances the vehicle traveled. Determining distractions might be a bit harder to determine.

The lesson to be learned from this tragic event is that Tennessee drivers must obey speed limits and do whatever possible to avoid distractions. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a negligent driver, contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and learn about your rights and remedies.

Teach Your Children Well

I’ve written often about a parent’s responsibility to teach their teens about highway safety. A recent article on the web site of WBIR TV in Knoxville highlighted and interesting concept that is taking wings across the country.

The process is called ‘Commentary Driving”. You should start this process when the child first starts showing an interest in driving, about the age of 13 or 14. Here’s how it works: As you drive with you teen in the car you actually do a play-by-play like you would hear from a football game on the TV.

Comment on what you see as a driver. Look for things you see as the driver that might make you change direction or speed. Turn off the radio and cell phone off so that you have no distractions.

The article points out that a driver has to deal with 200 events per mile of city driving and from those events has to make 100 decisions during that same distance. It is suggested that you keep up this dialogue for five minutes or so and then let the child comment on what he/she sees.

Once the child is old enough for driving lessons have them comment from behind the wheel. So, what do we learn by using this process? We learn that driving a car on a public street is a serious and dangerous business and that the person behind the wheel cannot take chances or become distracted.

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

Don't Get Too Busy

I have been sitting on this story for a couple of days now and I can’t seem to get a handle on it. A woman was parked outside a South Nashville Laundromat waiting for her boyfriend to empty a couple of dryers. Apparently he was not progressing fast enough so she decided to help him. Trouble was, she had four children in the car, which she left running while she went inside.

You guessed it, a running car just sitting there, no adult in sight, and a guy comes along and sees a great opportunity to snag a new SUV, maybe make some money, or maybe he was just tired of walking. Did I mention she left her purse opened on the front seat? He quickly forced the two older kids out of the car and then he took off with two babies, a 3-year-old and an eleven-month-old in car seats.

Luckily for everyone involved, except the car thief, a stranger saw they event go down and followed the vehicle and found it three miles from the Laundromat. The kids were safe, her money from the purse was missing and the whole thing had a happy ending.

The lesson here is simple, always think of your children’s safety first. Leaving your children alone in a running vehicle can have all sorts of bad outcomes and car theft is not the worst of them. Over the several decades that I have been a personal injury lawyer I have seen cases where one of the older children got behind the wheel, changed gears and the vehicle lurched forward into an intersection where it was t-boned and the two children were killed.

If you or someone you love has been hurt in a serious Tennessee car accident due to somebody else’s negligence, then you may be feeling angry, frightened, or even alone in your suffering.

There is no reason for you to bear your burden alone.  The experience of a Tennessee auto accident is traumatic enough and your recovery will bring its own challenges.  You don’t need the added stress of worrying about who will pay for the medical care you need, how your car will be repaired, and if the individuals responsible for your suffering will be brought to justice.  This is the time to call Phillip Miller & Associates, the law firm of local Tennessee attorneys and staff who for the past 25 years have dedicated their lives to protecting the rights of injured men, women, and children in Tennessee.

Another Distracted Driver Fatality

There was a fatal one-car crash in Shelby County Tennessee that left a 27-year-old mother dead and her 6-year-old son seriously injured. As an experienced Tennessee auto accident attorney, I see this set of facts all too often. She was driving down the road and suddenly veered to the right, left the road and hit something solid and died.

Both parties were wearing their seatbelts and police believe that speed was a factor in the crash. I’m going on the simple facts of the article but I believe that there was another cause and that it was driver distraction. All too often parents driving with children in the car take their eyes and their attention off the road to deal with the child in the backseat. The distraction only needs to be for one second and at high speed it’s all over.

The lesson here is that we all need to respect the posted speed limits, the posted limits are not simply suggestions, and we need to avoid any type of distracting activity that requires us to refocus our attention  to the task at hand.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a negligent driver contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates, you will be glad you did.

Avoid Distractions

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I am always stunned when I read of an accident in which a vehicle rams into the rear-end of a highway maintenance truck operating with it’s emergency flashers on such as one that occurred yesterday on I-65 at Wedgewood Ave. According to the iten on the web site of WMCTV News Channel 5, an ambulance traveling with a non-emergency patient on I-65 ran into the rear-end of a TDOT truck painting lines on the highway.The ambulance driver and the patient, 78-year old patient Sue Bly died and the attending paramedic was seriously injured.

