Georgia Personal Injury Law Blog

When emergency vehicles respond to call, they often have to violate normal traffic laws. Of course, they are authorized to do so, as time is always of the essence, whether it is a police call, responding to a fire or an ambulance, or EMTs responding to a medical emergency. This creates additional risk, beyond those normally encountered on Georgia's highways. A recent car accident, involving a Warner Robins police officer and another driver, highlights those risks. The police officer's vehicle was divine east on Russell Parkway. He passed through a green light on Kimberly Road and struck the pickup truck. The pickup truck was making a left turn and apparently did not stop for the police vehicle. The car accident resulted in minor injuries to both drivers. High-speed accidents can be catastrophic, with both emergency personnel being killed and injured as well as innocent drivers. Police, fire, and ambulance drivers spend a…

Truck move America. At any moment, hundreds of thousands of trucks are moving goods across the country. As part of legislation dealing with transportation needs for the future, Congress has requested that the prospect of larger trucks be considered. These trucks would allow more goods to be transported, and in theory, lower the costs. At least, for some entities. The price the rest of us could be wind up paying, however, could be much higher. Some of the opposition to the proposal comes from a somewhat unexpected quarter: truck drivers. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), an association of independent truck drivers sees the potential for more truck accidents resulting from these larger trucks. The proposal would permit trucks to increase to 97,000 lbs on six-axles. Trucks this size today are considered heavy hauls and are a specialized area of trucking. The size and complexity of these larger trucks demand a…

A Bibb County woman has died after she was involved in a car crash. Although this fatal car crash involved just one vehicle, and we most often work with clients who have been in two-vehicle accidents, we thought it served as a sad and sobering reminder for all of us of how dangerous driving can be. The 25-year-old woman was traveling along Hartley Bridge Road early Sunday when she lost control of her vehicle near Arnold Drive. She then crashed her vehicle into a fence. Authorities put the time of the accident around 1 a.m. The woman was rushed to The Medical Center of Central Georgia after the accident, but it was too late and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. She was pronounced dead around 3:30 a.m. The woman leaves behind a 6-year-old son. As we said, fatal car crashes like this happen far too often, but…

Motorcycle helmet laws have long been a source of controversy. Safety advocates have argued they save lives and lessen injuries. Groups opposed claim they inhibit their ability to hear other vehicles and argue it is their right to choose to wear a helmet. In Georgia, all motorcycle riders are required to wear a helmet. In other states, helmet laws have been enacted, repealed, reenacted, and amended. Unlike many states, Georgia's helmet law has remained unchanged since 1969. Michigan repealed its helmet law in 2012, with only riders younger than 21 being required to wear a helmet. A study by the Highway Loss Data Institute has found that in the last year, hospital costs have increased by 34 percent for motorcycle accidents. According to the report, the average insurance payment on a motorcycle injury claim increased by $1,847 over claims made in the two years prior to the repeal. Since helmets…

The collapse of an I-5 bridge into the Skagit River in Washington reminds us, again, that our bridges are literally falling down around us. There are an estimated 66,000 structurally deficient across the country. In Georgia, there are 941, which ironically is quite good, placing the state 42nd in total number of structurally deficient bridges. But the news is not quite grounds for celebrating. There are three bridges in Georgia like the I-5 bridge that collapsed. They are functionally obsolete and fracture critical. This means they are well beyond their design thresholds for the number of vehicles they carry and the weight of those loads. This increases the risk of car accidents, which as the I-5 Bridge demonstrated, can bring the structure crashing down. The problem is many of these bridges were built as inexpensively as possible. They have no structural redundancies, so if a single girder or truss fails,…

In Georgia, Governor Nathan Deal announced that May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. With Memorial Day weekend approaching, summer is here and more bikes will be on the roads and highways. The Governor reminded every driver to share the road and work to avoid motorcycle crashes. As every biker knows, the risks they face are much greater than a driver in a car protected by crumple zones and airbags. On a motorcycle, the crumple zones are otherwise known as your legs and arms. With more than 200,000 motorcycles registered in Georgia, and thousands of cyclists passing through the state on vacations and road trips, there are too many opportunities for unnecessary motorcycle accidents to happen. Riders need to be extra aware, as it is not just other cars and trucks that pose a risk to a motorcyclist. The story from WJBF tells of one rider who collided with a deer. He attributes…

You know the feeling. Driving along I-75, heading out of Macon to Florida, down I-16 Savannah, or even going home after a long day at work following a late night with too little sleep. Your eyelids feel heavy and you catch your head dropping. No, you didn't just nod off, just a little tired, that's all. But you did. You just experienced drowsy driving. While much less recognized than its more famous relative drunken driving, but it is still a killer. In the last decade ending in 2010, 11,000 people died in drowsy driving car accidents. The larger question is how to deal with this problem. Unlike other causes of accidents, drunk driving, illegal or prescription drugs, or cellphone use, there is no easy test that can be used to obtain some evidence of how sleepy someone was at the time of an accident. Even the number of deaths may be…

Drunk driving accidents devastate lives in every state, including Georgia. With so many injuries and deaths resulting from DUI accidents each year, it's no exaggeration to say that drunk driving is a scourge. Recently in Albany, Georgia, a drunk driving father actually caused serious head injuries to his own 6-year-old daughter, according to police. The little girl had to be transported to Macon's Medical Center of Georgia, where she was given treatment in the Intensive Care Unit and said to be in critical condition. The father was approaching an intersection in his SUV when his vehicle ran into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was stopped on the road. The man's daughter was wearing a seatbelt, but she still wasn't properly restrained because she was riding in the front seat. The father initially lied about the circumstances of the crash, according to state police. He claimed that another motorist forced him to…

Driving through the beautiful Georgia countryside can be distracting. The U.S. Department of Transportation cannot control what you are staring at outside your windows. But they do have some influence over what goes into your vehicle. This week they have announced that they want auto manufacturers to consider the time it takes to use devices within the car, and limit that time to no more than two seconds at a glance. The new guidelines would help keep drivers' eyes on the road and not fiddling with buttons and looking at screens. The recommendation comes as distracted driving is being seen as an even greater problem. Cars are coming equipped with more electronic devices, from GPSs and cameras to assist lane changes and backing up, to DVD players and internet-enabled devices that even allow web browsing. With more than 3,000 people dying in car accidents in 2011 related to distracted driving, and…

Few events are more exciting to a teen than the first time they get behind the wheel of a car alone. Sadly, it may be more exciting for some than they are equipped to handle. One of the most dangerous times for a new driver is during their first time driving alone. While they may have the basics of driving down, it is a very different thing to control a car on a rain-slicked road when another driver unexpectedly changes lanes directly in front of them. Figuring out how to keep teen drivers out of car accidents is a challenge for any parent. You want them to drive and gain experience, but you worry that they will become distracted by modern conveniences, especially cellphones. Now there is an app that may help, rather than hinder your teen driver. The University of North Carolina has been working on these issues for many years…