Drunk Driving

Although it may not seem like it today, a Nashville woman who crashed into the rear-end of a parked police car with it’s lights flashing might look back on this early morning event as a turning point in her life. Metro Police Captain Terrance Graves was sitting in his patrol vehicle with the blue lights flashing as he provided security at a construction zone on I-24.  The woman simply smashed into the patrol car injuring herself and Captain Graves.

At the scene police investigators charged the lady with reckless driving and said they suspected she was driving under the influence of alcohol. The police have requested blood-alcohol tests be conducted while she is hospitalized. As I said earlier It is my hope that this lady will use this incident to admit and address her drinking problem and seek a solution.

As my goal with this blog is to educate my readers in the hope that you all will practice safe driving and instill in your family and friends the need to do the same. Today I thought I would share some specific information about drunk driving compiled by Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD) using statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

On average a human being loses their life at the hands of a  drunk driver every 45 minutes. In 2008, an estimated 11,773 people died in drunk driving related crashes, a decline of 9.8 percent from the 13,041 drunk driving related fatalities of 2007. About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. Over 1.46 million drivers were arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is an arrest rate of 1 for every 139 licensed drivers in the United States. In 2001, more than half a million people were injured in crashes where police reported that alcohol was present an average of one person injured almost every minute.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville auto accident caused by a drunk driver you owe it to your family to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

Blind Driver Kills Pedestrian

Back in August 2009 in my blog “The Tennessee Auto Accident Attorney” I reported on an incident in Johnson City Tennessee in which a driver who was legally blind and receiving Social Security Disability for his blindness, was driving a pickup truck when he ran down and killed a pedestrian. As strange as it sounds, it’s true.

Yesterday, the 59-year-old man plead guilty to vehicular homicide  by recklessness and three counts of reckless endangerment. As the result of his plea he was sentenced to seven years in prison on the vehicular homicide and three years each for the reckless endangerment. He’s already served 25 months in jail and with credit for time spent he will served fifteen years on probation.

The facts showed that even after he killed the pedestrian he was stopped driving three more times, once when he drove himself to the police station to give a statement about the pedestrian fatality. This guy obviously doesn’t get it. I read several media reports about the sentencing and did not find in any of them a procription by the sentencing judge on this man driving in the future.

So why is it that one fatal crash in five (20%) involves a driver who is unlicensed or whose license is suspended, canceled, or revoked? Unlicensed drivers are almost five times more likely to be in a fatal crash than are validly licensed drivers.  Nationally two-thirds of drivers continue to drive while under suspension. I assume that if this guy is caught driving again his probation will be revoked and he will be sent back to jail for the remainder of his sentence. I just hope no one else has to die before he gets the picture.

On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 113 minutes and injured in a traffic crash every 8 minutes. There were 70,000 pedestrians injured in traffic crashes in 2007. Most pedestrian fatalities in 2007 occurred in urban areas (73%), at non-intersection locations (77%), in normal weather conditions (90%), and at night (67%).  More than two-thirds (70%) of the pedestrians killed in 2007 were males. In 2007, the male pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 population was 2.19  more than double the rate for females (0.91 per 100,000 population). In 2007, the male pedestrian injury rate per 100,000 population was 26, compared with 20 for females.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed by an unlicensed driver getting compensation might prove difficult without the help of aan experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer like those you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Come in for a free consultation so that you can make an informed decision on what action you will need to take to secure your remedy.

Get These Bad Drivers Off The Road

It seems that lately I’ve been blogging more about incidents involving people who need to be taken off of the road for the safety of the driving public. For the most part the people involved in these incidents have already had a number of  run-ins with the law leading to the suspension of their driving privileges. In a recent article in the Kingsport Times-News we are introduced to another of these driving menaces. Reference Anthony Lee Davis, 27, 126 N. Shepard Drive, Kingsport, who has previously had his drivers license suspended, and who, after deep thought and consideration, gets behind the wheel of a car with a loud muffler, a police magnet if you will, and ventures out for a ride to cool off after arguing with his wife, onto the streets of Kingport, Tennessee.

An event occurs, totally unforeseen by the deep thinking Mr. Davis, in which a police officer attempts to stop his vehicle because of the loud muffler. After further deep thinking Mr. Davis pitchs his cigarette out at the feet of the officer, rolls up his window and speeds away. The officer begins the pursuit of Davis’ vehicle but makes the decision to call off the chase on the basis of public safety when the fleeing vehicle reaches speeds in excess of 80 m.p.h.

Other local police agencies were on the lookout for Mr. Davis and within ten minutes the original officer gets word that the subject of his chase had wrecked his car outside the city limits. When questioned he admitted he fled the scene and pled the fact that he was upset with his wife as the reason he made the decision to put the lives of others in jeopardy. Kingsport Police filed an affidavit charging Davis with a violation of the muffler law, reckless endangerment,  reckless driving, felony evading arrest, and driving on a revoked license.

It’s people like Davis and the thousands of other Tennessee drivers like him who have lost their privileges to drive a motor vehicle because they make bad choices and who flaunt the law that our insurance rates in Tennessee are what they are. If you as an individual citizen want to get involved to keep people like this off the road there are two things we can do. The first thing is to learn the Tennessee Rules of The Road and obey them. If you are following the rules and stopping at red lights and driving the speed limit, local and state police officers are free to deal with the Mr. Davis’ of the world. The second thing that we can do is to talk to your neighbors about this problem and make sure your public officials, such as your local District Attorney General, feel anger over this kind of business and seek serious penalties and other remedies that will keep them from getting behind the wheel of a car.

If you are a loved one are injured in a Tennessee car accident by someone like Mr. Davis contact our experienced Nashville accident lawyers

and find out about your rights and remedies.

Report Dangerous Drivers

Yesterday I blogged about the differences between aggressive driving and what has become known in the popular media as “Road Rage” and how they manifest themselves in our daily lives as we travel the highways and byways of Tennessee. Throughout the country, the public’s concern over aggressive driving continues to grow. When the driving public hears about a road rage incident like one recently reported out of Bradley County, Tennessee, it’s hard not to be somewhat fearful. A North Carolina man and his wife are charged with two counts of attempted first degree murder after he fired his pistol at another car as they drove along the Interstate highway.

Some studies indicate the public is actually more fearful of aggressive drivers than it is of impaired drivers. Aggressive driving is truly dangerous and cannot be tolerated. Several states are considering legislation to deal specifically with the aggressive driving issue. In Tennessee aggressive driving is addressed in the Statutes as Reckless Driving. TN Code section 55-10-205) 55-10-205, describes reckless driving as; “Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property commits reckless driving.”

In addition to legislation, states, including Tennessee, are addressing aggressive driving in other ways, including:

*Increased enforcement, through programs which coordinate local and state agencies.

*Local citizens’ initiatives and coalitions that implement public information/education campaigns to improve driver courtesy.

*Technological advances, such as photo radar.

*State public information and education programs that focus on the dangers of aggressive driving, provide tips for safe driving, publicize upcoming enforcement programs or advertise tip lines for reporting aggressive driving behavior.

The public also plays a role in making roadways safer. A an experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer I strongly urge the public to report aggressive driving incidents to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. In Tennessee, motorists can easily report aggressive drivers, impaired drivers, or other unsafe highway incidents over their cellular telephone by dialing *847. If this is the case in your community, remind motorists that they should use their cellular phone safely and let a passenger make the call, use hands-free operation, or pull off the road when making the call. They should not be distracted from the task of driving.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident we urge you to contact our Tennessee 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. Details about our attorneys and staff can be found by viewing our website at www.seriousinjury.com where you can get to know the men and women who will be looking out for your best interest.