Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

With all the discussion in the metro Atlanta news about texting while driving as a cause of car accidents, maybe it's time to step back and review exactly what distracted driving is. There are three types of distractions which make up distracted driving as defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation: 1) taking your eyes off the road; 2) taking your hands off the wheel; and 3) taking your mind off driving. In other words, any activity that requires a driver to remove his attention from driving will increase his risk of a car accident. According to the Virginia Tech Traffic Institute study for the National Highway Safety Administration 80% of all car wrecks are directly related to distracted driving.

While all the news has been on texting, other activities that interrupt a driver include dialing a cell phone, talking on a cell phone or with a passenger, reading or replying to email, eating and drinking, trying to read maps or navigation systems, changing the radio station or music selection on an i-pod, drowsiness and reaching to the floor to find something that has been dropped.

Just this week on the way to work, I passed a gentleman who was reading the newspaper on Georgia 400 heading into Atlanta! Maybe he has no concerns about causing an accident, but I don't want to be the car next to him when he veers over into another lane.

What can be done to educate drivers about the impact of a few seconds of distraction? The DOT has launched a website specifically to educate, publicize and gather information related to distracted driving. Valid suggestions to curb distractions while driving include setting the cell phone on mute so you won't be tempted to answer or see who is calling, driving defensively and being aware of drivers who appear to be talking or texting, and remembering it isn't just your life when you remove your focus from driving, it may be someone else's life you interrupt.

More Resources:

Guage Your Own Distraction

In Georgia, the law states that an injured party has two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit for damages from the injury. If you have been seriously injured, or worse, lost a loved one to the negligence of another, you should take the time to talk with an attorney to protect your rights. Explain your situation completely and bring any papers or documents that relate to the situation to the initial visit.

How do you find the right personal injury attorney? Ask the attorney specific questions related to their personal injury practice and experience. Attorneys who are experienced in this area will have handles jury trials, mediations and arbitrations of cases. Determine whether the attorney you talk with will be the one who will handle your case or will it be passed off to another associate. You should expect the attorney to keep you updated and informed on the progress of your case.

The Georgia Bar publishes a brochure on how to choose an attorney. For example, it is important to discuss the fees and expenses. A personal injury attorney often takes cases on a contingency fee agreement basis. This means that you will be responsible for the costs of the lawsuit, but any attorney fees will be paid out of the recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fees.

Continue reading "How To Choose A Personal Injury Lawyer" »

Thursday morning, a 23 year old man from the Atlanta metro area caused a fatal accident after running a red light. Police believe he may have been texting which distracted him from watching for the traffic signal. The car accident happened near Athens, Alabama at about 7:00 am. The 59 year old victim was on her way to work and died at the scene. Although both drivers were wearing seatbelts, the Georgia man was driving a 350 Chevrolet truck and the woman was driving an Acura. The State Highway Patrol is still investigating the wrongful death and has not yet determined charges.

This car accident will only add fuel to the debate in many state legislatures as to a ban on texting whiled driving. As recently reported, the Federal Motor Carrier Administration banned texting for all commercial bus and truck drivers on January 26, 2010. Georgia and Alabama both have proposals before their legislatures related to banning text messaging while driving.

There are many issues involved in the debate such as enforcement. How does the state enforce that type of law? They really can't until there is an accident and they subpoena the cell phone records - it isn't much different than enforcement of DUI laws.

Opponents of the law suggest that there may be better alternatives than putting additional laws on the books - we do have laws that cover wrongful deaths in traffic accidents. They are proponents of education in safety and driver "distractability." Just as the number of DUI's has declined over the past 20 years with high profile ads, education in the schools, and safety campaigns by states and the Federal government, we could reduce the number of accidents caused by distractions (i.e., cell phone use, texting, eating, reading the newspaper) with well-planned education and safety campaigns. For example, simple tests like the one posted previously in this blog are eye-opening as to the impact of texting while driving. Maybe it should be tied to getting a drivers license?

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently issued an order banning all in-cab texting by commercial truck and bus drivers. Because the DOT has the authority to regulate interstate truck and bus safety, it was able to immediately put this rule into effect due to the number of truck accidents caused by distracted driving. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stated "To put this dangerous behavior in perspective, researchers at Virginia Tech found that truck drivers who send text messages on a cell phone are about 23 times more likely to get into some type of crash or near-miss than drivers who keep their eyes on the road." The Virginia Tech study found that drivers take their eyes off the road for almost 5 seconds when texting which is equal to driving the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road.

