Under The Influence

Sporting a long list of DUI convictions, a California woman knew she shouldn’t drive after she and her man friend took drunk at dinner last weekend in Knoxville, so she did the next right thing and turned the keys over to the one person with them who hadn’t had anything to drink. So far, even though she is drunk, it appears that she made the correct decision. Well, that isn’t exactly how it played out.

According to an article published on the Knoxville television station WBIR-TV website, that responsible party was a thirteen year old boy. It appears that the plan failed when the car stalled in an intersection and the Knoxville police stopped to check it out. The boy was released to another family member and the woman was charged with two misdemeanor counts, one of child endangerment and the other of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. I guess, if you think about it, she did avoid another DUI conviction and a sentence of up to eleven months and twenty-nine days in jail.

Child Endangerment: Known as the Tennessee Drunk Driving Child Protection Act, there are added penalties for people who violate DUI laws when accompanied by a child under 18 years old.  There is a mandatory minimum jail sentence of 30 days, and a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000.  Both of these child-related penalties are added onto any other incarceration, penalty and fines.  If the child suffers serious bodily injury, the violation is a Class D felony, and if the child dies, it is a Class C felony of especially aggravated child endangerment.

As explained in the Tennessee Rules of The Road, driving involves multiple tasks, and the demands can change continually. To drive safely, you must maintain alertness, make decisions based on ever-changing information present in the environment and execute maneuvers based on these decisions. Drinking alcohol impairs a wide range of skills necessary for carrying out these tasks.  Fatal injuries, resulting from alcohol-related traffic crashes, represent a tremendous loss of human life.  In 2005, over 16,000 deaths nationwide (39 percent of all traffic fatalities) were alcohol related.  In Tennessee, 37 percent of all traffic fatalities (464 deaths) were alcohol-related. Examples are driving too fast, passing cars without enough clear distance and speeding around curves.  Showing off is another example of impaired judgment.

If you or a loved on is injured in a Nashville car accident by a driver under the influence of alcohol contact the Nashville car accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Education And Enforcement Reduce Fatalities

An article on Channel 2, WKRN Nashville caught my attention this morning and I’m happy to report the news is positive. Following an interview with a Spokesperson for the Tennessee Highway Patrol Channel 2 reports that Since 2005 Tennessee roadway fatalities have decreased on a consistent basis. According to the article by last October (2008) there had been 805 fatalities on Tennessee roads and this year (2009) there has been a reduction with only 707 fatalities. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way saying that 707 fatalities is a good thing, but a decrease of this size means that someone is doing something right.

I regularly advise my readers that they can do their parts by following the Rules of The Road by not speeding, tailgating, running red lights or any other thing that puts others in jeopardy. THP officials said they attribute the decrease largely in part to people paying more attention to the law. They go on to say that education and enforcement are getting the people’s attention. Recent educational programs by the State include, DUI, aggressive driving and seatbelt enforcement.

The Staff and automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates encourage everyone who gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle in Tennessee to focus on the fact that you are behind the wheel of a weapon that can take your life and the lives of others and you should act accordingly.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Tennessee automobile accident contact the Nashville car accident lawyers at Philip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/

Practice Construction Zone Safety

Construction zones can present a driver with a challenge. The zones are usually well marked in advance and require vehicles to start reducing speed in preparation for the upcoming area on the road where the construction equipment and workers are located. This weekend I drove from Nashville to St. Louis for some business this week and was amazed at how many drivers ignore the warnings and instead of following the slow-down suggestions use the opportunity to speed up and get ahead of the people in front of them. This dangerous behavior in turn brings out bad behavior in others. Some of those people who are slowing down and forming one lane as directed begin to attempt to block and retaliate against the speeders by refusing to allow them to merge.

The other danger I noticed was the tailgating by some on those who reduce their speed as directed. When you reduce your speed from 70 mph to 55 mph you should, according to the Tennessee Rules Of The Road, keep one car length for every ten miles per hour you are traveling, not so in these Interstate construction zones. What happens is that the danger of a rear-end collision is magnified. Driver one is worried about the driver 2 right on his tail and is paying more attention to the tailgater then he is to the driver in front of him.

The Dyersburg State Gazette reported on an incident that occurred this past Friday at a construction site up in Dyer County. Traffic began stopping for a construction site and a tractor-trailer was following another too closely and ran into the rear-end of the first one spilling it’s cargo of corn across the highway.

The Tennessee Department of Safety suggests the following:

* Slow down! Drive within the posted speed limits, which are usually reduced in work zones. If you don’t, you’ll pay the price.

* Don’t tailgate! Most work zone accidents are caused by rear-end collisions.

