Speed Kills

A 22-year-old Nashville woman was killed in a Friday morning crash on Shutes Lane near Saundersville Road. The woman was a passenger in a car driven by a 22-year-old male from Old Hickory.

According to local media reports they were driving driving north on Shutes Lane when he lost control of the car at a curve in the road and collided with a 2007 Toyota Corolla, driven by 62-year-old Hendersonville woman. The woman died at the scene and the others sustained non-life threatening injuries. Alcohol and blood tests were ordered on the young man. I am familiar with that stretch of road and speed is always a factor on this narrow and winding country lane.

Speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. Th economic cost of speeding-related crashes is estimated to be in excess of 40.4 billion dollars per year. In 2007, speeding was a contributing factor in 31 percent of all fatal crashes, and 13,040 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes. The total economic cost of crashes was estimated at $230.6 billion in 2009.

The lesson of this incident for all Nashville drivers is obvious, respect the streets and the other drivers. Speeding is a dangerous game and can end in death for the speeder, the driver and passengers of the other vehicles and for innocent pedestrians. Fortunately no one else was involved in this accident.

If you or a loved is seriously injured or killed in a Tennessee motor vehicle accident by a speeding driver you ought to contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

Aggressive Driving Kills

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. Interstates usually have several lanes of traffic traveling in the same direction. On these roads, leave the extreme left lane for faster traffic. If you drive at an even speed, you will have less need to change lanes. Remember, lane-hopping any time is dangerous, annoys other drivers, increases the risk of a collision, often contributes to “road rage” and very seldom saves the driver any significant amount of travel time.

A witness to a fatal Nashville automobile accident on I-440 this past Wednesday told police, according to local media sources, that the 21-year-old man, driving a red Mustang, had been tailgating him for some distance before he sped up and changed lanes to get around him. Unfortunately for the man and others on the highway,  the traffic in the new lane had slowed and when the man tried to whip back into the other lane, he lost control of his vehicle, left the road and slammed into a tree.

The lesson to be learned for other Nashville drivers is that we must always be alert to the traffic ahead of us and drive accordingly. This unfortunate young man was in a hurry and he will never arrive at his destination. My prayers go out to the family and friends of this young man.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a speeding driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies at no charge.

Intersection Safety Saves Lives

If you ask most people to define an intersection they will tell you it’s a place where two or more roads or streets come together. In reality, it’s far more complicated than that. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration an intersection is a planned point of conflict in the roadway system. With different crossing and entering movements by both drivers and pedestrians, an intersection is one of the most complex traffic situations that motorists encounter.

Dangers are compounded when we add the element of speeding motorists who disregard traffic controls. Despite improved intersection design and more sophisticated applications of traffic engineering measures, the annual toll of human loss due to motor vehicle crashes has not substantially changed in more than 25 years. In 2008, there were 37,261 fatalities on our Nation’s roadways. Of these, 7,772 (20.8% of total fatalities) were intersection or intersection related.

The rules in Tennessee for intersections include issues such as the right-of-way, pedestrians, right turns, left turns and turn signals. Intersections include:

• Cross streets,

• Side streets,

• Driveways,

• Shopping center or parking lot entrances.

If you have read my blog in the past you know that I often refer to the concept of “traffic checks” which is the practice of looking frequently and carefully for vehicle traffic approaching from each direction. “Traffic checks” are especially important when merging or changing lanes and when approaching and crossing intersections. Below are five things to remember to navigate an intersection safely:

1. Look both ways as you near an intersection. Before you enter an intersection, continue checking traffic from both the left and right for approaching vehicles and/or crossing pedestrians. Look first to the left to make sure cross traffic is yielding the right-of-way. Then look for traffic from the right. If stopped, look both left and right just before you start moving. Look across the intersection before you start to move to make sure the path is clear through the intersection.

2. Watch your speed and be prepared to brake or stop unexpectedly at intersections if your traffic checks alert you to a possible hazard. You should slow down before reaching the intersection, drive at your slowest speed just before entering the intersection and gradually increase your speed as you cross the intersection.

3. You should be in the proper lane for the direction you intend to travel before you reach the intersection. Do not make last minute lane changes as you start through an intersection. Do not pass a vehicle in an intersection.

4. Do not move into an intersection and block it after the traffic lights have changed. This is not only common sense, but it’s also illegal to block an intersection after the light has changed.

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I often recommend to my clients and blog readers to make the effort to contact the Department of Safety and review the Rules of the Road. If you or a loved one is injured in an intersection automobile accident, call our experienced Nashville accident attorneys and find out about your rights and remedies.