Emotional Scars Follow Negligence

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney, I learned early on that the people who are seriously physically injured in a car crash caused by a negligent decision or action are not the only ones who suffer. The person who drove in a negligent manner many times suffers emotional scaring for the rest of their days. Negligent acts that cause the death of another human being are irrevocable.

Take for example a fatal accident in East Tennessee yesterday. A 51 year-old woman, a survivor of cancer was riding passenger with her 18-year-old son driving. They were on their way to pick up a niece who was ending a shift at work. As they approached the place of work the son turned to enter the parking lot and directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The car t-boned the turning vehicle killing the woman. Neither of the other two parties were injured. What was the driver doing or thinking that so distracted him that he failed to yield the right of way? I’m sure he will be asking himself that question for a long time, I do hope he finds some peace. My prayers go out to the family and friends of this victim and especially to the son who was driving the vehicle.

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.

Tennessee Intersection Collision

WRBC TV in Chattanooga Tennessee reports on a tragic but very preventable automobile motorcycle accident just across the Tennessee line in Georgia. The victims, an adult driver and a 7-year-old passenger who was hospitalized and is expected to recover. The pickup was stopped at an intersection and for some unknown reason, he was probably distracted, pulled out into the path of the oncoming motorcycle. The distracted pickup driver was driving without a license.

More crashes happen at intersections than at any other place. Intersections constitute a very small part of rural and urban street/highway systems, yet they are implicated in 31.9 percent of all motor vehicle crashes and 15.5 percent of all fatal crashes (2004 NHTSA data). Be very careful when approaching any intersection or driveway. Never assume another driver will yield the right-of-way to you. Always be prepared to stop.

Approaching intersections safely. To do the Tennessee Rules of the Road suggest that you employ a concept called “Traffic Checks”, which is the process of looking frequently and carefully for vehicle traffic approaching from each direction. “Traffic Checks” is especially important when merging or changing lanes AND when approaching and crossing intersections. Below are five things to remember to navigate an intersection safely:

Preventing injuries and deaths at intersections should be a high priority for towns and cities. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that in 2005 alone, nearly 9,200 people died and approximately one million people were injured in intersection-related crashes which account for approximately 40-45 percent of all crashes.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee intersection collision contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates. The best law firms will provide a free consultation. We provide a free, confidential consultation to not at fault persons named in this article. The free consultation offer extends to family members as well.

As an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer when a driver pulls out into the path of an oncoming ambulance, lights flashing, sirens engaged, you have to ask yourself, what in the world was the driver doing that so distracted them from the task at hand. In Tennessee you must yield the right-of-way to a police vehicle, fire engine, ambulance or other emergency vehicle using a siren, air horn or a red or blue flashing light.

Reference a Rutherford County Tennessee accident in which the car driver did exactly that. I suspect that when investigators look carefully at the cell phone and texting records of this grossly negligent driver they are going to find that this driver was engrossed in the electronic world and absent without leave from the world of the highways and byways of Tennessee. The ambulance rolled over and four people were taken to the hospital. Luckily no one was seriously injured.

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.  Primary causes of driver inattention are distracting activities, such as cell phone use, and drowsiness.

Distracted

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.

Tennessee Child Fatality Accident

As an experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyer I regularly write about child safety. The main topics are usually safety seats and school zone safety. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14. Every day during 2007 in the United States an average of five children age 14 and younger were killed and another 548 injured in such accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which studies all manner of highway safety issues says that using child safety seats reduces the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats also reduces serious injuries by more than half.

Reference an accident reported in numerous local East Tennessee media outlets about the tragic death of a four-month-old infant. The little baby was properly restrained as her mother attempted to turn left into across traffic into a business and was t-boned by an oncoming vehicle. My prayers go out to the family and friends of this child.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee highway automobile accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident law firm of Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to determine your rights and remedies.

Motorcycle Fatality

As an experienced Tennessee motorcycle accident attorney I am concerned that while all other types of fatal crashes involving cars, trucks and pedestrians are on the decrease, motorcycle fatalities continue to rise. What lies at the cause of this phenomenon? Several things come to mind.

First of all manufacturers continue to make motorcycles bigger and faster. Sometimes known as “crotch rockets” these high-powered bikes require more skill and unfortunately anybody with the money or credit can buy one and without any specialized training, take to the highway.

Reference a motorcycle fatality that occurred in Kentucky yesterday. A man was driving a motorcycle along a two lane highway when a pickup truck failed to yield and tried to make a left turn in front of him. State police say the motorcycle driver  tried to stop, but the motorcycle started to slide, spilling him and his passenger, a young girl to the roadway. The girl was injured and the driver was killed.

In 2007, 5,154 motorcyclists were killed, an increase of 7 percent over the 4,837 motorcyclists killed in 2006. There were 103,000 motorcyclists injured during 2007.

In 2007, 2,641 (50%) of all motorcycles involved in fatal crashes collided with another type of motor vehicle in transport. In two-vehicle crashes, 78 percent of the motorcycles involved were struck in the front. Only 5 percent were struck in the rear.

As is the case here, motorcycles are more likely to be involved in a fatal collision with a fixed object than are other vehicles. In 2007, 25 percent of the motorcycles involved in fatal crashes collided with fixed objects, compared to 18 percent for passenger cars, 13 percent for light trucks, and 3 percent for large trucks.

Motorcycles made up nearly 3 percent of all registered vehicles in the United States in 2006 and accounted for only 0.4 percent of all vehicle miles traveled. Per vehicle mile traveled in 2006, motorcyclists were about 35 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traffic crash and 8 times more likely to be injured.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a careless motorcycle rider, contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Failur To Yield

According to the Tennessee Rules of the Road when a vehicle is turning across oncoming traffic that driver must yield to oncoming traffic before turning.   Reference a recent traffic accident in Sullivan County Tennessee in which a local judge was attempting to make a left turn into a Burger Chef restaurant. He didn’t see an oncoming which T-boned him causing his vehicle to overturn. The judge was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries and was ticketed for failure to yield the right of way.

Before a driver turns across traffic it is his/her duty to make sure that the coast is clear. Investigators here will have to determine why the Judge failed to see the oncoming car. Was he distracted by something? Was he using his cell phone as he turned?

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.

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.