Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Cases

by

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood released updated 2009 fatality and injury data showing that highway deaths fell to 33,808 for the year, the lowest number since 1950.  The record-breaking decline in traffic fatalities occurred even while estimated vehicle miles traveled in 2009 increased by 0.2 percent over 2008 levels.

In addition, 2009 saw the lowest fatality and injury rates ever recorded:  1.13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2009, compared to 1.26 deaths for 2008.

Fatalities declined in all categories of vehicles including motorcycles, which saw fatalities fall by 850 from 2008, breaking an 11-year cycle of annual increases.

Continue reading

by

ABC News reports that  Dr. Frank Ryan, the surgeon who performed extensive plastic surgery early this year on Heidi Montag, was sending a Twitter message about his dog before his fatal car crash Monday in Los Angeles.  The dog, who was in the car at the time of the crash, survived injuries to the head, eye and paw.   Dr. Ryan died of blunt force head injuries.

 

by

Judge Susano and his colleagues on the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued an opinion yesterday in Usher v. Charles Blalock & Sons, Inc.   The opinion addresses some important issues of Tennessee law, but is mentioned here because it utlizies photographs scanned into the body of the opinion to help the reader understand how the wreck occurred.

 From time to time, I have seen drawings (and maybe even a photograph) appended to court opinions but I do not recall seeing a photograph inserted into the text of a Tennessee appellate opinion.  The photographs help tell the story in this case, and Judge Susano and his colleagues are to be congratulated for using them.

Usher has been assigned  Case No. E2009-00658-COA-R3-CV.   The opinion was released on June 30, 2010.

by

PC Magazine Oprah Winfrey has been urging her viewers to promise not to text or make telephone calls while driving.   Last Friday she dedicated her show to the subject.

Some 23 states, including Tennessee, have laws banning texting while driving.  Eight other states have partial bans on texting while driving.  This chart summarizes the law of those states.

A July 2009 study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash by 20 times.   A recent University of Utah study reached a similar result.  The Secretary of Transportation has testified that distracted drivers caused the death of nearly 6000 people in 2008.

Continue reading

by

The Federal Highway Administration has ruled that the 2009 Edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices must be adopted by the states as their legal standard for traffic control devices within two years.   Here is an excerpt of the Federal Register discussing the rule change. 

The MUTCD contains all national design, application, and placement, standards, guidance, options, and support provisions for traffic control devices. The purpose of the MUTCD is to provide uniformity of these devices, which include signs, signals, and pavement markings, to promote highway safety and efficiency on the Nation’s streets and highways.  The MUTCD is adopted by reference in accordance with Title 23, United States Code, Section 109(d) and Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 655.603, and is the national standard for all traffic control devices installed on any street, highway, or bicycle trail open to public travel. 

The 2009 edition supersedes all previous editions and revisions of  the MUTCD.   Here is the PDF version.     There is already a change proposed to the 2009 edition.

Continue reading

by

The Governors Highway Safety Administration has released a preliminary report indicating the motorcycle deaths have decreased on our nation’s highways.  If the final numbers are substantially similar, deaths will have dropped for the first time in over a decade.

Based on preliminary data gathered for the first nine months of the year, GHSA is projecting that motorcycle fatalities declined from 5,290 in 2008 to 4,762 or less in 2009. The projection is based on data from 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

Tennessee had a substantial decrease in motorcycle deaths.  During the first nine months of 2008 the number of motorcycle deaths was 132.   In 2009, it was 101.

Continue reading

by

Getting motor vehicle accident reports is a hassle, but is appears that it will be getting easier.

BuyCrash.com makes accident reports from Georgia, Indiana, and Kentucky  available for purchase over the Internet.  Accident reports from Tennessee will be available in the future.

Thanks to Chris Simon and the Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog for making me aware of this service.

by

Truck drivers who text while on the road are now violating federal law.  On  January 26, 2010, the federal  Transportation Department  said  it is prohibiting truck and bus drivers from sending text messages on hand-held devices while operating commercial vehicles.

Tennessee banned texting while driving effective July 1, 2009.  

The Transportation Department said that "FMCSA research shows that drivers who send and receive text messages take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting.  At 55 miles per hour, this means that the driver is traveling the length of a football field, including the end zones, without looking at the road.  Drivers who text while driving are more than 20 times more likely to get in an accident than non-distracted drivers."

by

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has set up a website called "Distraction.Gov."

The website reveals some interesting statistics:

  • In 2008, there were a total of 34,017 fatal crashes in which 37,261 individuals were killed.
  • In 2008, 5,870 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities).
  • The proportion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crashes has increased from 8 percent in 2004 to 11 percent in 2008.
  • The under-20 age group had the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes (16%). The age group with the next greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the 20- to-29-year-old age group (12%).
  • Motorcyclists and drivers of light trucks had the greatest percentage of total drivers reported as distracted at the time of the fatal crashes (12%).
  • An estimated 21 percent of 1,630,000 injury crashes were reported to have involved distracted driving.
  • Nationwide, those drivers observed visibly manipulating hand-held electronic devices increased from 0.7 percent to 1.0 percent.
  • Some 1.7 percent of drivers 16 to 24 years old were observed visibly manipulating hand-held electronic devices, up from 1.0 percent the previous year.
  • More drivers in Western States were observed manipulating hand-held electronic devices (2.1%) than in the other regions of the country (from 0.4% in the Northeast to 0.8% in the Midwest).
  • The use of hand-held devices increased the most in the West, from 0.6 percent in 2007 to 2.1 percent in 2008.
  • The observed use rate of hand-held electronic devices was higher among females (1.2%) than among males (0.8%).

 The site also contains a list of states which ban driving while using cell phones or while texting.

Continue reading
Contact Information
Brentwood Office
Mailing Address
5141 Virginia Way, #270
Brentwood, TN 37027
Toll Free: 866.812.8787
Phone: 615.742.4880
Fax: 615.742.4881
Nashville Office
810 Dominican Dr #315
Nashville, TN 37228
Toll Free: 866.812.8787
Phone: 615.669.3993
Fax: 615.742.4881
Murfreesboro Office
1639 Medical Center Pkwy #105
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
Toll Free: 866.812.8787
Phone: 615.867.9900
Fax: 615.742.4881
This is a paid legal advertisement.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2015 – 2026, The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design