With the chance for up to three inches of snow, motorists in Macon and Bibb County will face "significant" travel woes for the next 24 to 48 hours. As temperatures fall, precipitation could move from freezing rain, to sleet and finally snow, leaving the area roads potentially very treacherous. Given the rarity of major snow events in Middle Georgia, most drivers have limited winter driving skills, and many teens and young adult drivers may never have driven a vehicle in these conditions. This means that in addition to driving carefully and maintaining control of your own vehicle, you need to beware of actions by other negligent or inexperienced drivers, whose driving may cause car accidents. While many people were rushing to the store in anticipation of the storm, Macon-Bibb County Emergency Management Director commented that there was no need to panic, suggesting most people could get by for the day…

In Macon, as with most American cities, we drive a lot. Many people work in Atlanta or the southern suburbs. Most people think nothing of driving there to go shopping or to catch a Braves or Falcons game. And the more miles we drive, the greater the exposure to the risk of a car accident. Many people believe themselves to be safe drivers. They drive the speed limit, most of the time. They pay attention to road signs and changing road and weather conditions. They signal their turns and leave an appropriate following distance to the car in front of their vehicle. Many have driven years or even decades without a car accident. But none of that makes them immune to having a car or truck accident in the future. Because, in reality, driving always involves some amount of luck. Luck that you are not glancing at your phone at the very…

Older drivers are generally safer than young drivers. Many of the safety messages dealing with safe driving are directed towards teen drivers. This makes sense, as they are young and inexperienced as drivers. Activities like texting and other distracting tasks increase the danger that a young driver will get into a situation where they can't control their vehicle and wind up involved in a car accident. However, young drivers are not the only drivers who present a threat; drivers older than 75 are the second most like to be involved in a fatal car accident. What is more difficult, in dealing with these drivers, is that they may have spotless driving records and take offense at someone suggesting they hang up their car keys. There is another problem. While a town like Macon may have an old-fashioned downtown, many of the businesses have left and a large percentage of people live…

While most weddings leave the participants with fond memories, a wedding north of Atlanta, brought nothing but sorrow. On their way leaving the wedding reception, the bride and groom were involved in a terrible car accident, and the bride was ejected from the vehicle. The vehicle rolled over and land on top of the bride. The groom, who was also injured in the car accident, attempted to save her, but there was nothing that could be done. A man who stopped to assist found the groom with his face and hands covered with blood. He called 911 and tried to comfort the groom. The Georgia State Patrol said the couple had just left their wedding reception when the groom, who was driving, swerved to avoid hitting a dog in the road. He then lost control of the vehicle and the car rolled down an embankment. The bride was ejected during the…

Driving can seem like an overwhelming task, when something goes wrong. Rain is falling in the Macon area and the roads are a little slick. A driver approaches an intersection, when they hear their cellphone ring, sitting on the passenger seat. Reacting, they look in that direction and reach for it. When they return their eyes to the road, they see the traffic signal has turned red and traffic has stopped in front of them. They slam on the brakes and the car begins to slide. What should they do? For an experienced driver, instinctively they steer into the slide, are able to recover, and narrowly avoid a car accident with a vehicle in the other lane. For the teen driver, who may never have driven in rain, and lacks years of driving experience, this could have been a disastrous scenario. A new report from the New England Journal of…