When an accident happens, a car or other passenger vehicle is no match for a fully loaded tractor-trailer traveling along at highway speeds. A distracted or inattentive truck driver who fails to react to slowing traffic up ahead can cause a collision resulting in serious injuries or death. Reacting to accidents this year on Georgia highways in which 10 people lost their lives when their vehicles were hit by big rigs, Congress is considering legislation to require every truck company to install automated braking systems on vehicles before putting them into service. The collision avoidance technology is designed to maintain a safe distance between the truck and other vehicles that are in front of them. The system works by automatically applying the brakes if an operator suffering from truck driver fatigue or an inattentive truck driver fails to take notice of slowing traffic. Legislators believe the law could eliminate situations…

A middle-aged Georgia woman was out on her morning jog with a friend through a crosswalk when she was struck by a pickup truck. She suffered serious injuries and was taken to a local hospital, where her condition was deemed to be critical. The 46-year-old driver of the pickup truck, also from Georgia, rolled through the stop sign without yielding. Runners in the area are constantly vigilant and aware of their surroundings while crossing the street. Though the four-way intersection where the woman was hit was clearly marked with stop signs and lights, runners claim that this is barely enough to get the drivers to slow down. Those who love to run in the area do so cautiously. The president of the runners club stated that these kinds of accidents are, unfortunately, all too common. The accident report determined that the driver of the pickup truck was at fault in…

Much has been written about the dangers of texting and talking on a cellphone while operating a motor vehicle. The truth is that focusing attention on just those two behaviors ignores the fact that anything that takes a driver’s attention away from the road contributes to making that person a distracted driver and a danger to others. A fatal motorcycle crash was the most recent illustration of the danger a distracted driver poses on Georgia highways. According to police, a motorist became lost and realized that he had gone off the route shown on the GPS on his cellphone. The motorist made a sudden U-turn in an effort to get back on course, but his maneuver took him into the path of oncoming traffic that included a motorcycle. The failure to yield by the motorist caused his vehicle to hit the motorcycle. The rider died from the catastrophic injuries caused…

You could lose your right to compensation by waiting too long after a car collision to sue the negligent driver who caused you to suffer serious injuries. Georgia law sets time limits within which you must file a lawsuit or risk having your claim dismissed when you do finally sue. This law is referred to as the statute of limitations. The purpose of the statute of limitations is to prevent car accident victims and others who may suffer a serious injury at the hands of a negligent party from delaying the filing of their claim. Delays could place the defendant at an unfair disadvantage by not being able to investigate the claim while the evidence is fresh. Witnesses may disappear or forget important information as time goes on. Evidence that might have existed following the event might be lost or destroyed with the passage of time. A Macon car accident victim normally…