Posts Tagged ‘car accident’

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)

www.seriousinjury.com

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)

www.seriousinjury.com

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)

www.seriousinjury.com

I received a call from a angry woman who was upset that this blog included information from a police report involving a DUI driver who killed a woman in a Tennessee car accident on I-40 more than a year ago. The blog restated what was in the police report, including the name of the driver and the person who owned the vehicle the DUI driver was operating. In this case, the listed owner was the father of the DUI driver.

What’s the problem with that? Well, the woman was the wife of the man listed as the owner (the father of the DUI driver). She insisted that it was not her husband’s car at the time, and that he had given it to his former wife as part of their divorce. So what happened? We know that this 2 time DUI driver got access to the vehicle from someone. Why wasn’t the title changed from husband to ex-wife, or from ex-wife to son? Did the police just get it totally wrong?

State law requires that owner names on vehicle titles be changed on transfer, and taxes for the sale/transfer paid. Was someone trying to avoid paying a few dollars of tax, or was there another motive? Giving someone a car, and leaving title in your name can create problems for you, and in a case like this create problems for everyone.

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.

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment, if it’s bad enough that you need to read this far into a website blog, it’s bad enough to get an attorney involved.

On May 13 a 57 year old woman was killed in a Nashville car wreck on I 40.  A black SUV is suspected as having hit her in the rear and causing her to lose control. If you have information about a Black SUV that was on the scene on this date, please contact the Metro Police or reply to this blog.

This poor lady was killed. Was there insurance for the family left behind?  Maybe. The kind of insurance that can provide for your family if you are killed in a Nashville hit and run accident is called “uninsured motorist coverage”

Unfortunately, getting the insurance company to pay an “uninsured motorist claim” isn’t always easy. You have to be able to prove you left the road (that’s what happened here) because of someone else’s bad driving. When there are eyewitnesses or an arrest, it’s easy. In a case like this you have to take advantage of physical evidence at the scene and property damage on the car, and it may require expert testimony.

If you are a victim of a hit and run accident in Tennessee, you will need legal help if you are making a claim using your uninsured motorist coverage.

If you or anyone you know has been killed or suffered a personal injury in Nashville, please contact Nashville injury attorney Phillip Miller and the Nashville personal injury attorneys at Phillip Miller and Associates at (615) 356-2000, or contact our office online here. No matter what you do, before you settle your case with an insurance adjuster, read our materials on dealing with insurance adjusters first!

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment, if it’s bad enough that you need to read this far into a website blog, it’s bad enough to get an attorney involved. Contact us before you settle your case with an insurance adjuster!

Tennessee car accidents often involve DUI drivers or drivers who have been using drugs. It’s rare that they admit what they did or take responsibility.

That’s why your best choice is to hire a Tennessee attorney familiar with Tennessee automobile accident law and cases against drunk or drugged drivers.

A recent case of ours involved a client who was minding his own business on a weekday morning. He had just dropped off his daughter at school.  A young man crossed over, ran his car into my client and drove him off the road. The client’s car rolled several times.

The young man who hit him?  His story was that he had “fallen asleep”. He had started the night before and taken some Xanax that didn’t work – he met two women at a gas station who he asked for directions to an ER, they assured him he didn’t need to go to the ER, and told him they would take him home with them, give him some cocaine, and everything would be ok in the morning. The took him home. He spent the night with the two women, who gave him cocaine, and then the next morning drove him to his car. Then he fell asleep and hit my client. This was his excuse. No apology. Click here to see the real thing.

If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Nashville car accident, please contact Nashville injury attorney Phillip Miller and the Nashville personal injury attorneys at Phillip Miller and Associates at (615) 356-2000, or contact our office online here.

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running.

Car accidents in Tennessee are a fact of life, but serious injury and death can be avoided when seat belts are used.

Although seat belts are mandatory safety equipment, and are present in any vehicle involved in a Tennessee auto accident, they are not always in use at the time of the collision.

It’s not that Tennessee drivers haven’t improved, they have. In 2002 about 66% of Tennessee drivers wore their seatbelts (according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).  In 2009 seatbelt use was up to 80%!

Unfortunately, the national average for seatbelt use is 84%. In Texas, 93% of drivers are belted – 90% in Alabama. Why do so many more drivers in Texas and Alabama use their seat belts?  I have no idea.  We have had a “click or ticket” ad  and enforcement program in place for several years – so it’s hard to believe that Tennessee drivers don’t know about the importance of seat belts. For a closer look at the NHTSA data, click here.

If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Nashville  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.

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment, if it’s bad enough that you need to read this far into a website blog, it’s bad enough to get an attorney involved.

Tennessee truck accidents are just like car wrecks, right?  Well they do involve vehicles on roadways, but that is where the similarity ends.

Finding out what happened and how in any truck accident can be very difficult. The truck driver almost always denies liability, and digging out the important information requires a lawyer to understand the documentation required of all trucking companies, and the regulations that apply.

Trucking accidents are more common than you might believe.  380,000 trucks were involved in crashes in 2008. Over 4000 people were killed.

As an example, the hiring and supervision issues in a trucking case don’t exist in a typical car accident. The trucking company is required to investigate the driver, including their driving history. This means the lawyer in a Tennessee trucking case must understand and pursue all the things that the trucking company was required to do, as well as those things they should do if they want to operate safely.  ”Hours of Service” and driver logs can provide insights on what the driver really had been doing in the hours before the truck accident, and disclose the kinds of information the trucking company had but did nothing with.

If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Nashville truck accident, please contact Nashville injury attorney Phillip Miller and the Nashville  personal injury attorneys at Phillip Miller and Associates at (615) 356-2000, or contact our office online here.

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment, if it’s bad enough that you need to read this far into a website blog, it’s bad enough to get an attorney involved.

Car accidents in Tennessee and elsewhere are often caused by teen drivers, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal has some surprising data. As an example a recent survey of teenagers showed that 48% of girls said they are likely to speed at more than 10 mph over the speed limit, while only 35% of boys answered the same.

Auto accidents in Nashville and other cities are often caused by distracted drivers, and the data on young women drivers is bad. 84% of girls (vs. 69% of boys) admit to changing music/channels while driving. Even worse 23% admit to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Aggressive driving among young women has increased as well (16% now, up from 9% five years ago).

If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a Nashville  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.

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment, if it’s bad enough that you need to read this far into a website blog, it’s bad enough to get an attorney involved.

Victims of Tennessee Motorcycle accidents, car accidents, or tractor trailer accidents can do themselves a favor, especially if they need a knee or hip replacement… Pick a hospital that specializes in doing hip and knee replacements.

A recent study done by the University of Iowa found that hospitals with a higher degree of orthopedic specialization had better outcomes for patients who had hip and knee replacements.

In hospitals with more orthopedic procedures, there were fewer complications and more importantly, the mortality rate was much lower. In fact, the rate of death during the first 90 days after surgery was twice as high in the hospitals that had lower rates of orthopedic procedures.

If you or anyone you know has been killed or suffered a knee or hip injury in a Nashville motorcycle accident, car accident, or tractor trailer 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. No matter what you do, before you settle your case with an insurance adjuster, read our materials on dealing with insurance adjusters first!

One last thing: If you are hurt and have any questions at all, contact our office at (615) 356-2000. Don’t delay. Cases involving personal injury or death in Tennessee must be acted on quickly. Time is running. Call for an appointment, if it’s bad enough that you need to read this far into a website blog, it’s bad enough to get an attorney involved. Contact us before you settle your case with an insurance adjuster!