Tennessee Teen Driver

An 18-year-old high school senior died and another was critically injured in a single-car crash this past Wednesday night on Benford Road, in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The 18-year-old driver, was dead at the scene of the crash, and the 18-year-old passenger was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.

According to local media reports, the driver created a hill, lost control of the vehicle, ran off the roadway, through a field and slammed into a tree directly at the driver’s side door. The investigating Trooper said that speed was the cause and that the young men had not been wearing their seat belts the outcome might have been different.

Among experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), it is generally agreed that teen drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group.

Per mile, the crash rate for 16 year-old drivers is 10 times the rate for drivers between 30 and 59. The basic reasons behind this statistic are obvious, teen drivers have no experience with the myriad issues faced by drivers with experience, furthermore, they are immature and often takes risks, most often speeding, and are easily distracted which contribute to the increased death rate.

As a parent, you ultimately want your child to be well trained to tackle life’s challenges. Learning to drive is part of that training and it’s important that parents play an active role in the process. Talk to your teen early and often. Discuss the risks and responsibilities of driving with your child at a young age and keep talking to your teen before, during and after the licensing process. This discussion should have the same – or even higher priority level, as discussing sex and drugs.

If you or a loved is injured in a Nashville or Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver, contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Photo Courtesy of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

Teen Drivers

I have been thinking a lot lately about Tennessee teen automobile deaths. I’ve discussed here many times the sad fact that 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.

The basic reasons behind this statistic are obvious, teen drivers have no experience with the myriad issues faced by drivers with experience, furthermore, they are immature and often takes risks, most often speeding, and are easily distracted which contribute to the increased death rate.

Reference a tragic accident in Cheatham County that lead to the death of a 13-year-old young man. The teen and a 12-year-old were passengers in a vehicle driven by a 16-year-old. According to local media reports they were driving down Ridge Circle Drive, when the car ran off the road and hit several trees. None of the teens in the car were wearing a seatbelt.

Witnesses told authorities that the vehicle was speeding prior to running off the road. Tennessee law allows drivers as young as 16 to have restricted drivers licenses. The restriction prohibits the intermediate driver from having more than one minor in the vehicle at a time.

In addition to laws, safety experts agree that parents play a key role in helping teens become good drivers. Parents should not rely solely on drivers education classes to teach good driving habits and should restrict night driving, restrict the numbers of passengers riding with their teen, supervise practice driving, always require use of seat belts and choose vehicles for safety, not image. Parents can also set a good example by practicing safe driving techniques themselves.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Distraction Only Takes A Second To Kill

A 91-year-old Whitleyville, Tennessee man was fatally injured and three others were also hurt in a traffic crash in Clay County last Friday afternoon. The injured men, all from Red Boiling Springs, two 21-year-olds and another man 25 were injured in the accident but their injuries are not life threatening.

A pickup driving by a 21-year-old driver crossed the centerline of Drag Strip Road and slammed head-on into the 91-yearold man’s pickup truck. Police investigators are going to have to figure out what the 21-year-old man was doing in the seconds befor the collision that caused him to take his attention off his driving.

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.

My prayers go out to the family and friends of the deceased, as well as to the others injured in this very preventable crash. The 21-year-old driver who caused this crash will be facing another life changing event when he is called upon to answer for his negligence.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car crash by a distracted driver or a case like the present one that will require and experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer contact the lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Teen Driver, Speeding, Pot = Trouble

Picture this, teenagers in a car, the driver is 17 and the passengers are 13 and 14, they were not wearing their seat belts and they had a bag of pot in the car. Oh, did I say they were traveling at a high rate of speed when the teen driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed?

Did I mention that they were not wearing seat belts and were ejected from the vehicle? And did I mention that these young people survived, and have to be the luckiest lads on the planet? Well, they did and they are.

Among experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), it is generally agreed that teen drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group.

