On behalf of Dozier Law Firm, LLC posted in Car Accidents on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Based on the results of a study by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Georgia drivers should keep their eyes on the road as much as possible. According to the study, even a two-second glance away can be dangerous. Using a driving simulation and tracking participants' eye movements, researchers in the study found that drivers who even briefly took their eyes off of the road were less able to process hazards than those who remained focused. This was the case even if they were aware of the hazard before looking elsewhere. Drivers tended to need a few moments to readjust their eyes when they once again focused their attention on the road, and this created problems for dealing with immediate dangers. Another finding was that drivers failed to recognize their inattention. In a questionnaire that the participants answered after…

An 18-year-old man was ejected through the passenger window of his truck after Georgia State Patrol said he ran a stop sign and hit an SUV. He landed about 15 feet away from his vehicle. The collision on GA 10 at Stagecoach Road in Thomson also hurt two people in the SUV. Police investigators said the 18-year-old driver of a Ford F-150 westbound on Stagecoach Road ran the stop sign for GA 10. His vehicle struck a Ford Expedition heading south on the highway. The impact rolled the Expedition over. A female passenger in the Expedition required air transport to GRU Medical Center. Emergency responders drove two injured men to the same hospital. A hospital representative later shared information on the medical conditions of the injured people. The hospital treated and released the 18-year-old man. The male driver of the Expedition was in fair condition, and the woman was upgraded…

Police in Georgia are investigating a Feb. 25 car accident that resulted in the deaths of two people and sent a third to the hospital. The accident occurred at about 4:30 p.m. on Old Clyattville Road in Valdosta. A Ford Mustang driven by a 22-year-old woman from Florida was traveling southbound on Old Clyattville Road at the time of the accident. A Ford F-150 traveling in the northbound lane attempted to pass a northbound school bus and collided head-on with the Mustang about two miles away from Interstate 75. The 22-year-old woman and her passenger, a 23-year-old Valdosta man, died as a result of their injuries. Emergency crews took the F-150's driver, a 34-year-old Valdosta man, to South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta in serious condition. No passengers were aboard the school bus, and no one else suffered any injuries in the accident. A reconstruction team continued to investigate the…

Drivers in Georgia and the rest of the United States face the same roadway risks associated with distracted drivers. Mobile tablet or smartphone use by someone behind the wheel creates a serious distraction that has been linked to car accidents. Data reviewed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal facts about the hazards of driver distractions. From 2011 to 2012, the number of people injured in distracted driver accidents increased by 9 percent from 387,000 to 421,000. The year 2012 also saw 3,328 deaths in similar crashes. In 2011, distracted driving caused 17 percent of car accidents in which a person was injured. The CDC defines sources of distraction in three ways: visual, manual, or cognitive. Texting and driving are especially dangerous because the activity causes all three types of distraction. Texting makes the driver take his or her eyes off the road, remove one or both…

Whiplash occurs when the neck is thrust one way and then jerked violently or suddenly the other way. Although whiplash can occur in sports, at work or from falling, road users in Georgia might not realize that traffic collisions are the primary cause. In a whiplash, the head rises up from the spine, creating a sprain or strain at the bottom of the skull. A sprain occurs when the ligaments in the neck become torn, while a strain occurs when the tendons and muscles of the neck are overstretched. The facet joints and capsules in the neck appear to be the most susceptible. Although rare, whiplash could dislocate or fracture vertebrae. Stiffness and pain at the bottom of the skull, in the back of the neck or at the front of the neck are the most commonly experienced symptoms. However, the stiffness and pain might extend through the shoulders, arms,…

According to law enforcement officials with the Henry County Police, a Butts County man was killed and two others were seriously injured in a collision that occurred when a driver reportedly ran a stop sign. The fatal collision occurred on the night of Nov. 29 on Georgia 81. Officers did not say if any other factors like impairment contributed to the wreck. A 19-year-old man was driving a 2002 Ford Focus on Jackson Lake Road when he approached the road's intersection with Ga. 81. He reportedly failed to stop at a stop sign when he arrived at the intersection. He then collided with a 2007 Ford Mustang driven by an 18-year-old man. The impact of the collision caused the death of the 19-year-old. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by responding emergency personnel. A 19-year-old female passenger in the Ford suffered serious injuries, and she was…

A Calhoun woman has received an indictment after a May 23 car accident that allegedly involved drunk driving and killed a pedestrian. The Gordon County grand jury issued the indictment after a 50-year-old woman struck a 65-year-old woman in a residential neighborhood while the victim was at a mailbox. According to the deceased's daughter, her mother, who was from Augusta, went to the mailbox at around 11:30 a.m. The woman was on the side of the road at the mailbox on Blackwood Place when a Dodge Neon SXT struck her. The Dodge arrived on Blackwood from Ga. Highway 53, and a Georgia State Patrol's incident report indicated that the vehicle was traveling at a fast speed. After the impact, the pedestrian sent her about 52 feet into the air. The Augusta woman was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga but died at the hospital. After the crash, the Dodge traveled…

Regardless of how good a Georgia driver is, he or she cannot control what other drivers do. Sudden changes by others can lead to dangerous situations that increase the risk of an accident. This is generally true even if the driver has time to anticipate what others are doing on the highway. However, there are technologies that may enable vehicles to take some of the guesswork out of driving. These technologies work by alerting the driver of changing conditions and may even help the car take action to stop by itself. Automatic braking and other speed-limiting technologies may help drivers avoid rear-end collisions, while lane-departure warnings can help drivers avoid accidents while changing lanes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these technologies are not always standard in vehicles. In some cases, they are not even required to help a vehicle meet safety requirements. The National Transportation Safety Board…

A multi-vehicle traffic accident on the evening of Nov. 6 left one woman dead and another person injured in Dougherty County. A third man involved in the collision received a traffic citation and may face additional criminal charges related to the fatal crash as well. According to information released by investigators with the Dougherty County Police, the three-car accident occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of Liberty Expressway and Holly Drive in Albany. Witnesses claim the 43-year-old Mitchell County woman driving a black Volkswagen Beetle was stopped at a red light when her vehicle was rear-ended by a red van driven by a 72-year-old Montgomery County man. The force of the impact then caused the Volkswagen to strike another black vehicle in front of it driven by a 34-year-old Ocklocknee's Ford woman. Bystanders rushed to assist the victims, pulling the 34-year-old woman from her vehicle, but they found…

The Georgia State Police report that on Oct. 9, a four-vehicle accident in Conyers claimed the life of one person, and two other individuals who were involved were hospitalized for unknown injuries. One of the injured victims, a deputy, was reportedly pursuing the wrong-way driver at the time of the crash. According to the report, the chain-reaction collision transpired at the intersection of Old Covington Highway and Sigman Road in Rockdale County around 11:30 p.m. when a woman driving a Hyundai Santa Fe in the wrong direction on Sigman Road smashed into a black Kia. The force of the impact caused the Kia to crash into a pickup truck, at which point both cars and the truck collided with a fourth vehicle belonging to the deputy who had been chasing the wrong-way driver. The woman driving the Kia was instantly killed in the initial collision with the Santa Fe and…