Early release data from the National Highway Safety Administration indicates 4,229 people were killed in accidents involving large trucks in 2008. No data related to the cause of the accidents has been released yet. By way of comparison, in 2007 there were 4,808 people killed in truck accidents with 5.8% of those accidents involving distracted driving. So the good news is there is a downward trend in the number of deaths due to truck accidents and with this new ban on texting by large truck drivers, those numbers should continue to decline.

Texting and distracted driving have become such an issue that twenty states have already banned texting and driving by all drivers and 23 more are considering legislation, including Georgia. Georgia's bill has been sent back to a committee to determine how such a law could be enforced. We will continue to follow the bill in Georgia and keep you up to date as it moves through the legislature.

Continue reading "Texting Banned to Prevent Trucking Accidents" »

In Lilburn, Georgia, a texting teen crashed into a telephone phone. While typing a text to a friend and he ran off the road - the impact broke the pole in two. The young man suffered a traumatic head injury due to the impact of the accident. Gwinnett Police plan to charge him with improper use of a cell phone while driving and failure to maintain his lane.

Cell phone usage and texting while driving are distractions that are widely recognized as a cause of traffic accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 16% of all fatal crashes were caused by driver distraction. While this distraction factor includes more than cell phone usage, it is estimated that at any given moment 11% of drivers are using an electronic device while driving.

In fact, the Federal government is so concerned with cell phone use while driving they have joined with the National Safety Council in forming FocusDriven, a nonprofit organization which will focus on raising awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. FocusDriven is modeled after MADD which successfully changed America's drinking and driving habits.

Placing the focus on educating the public about the high rate of car accidents caused by cell phone use is a great idea.

After a week and a half of trial, a Clayton County jury returned a wrongful death verdict for $753,000 today in favor of our client. While at a local Atlanta restaurant last year, our client's husband died after being served the wrong meal. He had a severe shellfish allergy and, although he ordered a dish without shellfish, the meal that was served to him contained crab meat. Within, minutes of eating the meal he went into anaphylactic shock and died.

The restaurant claimed the husband ordered the meal that killed him. They relied on the order ticket filled out by the waitress. However, through the use of a forensic handwriting witness, we were able to show the waitress had created the order ticket after the fact. Additional medical expert testimony was used to educate the jury on food allergies and anaphylactic shock.

While the restaurant countered they had no responsiblity for whether our client received the proper order or not, we tried the case on general negligence grounds which allowed the jury to find that the restaurant owed a duty to our client and her husband to accurately take their order and deliver the meals as ordered.

Shellfish allergies are one of the most common allergies ranging from mild to severe. While anaphylaxis is rare, it interferes with breathing, causes a severe drop in blood pressure, a rapid pulse and loss of consciousness. In the most severe instances, it causes death.

Your Atlanta accident lawyers want to share some good news: The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration announced that between January and June 2009 motor vehicle acccident deaths on our highways declined by 7% when compared to the same period of 2008, following a downward trend. The second quarter of 2009 is the thirteenth consecutive quarter of declining traffic fatalities since peaking in 2005 with 43,510 deaths.

So what has caused this historic decline in auto accident deaths? The data gathered so far indicates people are traveling less - about 6.1 billion miles less in the first half of 2009 which is about a .4% decline. This is probably attributable to the economy. Other factors may include record high seatbelt use and safer vehicles. Just think about the differences in safety features in cars today and ten years ago. Air bags are generally standard as are anti-lock brakes. Stability control, better signal lights, automatic headlights - all of these increase your chances of maintaining control and being seen by other vehicles.

Continue reading "Traffic Accident Deaths Reach Record Low" »

Today kicks off the national "Over the limit, Under Arrest" crackdown on drunk driving during the holidays, which runs from December 16 to January 3. Releasing new data on drunk driving fatalities, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood commented, "Drinking and driving is dangerous and unacceptable, and I'm asking law enforcement to stay vigilant during this busy holiday season. According to the new data, the rate of Georgia motor vehicle accident fatalities related to impaired driving has continued to decrease since 2004.

Driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher is illegal in all 50 states. Georgia uses traffic enforcement networks throughout the state to build the enforcement community into one team. This method has been effective and we continue to see declining death rates due to drunk driving car accidents.

However, the interesting issue in Georgia law is that the DUI laws are based on blood alcohol level not on impairment. Historically, DUI arrests were related to impairment due to alcohol or drugs. Over the past twenty years or so, the political impact of organizations such as MADD has changed the law such that an individual is violating DUI law by having a drink and driving whether he/she is impaired or not. Therefore, to avoid a DUI arrest in Georgia, the days of having a glass of wine with dinner and driving home are over.

Interestingly, this skewed DUI law has broadened the liability of business establishments who serve alcohol to patrons who then drive "drunk" (impaired or not) and are involved in an accident. At that point, the Georgia Dram shop laws come into play and the business may be held liable for the injuries suffered by the victims of the car accident.

Our firm has successfully represented victims of drunk driving accidents and recovered against bars under the Dram Shop Act. If you or a loved one are a victim of a drunk driver, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Yesterday, a mother and her three children, ages 2, 4 and 5, were seriously injured in a Georgia trucking accident when a tractor trailer ran a stop sign in Spalding near High Falls Road and North McDonough. The driver of the truck was charged with running a stop sign and driving on a "no-thru" truck road.

The Georgia DOT reports that among Americans ages three to thirty-four, the leading cause of death is motor vehicle accidents. The NHSTA reports that there were 180 fatalities in Georgia due to accidents involving large trucks, that is just over 4% of the fatalities nationally due to tractor trailer accidents. Fortunately, in this accident no one was killed, but the injuries in an accident with a large truck can be life changing and our thoughts go out to this young family, especially during this time of year.

Be aware that if you are involved in an accident with a commercial truck, particularly like the family in this case, you must move quickly to preserve evidence and protect your rights. The Federal Motor Carrier Act covers large commercial trucking companies and allows them to destroy driver log books and other evidence particular to the truck after a period of six months.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Crashes Into Minivan in Georgia" »

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration released a new report last week that identifies traffic fatalities by their geographic location. Based on past data, generally 44% percent of traffic fatalities occur in urban areas. But what the researchers have found by plugging in the geographic location of fatalities is that urban areas often have significant commuter traffic coming from rural areas. Fatalities in these areas appear as rural fatality statistics. The information gathered is important for areas such as Atlanta, where many people commute up to an hour or more for their jobs. While much has been done to increase safety within the perimeter, typically, less funding has been appropriated to areas that are seen as suburban/rural.

When the data was compiled, the overall percentage of fatalities tied to urban areas increased to about 73% when including the area within five miles of the urban boundaries - a significant increase. Further, about 35% of the fatalities involving tractor trailer trucks occur in urban areas. Likewise, a high percentage of deaths on interstate highways occurred in urban areas. In fact, 57% of fatalities due to car accidents on interstates in Georgia occurred in urban areas - higher than the national average. That number increased to a whopping 83% when including the area within five miles of the urban boundaries. It is expected that law enforcement and highway safety planners will use this information to help increase safety in suburban/rural areas.

The report certainly makes you think twice before you get in your car to drive to work. Remember - it is better to be a safe driver, than a fast driver.

Recently, a chain reaction tractor trailer truck accident occurred on I-75 in south Georgia when a tractor trailer slammed into another semi truck which had slowed down in the heavy traffic. A pickup truck then crashed into the semi truck and all lanes were blocked for nearly three hours. DOT had just returned the traffic to its normal lanes after a previous lane shift for re-striping the road in that area. One of the trucks caught fire, leaving the driver with serious injuries. All other passengers appeared to have minor injuries.

The Georgia DOT reports that three out of four fatalities in highway construction work zones are not the construction workers, but are motorists. As a result of motor vehicle accidents in these work zones, more than 40,000 people are injured each year.

As the construction continues on I-75, motorists must use extra caution when driving through these constructions zones to avoid auto accidents. Besides the inevitable delays, there are quick stops, lane shifts and short merge lanes onto the highway. Speeding fines in these zones can range from $100 to $2000 or up to twelve months in jail. So drive cautiously, especially with the holidays just around the corner.

A California jury yesterday awarded $16,577.118 in a wrongful death action to the family of a woman who died of acute water intoxication after participating in a radio station contest to see who could drink and hold the most water in 2007. Tragically, Jennifer Strange lost her life for the grand prize of a Nintendo Wii, while the radio DJs joked about the possibility of contestants dying from drinking too much water.

