What Caused This Tennessee Roadway Departure Crash?

It was a short life, 20 plus years, or so, and I’m sure the young man left family and friends who loved him. I really hate to read an article reporting the death of a person with so few facts to rely on to understand what really happened leading up to his death.

The staff and lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates send out deepest regrets to the family and friends of Gordon Anito of Knoxville. According to local media reports he was driving his 2005 Subaru Impreza northbound on Andersonville Pike near the intersection with Hill Road at approximately 3:29 a.m., when he went over a hill crest and struck a tree off the right side of the roadway,

I hope that the investigation will shed some light on the facts surrounding this death so that the family will make some sense of their loss and gain some closure. We know that the wreck took place very early in the morning, but we don’t yet know whether the man was coming home or heading to work.

Investigators will have to determine from evidence at the scene as to whether he was speeding, under the influence, was distracted, of had some type of medical emergency. If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a Tennessee car crash you owe it to your family to contact an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer like those you will find at Phillip Miller & Associates. Call 615-356-2000.

Teen Driver Ejected

An 18-year-old high school senior from Columbia, Tennessee died last weekend from injuries she suffered in a one-car accident on North James Campbell Blvd. According to media reports, her vehicle departed the roadway and slammed into a utility pole and flipped several times. During the crash she was ejected from the vehicle.

Ejection usually means the victim wasn’t wearing a seat belt. Restraint use is clearly designed to reduce injury severity and prevent occupants from being ejected from their vehicles. It’s really a simple concept that takes only a second or two to complete, but failure to exercise it can lead to catastrophic results. The use of a seat belt is required by Tennessee law.  Seat belts can, and often do, help save you and your passengers’ lives in the event of a traffic crash.

According to NHTSA, when worn correctly, seat belts have been proven to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent, and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.

We will probably never know what caused the young woman to leave the roadway and strike a utility pole. She was most probably distracted by something, a cell phone, radio, GPS for a second or two and simply drove off of the road.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I am acutely aware that 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.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee motor vehicle accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and learn about your rights and remedies.

Roadway Departure Crash

Experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyers agree that distraction from the primary task of driving could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. In 2008, 5,870 people lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in police-reported crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction was reported on the crash report. While these numbers are signi!cant, they may not state the true size of the problem, since the identification of distraction and its role in the crash by law enforcement can be very difficult.

We may never learn the reason Jeffrey Knight, age, 40, became distracted and left the road, crossed the median and crashed head-on with another vehicle causing the death of 21-year-old Brittany Thomas and her 10-month-old son. Whatever the distraction, finding out will be little consolation to the family and friends of this young mother and her child. My prayers go out to the loved ones who have sustained such and indescribable loss.

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. Each of these accidents had the potential to have taken numerous other lives but somehow that didn’t happen

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney we know that these crashes are referred to as “Roadway Departure Crashes” (RDCs). The Federal Highway Administration defines a RDC as a non-intersection crash that occurs when a vehicle crosses an edge line or a centerline, or otherwise leaves the traveled way.

According to the Federal Highway Administration roadway departure crashes are frequently severe and account for the majority of highway fatalities. In 2008, there were 19,794 fatal roadway departure crashes resulting in 22,080 fatalities, which was 53 percent of the fatal crashes in the United States. FHWA uses the Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to compute statistics on roadway departure crashes.

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.