As an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer I try to use my Blog to educate and keep people informed of Tennessee highway traffic safety issues. I usually describe an accident and share a lesson for other Tennessee drivers but sometimes I find traffic events that are just so interesting and about which the local media and police reports don’t tell the whole story.

Today I’d like to share one with you that leaves so many unanswered questions. According to local media reports a Marshall County Jail corrections officer was treated and released at a Nashville hospital Sunday as a result of a two-car collision between his patrol car and a sedan driven by his ex-wife.

According to the report of the State Trooper investigating the crash both vehicles were going north, she was in the center lane and he was in the right lane when for some unknown reason he entered her lane. The ex-wife’ car collided with the patrol car on the drivers side door. The Deputy was injured and a man and a boy in the ex-wife’s car were injured but refused treatment. In an interesting and seldom used tactic, the Trooper checked with the local District Attorney General before issuing a citation to the deputy.

The Lawyers and staff here at Phillip Miller & Associates find this event very interesting and will seek to find out the facts behind the crash. Something smells fishy here and we promise to get to the bottom of it. If you are injured in a Tennessee motor vehicle accident calls us and take advantage of a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

Vehicle Crosses Centerline

The family and friends of a 34-year-old Kingsport, Tennessee man will probably never know what it was that caused their loved one to suddenly veer to the left, cross the centerline and smash head-on into an oncoming van. Emergency personnel used the “jaws of lift” to cut away the wreckage to get the driver out of the vehicle but he was dead at the scene. The other driver was pulled from his van by witnesses, and is listed in fair condition at a Kingsport hospital.

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.

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.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee roadway departure crash contact the experienced Nashville auto accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.

Two Fatal Highway Departure Crashes In One Weekend

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.

Reference a report on the web site of WRBC TV in Chattanooga of two separate fatal accidents in Meigs County this past Sunday.  The first one involved a driver who left the road and slammed, head-on, into a tree. The driver died and the passenger was seriously injured.  The second fatality, a woman passenger died when the car she was riding in left the road and rolled in a ditch. In this case the driver has been charged with vehicular homicide, although the article didn’t mention the basis for the charge. My suspicion is that either speed, alcohol or drugs were involved.

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.

Roadway departure crashes are at an epidemic level in Tennessee and if we don’t start a serious program at the state level more and more Tennesseans are going to die. When you are behind the wheel pay attention to what you’re doing.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee roadway departure crash you owe it to yourself 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.

No Seat Belts Spell Disaster

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I often hear, following a fatal accident, “what if”. What if he hadn’t driven after drinking? What if she had not been in that exact place on the highway at that particular time? The “what if” that I hear the most these days is “what if” he had taken a second and fastened his seatbelt?

Reference an article on the website of WBIR TV in Knoxville Tennessee about a Greene County man, another victim in the epidemic of Tennessee roadway departure crash fatalities, who was driving along when a 22-year-old woman going the other direction drifted across the centerline and struck his car head-on.

The drifting driver was wearing her seat belt but not  so for our victim. The investigating Trooper said he believed that the outcome would have been different if he had been wearing his seat belt. Seat belts are required by Tennessee Law. These can help save you and your passengers’ lives in the event of a traffic crash.  My prayers go out to the deceased, his family and friends, who will still be left asking themselves “what if”.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident contact the experience automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates at and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights ad remedies.

I noticed an interesting roadway departure crash (RDCs) in Nashville that occurred at 5 AM last Saturday. A Metro police cruiser was traveling east on I-40 near Donelson Pike when it drifted from the road, hit a guardrail, and flipped into a ditch. The officer was hospitalized and released with stitches.

Lately, in my blog, “The Tennessee Auto Accident Attorney “ I have commented that I am seeing a lot of these RDCs all across Tennessee. The articles in the local media are thin on facts and the police investigation is not completed, but for experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys we know that there are several types of things that cause these types of traffic events.

Driver Inattention

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. With all of the electronic devices in a modern police cruiser investigators will look into the officers activities in the moments just prior to the accident to determine whether the officer was distracted.

Drowsiness

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. It’s nearly impossible to determine with certainty the cause of a fatal crash where drowsy driving is suspected. However, there are a number of clues at a crash scene that tell investigators that the person fell asleep at the wheel.  Unlike alcohol-related crashes, no blood, breath, or other objective test for sleepiness behind the wheel currently exists that investigators could give to a driver at the scene of a crash. This makes police training in identifying drowsiness as a crash factor very difficult.

Medical Emergency

Incidences of drivers who had crashes precipitated by their medical emergencies while driving are relatively rare and account for only 1.3 percent of all road fatalities. Older drivers have relatively higher incidences of crashes precipitated by drivers’ medical emergencies when compared to young and middle-age drivers. Drivers in crashes precipitated by medical emergencies were more likely than other drivers to be severely injured or to die as a result of the crash.

The lesson here for Tennessee drivers is that you must keep all of your attention on the act of driving and avoid distractions. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and learn about your rights and remedies.