Was He Following Too Closely?

It’s really hard to say what happened in a fatal 5-car collision on Lee Highway in Chattannooga, Tennessee yesterday. As usual, local media reports don’t go into the reasons that these things happen. One thing for sure, when something goes wrong on a busy 4-lane-highway, things can get very bad, very quick.

According to the media report it appears that the thing get started when a vehicle stopped to turn off of the highway. Either the car didn’t properly signal or the tractor-trailer following the car was too close or the driver was distracted. The tractor-trailer swerved to avoid rearending the turning car and then things went south.

A second car swerved to avoid the semi but hit it in the rear-end, lost control, crossed the centerline and slammed head-on into an oncoming car and that car was rear-ended by a fourth car. The driver of the car that was hit head-on died at the scene. The other drivers suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Investigators piecing these facts together have a hard job ahead. It is the responsibility of every driver to be prepared to stop and it appears that the tractor-trailer driver wasn’t. That a car would stop to turn off the highway is perfectly foreseeable and points out the need for a driver to avoid distractions while behind the wheel.

Drivers must know and understand the safe and proper braking procedures for vehicles. This includes the principles of allowing adequate following distances or “safety cushion around your vehicle and the laws of required stops (signs, signals, railroad crossings, school buses, etc.).

To share the road safely, stay a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you. Nationally, safety agencies and driver education programs have tried to define a safe following distance for drivers to maintain. This has ranged from a two to four second following distance. Use the following tips to determine if you are following too closely:

A. As the car ahead of you passes a stationary point on the road (a sign post, driveway, utility pole, etc.), count the seconds it takes you to reach the same spot. (In the illustration below, you are driving the red vehicle.)

B. Count to yourself “one-thousand and one, one thousand and two,” etc. You should NOT reach the same point on the road before you finish counting to at least “one-thousand-two.” If you do, you are following too closely.

C. Slow down slightly to increase the space between you and the other vehicle. Find another spot to check your new following distance. Repeat this exercise.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee tractor-trailer accident you owe it to your self to contact the experienced Board Certified civil trial lawyers like you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates and put them to work for you

Following Too Close

A 75-year-old West Virginia man has been identified as the victim in a fatal motorcycle crash on Interstate 81. The man was driving along the interstate when the vehicle in front of him slowed and his 1985 Harley Davidson struck the rear of the car.

There was another vehicle involved and it appears that this vehicle was following these two when the accident occurred and drove off of the highway into the median, kept control, reentered the highway, stopped momentarily and then left the scene. Police think the vehicle might have hit the deceased motorcycle rider and charges are pending for his/her arrest for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

There are number of issues involved here. The first, what was, or wasn’t the motorcyclist doing that kept him from seeing the vehicle in front of him slowing down. Following too closely is a major cause of accidents on all types of highways. Another question is, what distracted him?

If you or a loved one is injured or killed by a negligent driver in a Nashville Interstate highway accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

This past week there was serious motorcycle accident in Memphis, Tennessee involving a motorcycle and a tractor-trailer. A 61-year-old Bartlett, Tennessee man was following a tractor-trailer on I-40 in a construction zone when the truck slowed for traffic the motorcyclist, from what I can gleen from media reports, was following too close, was unable to brake in time, was thrown from his motorcycle, and collided with the rear-end of the trailer.

Tennessee law states: “The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway.”

When another driver makes a mistake, you need time to react. Give yourself this time by keeping a “space cushion” around your vehicle. This space cushion will give you room to brake and avoid hazards when needed. Good drivers keep this safe following distance or space cushion to have a better view of the road.

The more space you allow between your car and the car ahead, the more time you will have to see and react to traffic hazards or crashes down the road. Many drivers don’t see as well as they should because they follow too closely (tailgating). The vehicle ahead of them blocks their view of traffic and road conditions. Rear-end

This is serious business my friends, serious indeed. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee wreck caused by a driver following too close, you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Philip Miller & Associates

Maintain A Safe Distance

and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Stay Alert

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I can tell you there are two important rules you must observe while driving on an interstate highway. Don’t follow the vehicle in front of you too close and keep your eyes and your mind on the road and the vehicles around you. If you do this you are probably going to arrive alive.

A 37-year-old Centerville Tennessee woman didn’t observe these simple rules while driving along I-40 in Henderson County Tennessee, and did not notice that the tractor-trailer in front of her was slowing to a stop because of the slowing traffic in front of him.

The woman slammed into the rear of the Truck. We might never know just what was distracting her from looking out ahead, it might have been any number of things that make distracted driving the main cause of fatal accidents in Tennessee. Those distractions include, texting, talking on a cell phone, talking to passengers, drowsiness, the list is endless.

My prayers go out to the family and friends of this unfortunate woman, but the lesson for the rest of us is that when we are on the highways and byways of Tennessee that we avoid distractions and keep our eyes and our minds on the task at hand.

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

Beware of Truckers

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I can tell for certain that it is never a good idea to assume that just because the driver of a big-rig tractor-trailer drives tens of thousands of miles each year, that he or she is a safe and competent driver. When driving on the interstate in the presence of tractor-trailers there are several things you never want to do.

Never follow the big-rig too close. You do not want to be hidden in that space behind the trailer so that the driver doesn’t see you. When passing a truck always wait to make the pass until the vehicle in front of you has cleared the truck. Being in the wind tunnel alongside of the truck with nowhere to go isn’t a good place to be. I was taught, and I suggest to others, that they blink their headlights as they begin to make the pass on a tractor-trailer.

Reference a recent automobile tractor-trailer car crash this past week on I-65 just North of the Tennessee line, in which a Corvette was beginning to pass a tractor-trailer when the truck switched lanes and hit his car. Obviously, when a car is hit by a truck it is not going to end well for the car and driver, and that’s just what happened. The Corvette spun out, flipped over, and ended up landing on it’s tires.

The driver was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville and is in critical condition while the passenger was treated at a local hospital and released. If you or a loved is injured or killed in a wreck with a tractor-trailer you have to move fast to protect your rights. Trucking companies will have investigators at the scene, sometimes before the police investigators, and will coach the drivers and possibly remove or alter important evidence.

At Phillip Miller & Associates our goal is to assist a family through such a tragedy by removing the financial and legal issues from the sphere of the family’s attention so that they may focus on what is really important in terms of healing and coping.

Following Too Close

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer I can tell you one thing for certain, and that is that Interstate driving is different than you will experience on any other type of highway. Traffic on interstates usually moves more safely and efficiently because access is controlled. There are no stop signs, no railroad crossings and no traffic lights. Interstates usually have few steep hills or sharp curves to limit the view of the road ahead.

Limited access or controlled access means that drivers enter or leave the roadway only at entrances and exits, called interchanges, without ever crossing the path of other traffic. Interstates and divided highways have largely removed the chance of head-on collisions. Interstate driving requires good skills and habits so you can safely get where you are going. Safe use of the interstates demands a complete awareness of a higher speed type of driving and constant alertness by the driver.

A recent fatal accident on I-40 just East of Cookeville Tennessee makes my point that you have to be alert and must stay far enough behind the vehicle in front of you that you can stop in an emergency. The facts are simple, a man is driving his Harley-Davidson along the interstate and the car in front of him slowed quickly to avoid hitting a deer. The Harley was unable to respond appropriately and rammed into the rear of the car, killing the Harley rider.

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.