My question, and I’m sure one that is going to be asked by the attorney for the estate of Ms. Bly is, what was going on with the driver that caused him to change lanes and ram into this other vehicle. Investigators will be looking into whether the driver had some medical emergency that caused him to lose control of the ambulance, or whether he was somehow distracted by something like a cell phone or radio, or other on-board electronic device or whether he was texting at the time and had diverted his eyes form the road.

High-profile crashes and tremendous media coverage have dramatically increased the interest in distracted driving, particularly crashes involving cell phone use and texting. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) recognizes that all cell phone use and texting while driving are extremely dangerous and, therefore, strongly discourages anyone from using a cell phone for any purpose while driving. Drivers need to focus on the driving task and restore some common sense to driving.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation suggests the following guidelines when you enter a construction zone:

* Slow down! Drive within the posted speed limits, which are usually reduced in work zones. If you don’t, you’ll pay the price.

* Don’t tailgate! Most work zone accidents are caused by rear-end collisions.

* Eliminate distractions! Put down the cell phone; leave the radio dial alone. This is not the time to look for a new CD!

* Keep your ears open! Do not wear earphones while driving.

*Merge early! You can be ticketed and the cause of an accident for being a last chance merger.

* Watch for flaggers! Follow their signals, and don’t change lanes within the work zone unless instructed to do so.

* Expect the unexpected! Work zones change constantly.

* Turn your lights on before you enter the zone! Turn on your vehicle’s headlights to become more visible to workers and other motorists.

* Stay calm! Remember the work zone crew members are working to improve your future ride.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville car accident by a distracted driver or by a driver acting negligently in a highway construction zone contact the experienced Nashville autobobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Practice Construction Zone Safety

Construction zones can present a driver with a challenge. The zones are usually well marked in advance and require vehicles to start reducing speed in preparation for the upcoming area on the road where the construction equipment and workers are located. This weekend I drove from Nashville to St. Louis for some business this week and was amazed at how many drivers ignore the warnings and instead of following the slow-down suggestions use the opportunity to speed up and get ahead of the people in front of them. This dangerous behavior in turn brings out bad behavior in others. Some of those people who are slowing down and forming one lane as directed begin to attempt to block and retaliate against the speeders by refusing to allow them to merge.

The other danger I noticed was the tailgating by some on those who reduce their speed as directed. When you reduce your speed from 70 mph to 55 mph you should, according to the Tennessee Rules Of The Road, keep one car length for every ten miles per hour you are traveling, not so in these Interstate construction zones. What happens is that the danger of a rear-end collision is magnified. Driver one is worried about the driver 2 right on his tail and is paying more attention to the tailgater then he is to the driver in front of him.

The Dyersburg State Gazette reported on an incident that occurred this past Friday at a construction site up in Dyer County. Traffic began stopping for a construction site and a tractor-trailer was following another too closely and ran into the rear-end of the first one spilling it’s cargo of corn across the highway.

The Tennessee Department of Safety suggests the following:

* Slow down! Drive within the posted speed limits, which are usually reduced in work zones. If you don’t, you’ll pay the price.

* Don’t tailgate! Most work zone accidents are caused by rear-end collisions.

* Eliminate distractions! Put down the cell phone; leave the radio dial alone. This is not the time to look for a new CD!

* Keep your ears open! Do not wear earphones while driving.

* Merge early! You can be ticketed and the cause of an accident for being a last chance merger.

* Watch for flaggers! Follow their signals, and don’t change lanes within the work zone unless instructed to do so.

* Expect the unexpected! Work zones change constantly.

* Turn your lights on before you enter the zone! Turn on your vehicle’s headlights to become more visible to workers and other motorists.

* Stay calm! Remember the work zone crew members are working to improve your future ride.

On March 1, 2006, The Tennessee Department of Safety, in cooperation with the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office, implemented new, tougher driving penalties for teen drivers. This new rule is called Hayden’s Rule. A baby girl, Hayden Maples, was born February 18, 2003, after a teenage driver who had approximately 18 points on his driving record, hit Hayden’s mother head-on. The teenage driver had decided to pass another car on a double yellow line in a construction zone. Tragically, the driver died, and as a result of the accident, Hayden was born with a severe brain injury. Learn about the penalties for teenage drivers under Hayden’s Rule.

If you or a loved one is injured in a construction zone accident contact the experienced Nashville Accident and injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.