Distractions Kill

Accidents like one yesterday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee have become so common in our state lately that I fear they will take up most of our traffic investigators time trying to figure out the causes. The scenario that plays over and over, day after day, is that a car is driving down the highway and for some unknown reason leaves the road and crashes into a ditch, something very solid, like a tree or bridge abutment, or another vehicle and the driver and passengers die.

In the accident I mentioned above, one person has been killed after a single car rollover crash on State Route 840 in Rutherford County. The vehicle ran off the road and flipped in the shoulder, the vehicle then came to rest upside down and burst into flames. Another sad feature of these crashes is that the drivers do not have their safety belts on.

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.

Drivers who use a cell phone – either handheld or hands-free, are four times more likely to be involved in a crash, according to a 1997 New England Journal of Medicine examination of hospital records, and a 2005 study funded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety linking injury crashes to cell phone records.

About 30 research studies conclude that there is an increased crash risk when using a cell phone while driving. Many of these studies further conclude that using a hands-free phone while driving is just as risky as talking on a handheld phone.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I implore you to put the cell phone down when you are driving. You might think that you are a good enough driver to driver and talk at the same time, but statistics say you are not.

If you are injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a cell phone using driver, you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Tennessee personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and secure your rights and remedies.

Distractions Can Kill

Nashville traffic investigators will certainly be interested to find out what distracted a Nashville mother to such an extent that she lost control of her automobile, hit a utility pole, left the road and ended up in a creek. First Responder crews were able to extract the woman and her two children. They were taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Whenever you see an accident, usually involving one car that leaves the road, an experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer starts thinking about driver distractions. Just what was the driver doing moments before the crash that caused his/her vehicle to go off the highway? What caused the driver to change focus from driving to other things?

The lesson here for Nashville drivers is that you must keep all of your attention on the acting of driving and avoid distractions.

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.

Don't Even Think About It

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney, there is a list of at least one hundred things that you should never do while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. I won’t recount them all for you here today in this Blog, but at the top of the list is the warning to never try to cross a flooded road.

There are so many things that can go wrong, your car could stall, the water pressure could wash your car off of the road, I think you get the picture. Unfortunately, a 90-year-old Kentucky man has learned this lesson the hard way. He tried to crossed the flooded road and he was unable to see the road. He drove off of the road and into a 12 foot deep flooded ditch.

Attempts to rescue him by civilians and emergency personnel went for naught due to the cold water and current. Four emergency responders had to be treated for hypothermia and were released later in the day. Divers found the man’s body the next day.

For this and other safe Tennessee safe driving information check the website of the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates, or call 615-356-2000.

Asleep At The Wheel

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney when I see a report of a teen driver crossing the centerline and slamming into another vehicle, my first thought goes to the question of distraction by cell phone use. First of all, 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. Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event.

In the case of a Macon County, Tennessee teen involved in exactly this kind of double  fatality collision, the police believe that the cause of the wreck was that the teen fell asleep at the wheel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving “is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities.” But among all the major factors that cause or contribute to crashes, like speeding, alcohol use, and weather situations, drowsiness is the most difficult for police and other crash investigators to detect and quantify.

Sleepiness and driving is a dangerous combination. Most people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving but don’t realize that drowsy driving can be just as fatal. Like alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of crashing.

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

Speed Kills

Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects in the roadway, extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle, and increases the distance a vehicle travels while the driver reacts to a dangerous situation. Another thing that speed does is it reduces the time from distraction to roadway departure.

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.

State Troopers in Clarksville Tennessee say that speed was the cause of a fatal accident on I-24. The police report says that the 23-year-old male driver was traveling at “a high rate of speed” when he lost control, entered the median and slammed into a tree killing his passenger, a 42-year-old Clarksville woman.

Speed kills is not just a slogan it’s a fact and this Tennessee automobile accident proves it.

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 at (615) 356-2000, or contact our office online here.

He Sped, He Left Road, He Was Ejected and He Died

As an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer when I read an article in a local media outlet about and accident and the article covers the whole story in four sentences, my mind goes into overdrive about the possible causes.

The facts related about the fatal one car accident in Knoxville, Tennessee are as follows: A car was speeding along a county road at 5am, the driver lost control, the car went airborne and hit a light pole and the sign pole of a Regions Bank. The driver was not wearing his seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle and killed.

Speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. Not only is speeding the leading cause of traffic deaths, the 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 2000.

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.

A 17-year-old young woman was killed in a one car roadway departure crash in Collinwood Tennessee. The car she was riding in was driven by her 19-year-old sister and failed to negotiate a curve in the highway went off the road into a ditch and overturned. The deceased was apparently not wearing her seatbelts and was ejected from the vehicle and killed. It’s hard to say whether the driver’s failure to negotiate the turn was because of speed or distraction, but we do know that had the passenger been using her seatbelt the outcome may 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 an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer I have seen far too many teen deaths and I strongly encourage parents to be realistic about the skills and propensities of their children. The teen years are a time of excitement and dread for every parent, the time when their precious little Bobby or Betty reaches the age when they can drive. Excitement because their child is growing up and the parents can relinquish the job of being the chauffeur for their busy teens and dread because the know in their heart of hearts the dangers that teen drivers face as they take to the highways and byways.

Teen Driver

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.