Her family sued the radio station for wrongful death alleging the station was negligent in running the contest. The defense argued that the death was unforeseeable and if the jury found liability they must also find contributory negligence on the part of Ms. Strange.

If you have ever scanned the radio stations available in the metro Atlanta area, you have come across channels where the DJ's seem to be allowed to say and do just about anything to create a reaction. In the California case, they went too far through reckless conduct and abandonment of common sense adding up to negligence and liability. And although there is usually an argument to be made for contributory negligence, the majority of the liability will almost always rest with the purveyor of the contest.

More on the story:
Jury Awards $16.57 Million in Girl's Water Intoxication Death

After five years of challenges to the hours of service rule which allows truckers to drive for up to eleven hours straight per day, the federal rule will be reviewed and reconsidered. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) signed an agreement with trucking and safety groups promising to revise the rule. Other aspects of the rule will also be reviewed including the 34 hour off-duty period. All revisions will be made with an eye toward reducing the number of trucking accidents.

For sixty years prior to the 2003 enactment of the eleven hour rule , truck drivers could not drive more than ten hours at a time. Since the revision, numerous public interest groups have challenged the rule calling for reconsideration and review.

Citing safety concerns, one of the watchdog groups, issued a statement applauding the government's action in taking responsibility to protect truck drivers and the public from unsafe driving conditions. Longer hours behind the wheel lead to driver fatigue and more truck accidents.

Any change in rules that allows for truck drivers to be more rested and therefore able to better concentrate on driving, makes the highways safer for all of us. As Georgia trucking accident lawyers, we will be watching the revisions to this rule closely, with the expectation that it will be revised to its original limits.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) held a two day Distracted Driving Summit to publicize the dangers of driving while distracted. "Every single time someone takes their eyes or their focus off the road - even for just a few seconds - they put their lives and the lives of others in danger," said Secretary LaHood in Washington, D.C. "Distracted driving is unsafe, irresponsible and in a split second, its consequences can be devastating." Research by the National Highway Safety Administration shows that in 2006 almost 6,000 people died as a result of motor vehicle accidents involving distracted driving.

The summit brings together industry and safety experts, government officials and the general public with the goal of heightening awareness of the impact of distracted driving. Two of the most common distractions are cell phone use and texting. Additionally, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration(FMCSA) is presently conducting a study on cell phone use by commercial truckers and its impact on trucking accidents and near-accidents.

When you are driving behind someone on the metro Atlanta highways who suddenly seems to be unaware of the traffic - don't you assume they must be on their cell? I do and I give them a wide berth because I know that they are not aware of my presence. With the DOT and the FMCSA working toward teaching the public about the dangers of cell phone use while driving, we can hope the public will take the responsibility on themselves to not engage in these activities while driving rather than the legislature moving toward making the activities illegal while driving.

Innocent bystanders, injured when police give chase, now have a better chance of getting their claims for personal injury and wrongful death to the courthouse. The Georgia Court of Appeals in Rahmann v. DeKalb County, Case No. A09A1533, ruled that a woman caught in the middle of a police chase in Atlanta's West End neighborhood can take her case to a jury. The Georgia Constitution provides for the legislature to waive sovereign immunity. Under the Tort Act of 2004, which became effective in 2005, the legislature provided for the waiver of immunity for injuries caused by covered governmental motor vehicles including police cars. However, at issue before the Georgia Court of Appeals was whether the officer was acting with "reckless abandonment" in his pursuit or following law enforcement procedure.

In this case, a woman was stopped at a red light when the police officer's car struck the fleeing suspect, causing the suspect's car to hit the woman's car. The Court determined that conflicting testimony between the woman and the police officer as to whether the police officer intentionally struck the suspect's vehicle to stop it or whether he was simply positioning his car to block the intersection is a jury question.

Under the Tort Act, for injuries occurring after January 1, 2008, the liability of the government for a covered motor vehicle accident is limited to $500,000 per bodily injury or death with a maximum cap of $700,000 for two or more persons' injuries or death. However, there are very specific timelines and filings that must be made to protect your rights against a government entity. If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident with a government entity, make sure you act quickly to protect your rights and discuss your case with an experienced trial attorney.