Yield To Emergency Vehicles

Being a traffic patrol officer in Nashville is dangerous enough but when you add heavy rain and limited visibility the danger quotient goes off the charts. As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I have all the respect in the world for the men and women of the Metro PD and the Tennessee Highway Patrol who put their lives on the line daily to make the roadways safe for you and I.

Reference an article on the website of the Nashville Tennessean reporting on an accident in which a Traffic patrol officer 42, year-old, Frank Campbell, an 18-year veteran of the MPD. According to the article Officer Campbell stopped to assist two drivers whose vehicles had slid off a rain-slick entry ramp from I-440 to I-40.

It appears that Officer Campbell was sitting in his patrol car when a pickup truck driven by an Ashland City man went out of control and slammed into officer Campbell’s patrol car. Neither Officer Campbell nor the pickup truck driver was seriously injured. Police believe that the pickup driver was traveling too fast for the conditions.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I regularly remind people that even if they are driving within the posted speed limits they must also take into account the roadway conditions to determine their speed at any given time. Wet pavement can be just as treacherous as snow and ice. When driving under such conditions you must slow down, dirt and oil accumulations make the roadway slippery. Another problem one faces in rainy conditions is hydroplaning. Water accumulates or pools on the road and your tires can lose contact leaving you to become a physics problem.

Tennessee law requires that motorists coming on to an emergency vehicle along a highway immediately reduce their speed and yield the lane closest to the emergency vehicle. If possible the driver must yield the right-of–way by making a lane change into a lane that is not adjacent to the emergency vehicle.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident by a driver who was going too fast for the conditions you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile crash lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates to learn about your rights and remedies.

Teen Collisions

He was 16 and had no license or insurance but that didn’t stop the young man from getting behind the wheel of his 1993 Dodge Voyager and taking to the streets of Church Hill Tennessee. According to an article on the website of the Johnson City Press he made a turn directly into the path of a car driven by Janet W. Christian, 69, and her passengers Thomas Christian, 69 and Annie Salyer, 53, who were driving to morning service at the at the First Baptist Church. They were transported to a local hospital with injuries related to the airbag deployment. My heart goes out to these victims of a crime that should not have happened.

The young man was uninjured and was cited for driving without a license, failure to provide proof of insurance and failure to yield. His guardian told police that the boy had taken the car without permission. This young man was very lucky he wasn’t a fatality statistic.

According to The Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group. In 2005, twelve teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash. In 2005, the motor vehicle death rate for male drivers and passengers ages 16 to 19 was more than one and a half times that of their female counterparts.

In the United States during 2005, 4,544 teens ages 16 to 19 died of injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes. In the same year, nearly 400,000 motor vehicle occupants in this age group sustained nonfatal injuries that required treatment in an emergency department.

Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population. However, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.

These situations create a serious problem for victims. The offending driver has no insurance and they have to rely on their own policy to compensate them for their medcial and hospital expenses as well as any permanent injuries they might have sustained. This kind of case calls for an experienced automobile accident attorney to explore the possibility of an action against the Guardian for failing in his/her responsibility to prevent the child from gaining access to the vehicle.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident involving a teenager contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

Distracted Driving Is Deadly

Earlier this Fall I blogged a warning to remind you all to pay particular attention to  school buses and children since school was back in session. Knoxville TV station WBIR reported earlier this week on a collision involving a school bus and a car. Citing a Tennessee Highway Patrol Accident Report the news item said that a West Greene County bus carrying 20 students from the Technology Center was driving along Highway 11E when a car driven Jennifer Baker, 21 pulled out from a convenience store parking lot into the path of the oncoming bus.

According to the article one student was transported to the hospital with minor injuries and others complained of back and neck injuries. The car was totaled and the school bus was heavily damaged. Troopers cited Ms. Baker for failure to yield. The school Transportation Director did say that the bus driver, Helen Fincher, did a great job handling the bus during the collision and her skill kept the bus from turning over. Our hats are off to Ms. Fincher and we here at Phillip Miller & Associates are grateful that no student was seriously injured.

