Speeding And Alcohol Use

Two late night car crashes in Chattanooga leave one dead and another seriously injured. Chattanooga TV station WRCB reported that the accidents occurred within hours of each other, the cause of the first accident is unknown but Police sources believe that alcohol and failure to utilize a seatbelt were involved. The driver’s car left the roadway and flipped into a shallow ditch and the driver was thrown from the vehicle a sure sign that he was not wearing his seatbelt. He was transported to Erlanger Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

The other Chattanooga man Viengsamay Moungsiharath age-29, was found trapped in his overturned vehicle that, according the traffic investigators, had been traveling at a high rate of speed. Apparently the car crossed into the oncoming lanes struck several light poles before coming to a rest. Emergency responders pulled Moungsiharath from the wreckage and took him to Erlanger where he’s listed in critical condition with life threatening injuries.

Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion. But there are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving.

How big is the problem?

*In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

*In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.

*Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol.

*Half of the 306 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes in 2006 were riding with drivers who had a BAC level of .08 or higher.

Speeding is one of the most common contributing factors of traffic crashes. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) show that the driver-level attribute “driving too fast for conditions or in excess of posted speed limit” is the critical contributing factor in more than 99% of all fatal crashes. In fatal crashes, about 55% of all speeding related crashes were due to exceeding the posted speed limit.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville car accident involving a speeding driver or one under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol contact the experienced Nashville car accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.