Archive for August, 2010
Maury County Fatality – No Seat Belt
August 19th, 2010 | 
Author: 36-year-old Benny Ray Lawson of Goodlettsville, TN was killed in a single car crash on Saturday, August 14 according to the Cleveland Daily Banner.
Lawson, who was driving a 1998 Ford Mustang was the only one in the car at the time of the accident, and was thrown from the car during the incident said the Tennessee High Patrol’s report.
According to the report. Lawson had lost control of his vehicle, which left the roadway and overturned, ejecting him from the car. The report also states that Lawson was apparently not wearing a seat belt.
Our sympathy is to the family of the man involved in the crash.
This is yet another example of how not wearing your seat belt can significantly increase the likelihood of being ejected from a car during a roll over crash.
According to a study by Johns Hopkins University, seat belts can prevent people from being ejected from cars, and you are 25 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash if you are thrown from the vehicle.
A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that ejections from the vehicle is one of the most harmful events that can happen in a crash. In 2002, 73 percent of passengers who were completely ejected were killed.
Only 1 percent of passengers who reported that they were properly wearing a seat belt were completely ejected from the automobile compared to 30 percent of unrestrained passengers.
A copy of the official police report may be obtained by contacting:
1-800-377-HURT (4878)
Hendersonville Teen Fatalities
Two Beech High School students have died as a result of a car crash involving two cars on Friday, August 6 on Long Hollow Pike around 3:30 according to The Hendersonville Star News.
Two boys were both riding in a 1993 Toyota, that was driven by one of the boy’s older brother, when the car crossed the center line and hit another Eastbound vehicle according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s report.
The boy who was riding in the front passenger seat, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, and the other was sent to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and was in critical condition. The 15-year-old died on Friday according to the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s Office.
37-year-old Jennifer W. was the other driver that was involved in the crash, and was injured and transported to Hendersonville Medical Center, and has since been released.
According to the report, none of the three teenagers riding in the 1993 Toyota were wearing their seatbelts, but Willingham had been wearing hers.
Our sympathy goes out to the families of the teens involved in this tragedy, and this is yet another example of the dangers of not wearing a safety belt.
According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), they estimate that 15,383 lives were saved by seat belts in 2006, and from 1975 to 2006, safety belts have saved the lives of 226,567 people.
Unfortunately, one out of every four Americans still do not wear their seat belts! Many of these crash related deaths, like these two teenagers, could be avoided with the simple act of buckling up.
A copy of the official police report may be obtained by contacting:
1-800-377-HURT (4878)
Mt. Juliet Teen Fatality – No Seat Belt
A wreck that occurred around 3 p.m. on Sunday August 8 on North Greenhill Road in Mt. Juliet took the life of a 16 year old girl, according to The Wilson Post.
She was a junior at Wilson Central High School, was a passenger in the 2003 Mercury Mountaineer pickup at the time of the wreck, and according to police she was not wearing her seat belt.
The 17 year old driver of the car, also a female, was wearing her safety belt and survived the crash. According to police, the driver crossed over the center line and then overcorrected, causing the truck to lose control.
The girl was thrown from the vehicle during the incident and landed about 90 feet from the road. According to the Wilson Post, she was transported to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, but died at 6:34 p.m. that evening.
“The driver of the vehicle wore her seatbelt while the passengers did not,” said Trooper Bill Fitzgerald of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, according to the report.
Approximately 35,000 people die in automobile accidents each year, and about 50 percent of these victims could have been saved if they had been wearing a seat belt.
Drivers and passengers are also 25 times more likely to be killed or gravely injured when they are thrown from the automobile that when remain in the vehicle.
This is a sad, sad thing for the family of this young woman. Our sympathy goes out to the family of the victim, and we can only hope that this can serve as a reminder to others to always fasten your seat belt when driving or riding in a motor vehicle.
A copy of the official police report may be obtained by contacting:
1-800-377-HURT (4878)
Anderson County Tanker Accident
A tractor trailer gas tanker carrying around 7400 gallons of diesel fuel crashed on Tuesday, August 9 in the early morning when the driver ran into a 2000 Pontiac Sunfire who was stopped on the left side of the road after blowing a tire, according to WBIR Knoxville.
The wreck occurred while the tractor trailer was driving in Tennessee. The driver of the tractor trailer slammed into the car on I-75N and flipped, breaking the tank, and it began leaking the diesel fuel.
Fortunately, the driver of the Pontiac was not injured, but the driver of the truck was flown to UT Medical Center, and his condition is unknown according to WBIR.
The leaking tanking was upright and leaking fuel onto the interstate, and some of the diesel ran off into a creek in the ditch just off the road. The remaining fuel was off-loaded as clean-up crews worked on clearing the roads according to the report.
The driver of the tanker was driving a 2007 International Tractor Trailer for Frazier and Mann out of Virginia.
1-75 was closed for several hours on Tuesday, but one lane was opened around 10:30. The Tennessee High Patrol has confirmed that the interstate has been re-opened according to WBIR.
From 2003-2007 there have been six large truck crashes that have involved hazardous material (HazMat) or released hazardous material, and a total of 120 statewide.
Shelby County had the most HazMat crashes in the state during that time with 19, and Davidson County was a close second with 16.
Our sympathy goes out to the driver of the tractor trailer, and we hope that he will make it through this accident. Thankfully the driver of the other car escaped unharmed.
A copy of the official police report may be obtained by contacting:
1-800-377-HURT (4878)
Murfreesboro Car Wreck Fatality – Chevy Blazer
An 18 year old male was killed in a Tennessee car wreck during the early morning of Sunday, August 8, when his 2001 Chevy Blazer crashed on the interstate exit ramp to State Route 840 in Rutherford Country according to the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro.
The Murfreesboro man’s SUV flipped multiple times after exiting the interstate at a very high rate of speed said a spokesman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
The police report states, “The vehicle went off the left side of the road, overcorrected, re-entered the roadway, then went off the right side of roadway and overcorrected again. The vehicle re-entered the roadway, where (it) rolled over multiple times and came to rest on the left side of the roadway down an embankment on the vehicle’s left side.”
There was another 18 year old male in the SUV at the time of the accident who survived, but was cited for underage consumption, and police believe the driver may have also been under the influence.
“There’s an indication that alcohol was a factor in the crash,” the spokesman said according to the Daily News Journal. “Routine testing is being conducted to confirm whether the driver was impaired.”
Our sympathies to the families of these two young boys. Car wrecks are the leading cause of death in young men, but this didn’t have to happen.
If these young men were drinking, someone provided them the alcohol. An 18 year old’s judgement is often flawed, but someone over 21 was involved. Shame on them.
A copy of the official police report may be obtained by contacting:
1-800-377-HURT (4878)