Per mile, the crash rate for 16 year-old drivers is 10 times the rate for drivers between 30 and 59. The basic reasons behind this statistic are obvious, teen drivers have no experience with the myriad issues faced by drivers with experience, furthermore, they are immature and often takes risks, most often speeding, and are easily distracted which contribute to the increased death rate.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Fatal Tennessee One Vehicle Crash

The facts of a terrible crash that left two people dead this past Saturday indicates to this Tennessee automobile accident lawyer that some serious lapses in safe driving protocol were taking place. According to local media sources the accident happened at 5:20 AM after the four occupants of the vehicle had been at a gathering of four-wheeler enthusiasts that took place in a rural recreation area known as “the Boils” before the crash.

Read More

Distractions Kill

In what is becoming an epidemic in Tennessee, another driver, somehow distracted, crosses the center-line and slams head-on into an oncoming vehicle. This collision took place in Clay County, just North of Manchester, Tennessee, and resulted in one death and three people, one seriously, injured. If the driver’s passenger survives, maybe she can shed some light just what was going on in the car in the seconds preceding her drifting into the oncoming lane. What ever it was so distracted her that she took her eyes and her mind off of the task at hand.

Read More

Distracted Driving Kills

A three-vehicle crash in Section, Alabama just south of the Tennessee line claimed the life a 43-year-old Prospect, Tennessee man. According to local media reports the deceased man was driving in the southbound lane on Alabama Highway 35 when for some unknown reason his vehicle crossed the center line and slammed into a pickup truck. A third vehicle then hit the pickup truck. The initial driver was dead at the scene, the others were taken to a local hospital and released.

Read More

Distracted Driving Kills

The death of a Brownsville, Tennessee man in a roadway departure crash this past week shows clearly the danger of allowing yourself to be distracted while driving. With cell phones and other electronic devices, it is becoming more difficult to remember to turn them off and put them down.

It only takes a second of inattention for your vehicle to leave the pavement and once you leave the pavement, all bets are off. As I read to local media reports of this unfortunate man’s death, facts which occur so very often on Tennessee roadways, it seemed like deja vous, all over again.

According to the reports, the man’s vehicle went off the right side of the road at the top of a hill. He overcorrected, and his Explorer went off the left side of the road and hit an earth embankment, rolled once and hit a tree. The man was ejected from the SUV, which indicates to this Nashville personal injury lawyer that he was not wearing his seatbelt.

If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Tennessee car accident, please contact Nashville injury attorney Phillip Miller and the Tennessee personal injury attorneys at Phillip Miller and Associates. Call (615) 356-2000. One last thing, don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment.

Photo courtesy of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

Every Alcohol-Related Fatality Is Preventable

Drunk Drivers Kill

It’s every driver’s nightmare, you are driving along the highway minding your own business and without warning a vehicle going the other direction crosses into your lane and slams head-on into your vehicle. This nightmare played out for two women and two children the other night as a pickup truck, driven by a 59-year-old man, who Murfreesboro police believe had been drinking, did just that.

Read More

Seat Belts Save Lives

A Maynardsville, Tennessee woman is dead after she lost control of her vehicle late Friday night, according to local media reports. The 38-year-old woman was driving on Monroe St. in Maynardville when she lost control of her Chevy Blazer and was ejected when it overturned on an embankment. The article mentioned that she was not wearing her seat belt. Our prayers go out to her family and friends.

This Tennessee highway fatality presents two important issues, the first one is seat belt use, or rather, failure of seat belt use and the other is what caused her to run off the road.

Restraint use is clearly designed to reduce injury severity and prevent occupants from being ejected from their vehicles. Tennessee law requires the use of seat belts. An overwhelming number of studies show that seat belts, when used correctly, save lives. As an experienced Tennessee auto accident lawyer, whenever I read about an accident in which a driver or passenger is ejected, I automatically relate it to failure to wear seat belts.

The primary cause of this accident was that she left the roadway. Police investigators will look to see whether speed was a factor, or whether the driver was somehow distracted and not paying attention to the road ahead. Distraction is a factor in 80% of  all accident in the United States, and the leading cause of distraction is the use of a cell phone. Police investigators will look to her cell phone records to see if she was using the device at, or near, the time of the crash.

The lesson here for Tennessee drivers is to take a few seconds to secure yourself and keep your eyes and mind on the road.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a negligent driver, contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.