* Eliminate distractions! Put down the cell phone; leave the radio dial alone. This is not the time to look for a new CD!

* Keep your ears open! Do not wear earphones while driving.

* Merge early! You can be ticketed and the cause of an accident for being a last chance merger.

* Watch for flaggers! Follow their signals, and don’t change lanes within the work zone unless instructed to do so.

* Expect the unexpected! Work zones change constantly.

* Turn your lights on before you enter the zone! Turn on your vehicle’s headlights to become more visible to workers and other motorists.

* Stay calm! Remember the work zone crew members are working to improve your future ride.

On March 1, 2006, The Tennessee Department of Safety, in cooperation with the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office, implemented new, tougher driving penalties for teen drivers. This new rule is called Hayden’s Rule. A baby girl, Hayden Maples, was born February 18, 2003, after a teenage driver who had approximately 18 points on his driving record, hit Hayden’s mother head-on. The teenage driver had decided to pass another car on a double yellow line in a construction zone. Tragically, the driver died, and as a result of the accident, Hayden was born with a severe brain injury. Learn about the penalties for teenage drivers under Hayden’s Rule.

If you or a loved one is injured in a construction zone accident contact the experienced Nashville Accident and injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

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.

Dangerous Drivers

Jordon Royce Pumphrey, 22, of Rogersville, Tennessee is a good example of why I counsel my readers to be constantly vigilant for the dangers lurking on the highways of Tennessee. It seems Mr. Pumphrey makes bad decisions, decisions that can be fatal to others who happen to cross his path. According to the Kingsport Times-News Mr. Pumphrey was arrested Saturday for DUI and drug charges. He was already awaiting trial and out on bond on felony charges for aggravated burglary and theft.

According to the article, police clocked Mr. Pumphrey driving 71 mph in a 55 mph zone all the while weaving erratically. During the conversation with the driver police noted that he seemed disoriented and he admitted to taking Lortab , a narcotic, for pain. While the police were sobriety testing him they noticed that he had something in his hands. That something turned out to be pills that he immediately popped into his mouth and swallowed.

Now, I’m no psychologist, but judging by his actions this night, I’d venture to say that there is something wrong with Mr. Pumphrey. As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I have spoken with many police officers from around the state and they tell me that there are thousands of people who fit into the same category as this man in every corner of the state.

So, how do we protect ourselves from people like this? The first thing we can do is for each of us to obey the Tennessee Rules of The Road so that the police can concentrate on these dangerous types. Obey the speed limit, stop at red lights and stop signs, yield the right of way and by all means, avoid distractions and pay attention to what you are doing when you are behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. If you see someone driving dangerously pull over and use your cell phone and call *847 and report the driver to the State Troopers. As individuals we also need to become involved in our community and, along with our friends and neighbors, make sure that our public officials know that we want them to do everything they can to keep these people off of the streets.

If you or a loved one is injured in an automobile accident contact our experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out everything you need to protect your rights and remedies.

As a long time Tennessee resident and driver and experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney it has long been my belief that most Tennesseans believe that speed limit signs are simply suggestions.

Driving To Fast For The Conditions

Speeding is a factor in about one-third of all fatal crashes , killing more than 1,000 Americans every month. In 2007, 13,040 people died in speed-related crashes. Based on a national representative sample of police-reported crashes, in 2007 speed was a factor in about 15 percent of property-damage only crashes and 26 percent of crashes involving injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that the economic cost of speed-related crashes is more than $40 billion each year.

In reality, speed limit signs mark the fastest speed you are supposed to travel on any given road and remain safe. But a little known, and less talked about concept, is how the speed limit should be approached in light of road conditions. In Tennessee we have what is known as the Basic Speed Rule (BSR) and had many of those 13,000 fatalities followed the rule they would probably be alive today to enjoy their families. The Basic Speed Rule (BSR) is not a Tennessee law, but it is a general safety principle. The BSR does not set an exact speed limit; instead, it teaches that the speed you may drive should be limited by current conditions. For example, if the posted speed limit is 65 mph and you are driving at night on a two-lane state highway and it’s raining, snowing or foggy, 65 mph is too fast for those conditions.

To obey the BSR, think about your speed in relation to other traffic (including pedestrians and bicycles), the surface and width of the road, hazards at intersections, weather, visibility and any other conditions that could affect safety. To find out more about this rule and the other Tennessee Rules Of The Road go to www.tennessee.gov/safety and reacquaint yourselves with these safety rules that just might save your (and others) life.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville car accident by a driver who failed to practice the Basic Speed Rules contact our experienced Tennessee accident attorneys and find out about your rights and remedies.