According to The Tennessee Rules of the Road, drivers entering a roadway from a private parking lot must the yield the right of way to oncoming vehicles. My first thought when I read about this car/school bus collision was how could the driver of the vehicle entering the roadway from the convenience store parking lot not see a giant yellow bus approaching. My next thought was that either she wasn’t looking because she was not paying attention or she was distracted by something such as a cell phone or radio/CD player/iPod.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the primary responsibility of the driver is to operate a motor vehicle in a safe manner. The task of driving requires full attention and focus. Cell phone use can distract drivers from this task, risking harm to themselves and others. Therefore, the safest course of action is to refrain from using a cell phone while driving. Research shows that driving while using a cell phone can pose a serious cognitive distraction and degrade driver performance. GHSA (Governor’s Highway Safety Association) Chairman Vernon F. Betkey, Jr., says “Education plays a key role in minimizing driver distraction, particularly with teen drivers, who constantly use cell phones and other electronic devices.”

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville school bus car accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Bicyclist Killed

Tony Barnes, 38, of Memphis should not even have been driving his 1997 Chevy Tahoe Monday. Mr. Barnes, you see, had had his driver’s license taken away because he couldn’t seem to follow the rules. This wasn’t the first time the state of Tennessee revoked his license. According to The Commercial-Appeal his arrest history includes several convictions for driving with a revoked license, most recently in July 2008.  Mr. Barnes took a chance and another man lost his life because of it. Mr. Barnes now faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, driving on a suspended license and after the District Attorney General goes to the Grand Jury he will face some sort of homicide charge.

Shortly after mid-night Mr. Barnes hit and killed an as of yet unidentified bicyclist and left him in the street to die. Barnes was booked into the Shelby County Jail on Monday evening. Maybe this arrest will help this man get the idea, that when the state revokes your license for drinking and driving and other vehicle violations that they mean it. He just wasn’t going to do what he was told and now someone has lost a father, a son, a husband and a loved one. This is the kind of driver that needs to be kept off the streets forever.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident by an unlicensed driver contact one of our experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates

and learn about your rights and remedies.

Child Safety Seats Work

The Kingsport Times-News reported that a fast moving sedan slammed into the rear end of a parked van containing five small children and three adults. Miraculously none of the children were hurt, but the van’s driver and two other passengers were transported to the hospital. The sedan driver was uninjured but was cited failure to yield and failure to have automobile insurance.

The report went on to say that, “Rescue workers severed the middle post connected to the passenger door panel while getting one hurt passenger out of the van. The authorities did not release the names of any of the victims. According to the reporter, the children were crying and as they were being ushered to the side of the road, one little girl yelled, “I love you, Daddy” while one passenger was placed on a stretcher.

The staff here at Phillip Miller & Associates sends our deepest condolences to the family along with our great relief that none of the children were injured. It appears that the thoughtful parents had these kids safely secured in their car seats.

Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes, according to a landmark research report released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). 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.

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I look at this situation and ask myself why it is that a fast moving car rams into the rear-end of a van parked along a city street at 9:30 in the morning. It’s improbable that the car driver intended to ram the van so there must have been either a medical emergency or another type of distraction that caused the driver to take his eyes off the road. In that the driver was ticketed at the scene and not taken for medical treatment, nor was he arrested for driving under the influence it appears that the investigating authorities will focus on what distracted the driver. A good starting point is to examine the driver’s cell phone and determine whether he was making or taking a call. I will follow this accident and let you know what the investigators find out.

If you or a loved one is injured by a distracted motorist contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates immediately to find out about your rights and remedies.

Back on July 27, I reported the case of a guy speeding through rush hour traffic I Chattanooga, clipping the rear of a Tractor-Trailer and crashing, causing the death of his passenger and friend of many years. Well, the bad news keeps coming for this guy. The Chattanooga Times reported that yesterday that the 21 year-old faces major felony charges. Grand Jurors are now weighing his fate.

Traffic was moving at 10 to 15 mph during the drive time rush hour. Witnesses told police that the driver entered I-24 from I-75 and was traveling approximately 70 mph faster than the traffic. To top it off he had previously had his license suspended and was driving his brothers car which was uninsured.

The original charge of vehicular homicide with reckless may be raised to a more serious charge when the Grand Jury hears that he was familiar with the intersection and that he had driving that route everyday at the same time and that he was going 70 knowing that the posted speed limit was 55.

This guy just didn’t seem to get it. Driving is not a right but rather, it is a privilege, and when the State revoked his driver’s license it wasn’t suggesting that he not drive on Tennessee highways. The bright side of this situation is that there were not other deaths. As an experienced Nashville car accident lawyer I’m still amazed at how stupid some people can be when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident we urge you to contact our car accident attorneys today for a free consultation. When you hire an auto accident attorney from Phillip Miller & Associates, you’re getting a qualified and dedicated lawyer.