Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog has learned from a report in the Atlanta-Constitution Journal that a Lanier High School student was killed Wednesday morning in a tragic accident. The Gwinnett County car accident that resulted in the student's death may well have been due to weather. But authorities are not certain of the cause.

The crash occurred at around 7 in the morning. Apparently, the car the Lanier student was riding in as a passenger, which was traveling southbound, was struck while turning left at the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and 1st Avenue. Another car driving northbound broadsided the passenger side of the vehicle as it made the turn and the teen was killed.

The student was pronounced dead at the scene and the drivers of the both vehicles were taken to the hospital. Their injuries are said not to be life threatening.

Our hearts go out to the families of all involved in this tragic Gwinnett County accident.
Although we do not know the cause of this accident we all need to consider our driving patterns in weather conditions.

Please remember that intersections can always be very dangerous and that is the case particularly in weather conditions. It is very important to make sure that on-coming vehicles can see your vehicle making a turn. In addition, if you are driving through an intersection watch your speed and do not rush to get through it. The American Safety Council includes some important information on driving defensively in intersections and we urge our readers to review them.

Road Departure Motorcycle Crash

Earlier this week, the Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog posted readers on the important new studies being done at Virginia Tech regarding various aspects of what are called road departure crashes. These are crashes in which a motorcyclist or motorist veers off the road and is seriously injured or killed. Very little is actually known about why these accidents happen and the studies should provide some answers.

Tragically, this week an Atlanta-area motorcyclist was killed in a road departure crash while coming out of a curve in unincorporated Auburn. No other vehicle was involved in the crash, which is the case with road departure crashes.

The Gwinnett police have told the Atlanta-Constitution Journal that although they are investigating this crash, they do not believe that either speed or alcohol were factors in the accident. The young man was only 24-years old and he passed away after being taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville.

Our hearts go out to the family of this young man. This is precisely the type of accident that is being studied at Virginia Tech and it our hope that one day there will be better answers for motorcycle enthusiasts about how and why road departures occur and how to best avoid them.

All Terrain Vehicle Move Ends in Tragic Accident

In another terrible tragedy, we have learned that earlier this month, a Cornelia Municipal Court judge was killed while moving his all-terrain vehicle. This occurred while he was simply backing the ATV up to move it and the vehicle accelerated suddenly with no warning and for no apparent reason.

We are saddened to learn of this accident and express our deepest sorrow to the family. The cause of the accident is not yet known.

We do know that the judge was apparently thrown from the ATV and when it hit an embankment, he was trapped under the vehicle after it fell on top of him. A neighbor came to his assistance and was able to pull the ATV off of him, but he was pronounced dead at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville after he was transported there.

Late last year, the National Academies of Science awarded the renowned Virginia Tech Transportation Institute's (VTTI) Center for Injury Biomechanics two research grants amounting to $1.5 million. These grants will go towards the study of a very specific area: fatal road departure crashes. The study is an effort to help identify how road departure crashes occur, as well as the injuries and fatalities involved in these crashes.

The statistics are daunting. In the United States over 10,000 motorists suffer fatal injuries in road departure crashes. We hear of these road departure fatalities and crashes in Georgia and on the news regularly. Sometimes drivers are under the influence, sometimes they are speeding. But when these crashes happen and cars or motorcycles collide with objects on the side of the road -- whether a guardrail, a tree, a telephone pole or other object -- the result is often fatal. Although guardrails are often intended to protect lives, they sometimes can be just as harmful in a road departure crash as other objects on the side of the road.

One of the VTTI grants is for a very large-scale study of passenger vehicles and will cover a four-year period and the other is specifically focused on the injuries resulting in fatal motorcycle crashes and roadside barriers. The purpose - to save lives.

VTTI is well-known in the area of research regarding crash causation studies. The hope is that in the close study of what is called "injury biomechanics" which includes the study of many factors that occur in an injury or fatality as a car or motorcycle goes off the road, more can be done to avoid serious injury and fatalities.

The reason these studies are so important is that we really do not know why road departure crashes are so serious and fatal. The study will gather information to provide more insight into why this is the case. The motorcycle study will focus on crashes in which the motorcycle road departure involves a traffic barrier since these are statistically more likely to be fatal than passenger vehicles that go off the road.

It should have been just another bus ride home to his mom, but it ended in tragedy. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that earlier this week an 8-year old Cartersville boy was struck by a school bus and died on the scene at the Cartersville bus barn. This tragic school bus accident has the local community in shock.

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog posted recently about two teens that were struck and killed while walking on a rural Hephzibah road. When tragedy strikes, we question why. How could a young boy be taken in such a tragic accident? A tragedy like this causes all Georgians to think about keeping our loved ones, and especially our children, safe. What seems like a normal day can turn into devastation in the blink of an eye.

In the Cartersville tragedy, the boy rode in a school bus and was dropped off at the bus barn only to be killed after exiting the bus. That bus was driven by a relative. The boy had probably done this many times before, because his mother worked at the bus barn. Tragically, on this day the young boy got off his bus at the barn and then apparently walked around the bus in which he had been riding. The boy was killed by a school bus that was in the area of the bus barn.

Sadly, the school bus driver who was driving the bus that struck and killed the young boy was apparently also a long-term employee with an excellent record. Authorities are investigating the incident, but say charges are unlikely to be filed. Certainly, that driver's sorrow must also be terribly difficult.

The Cartersville school system is understandably in shock over this tragedy. The assistant superintendant of schools spoke to the AJC about the closely-knit community and their care for one another: " 'Words do not fully capture the pain our hearts feel at this time; and we join with [the family] as we grieve together.' "

We are often reminded of the importance of wearing white or reflective gear at night while walking or riding a bicycle. But we do not want to be reminded due to a tragedy.

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys blog is very sad to report of just such a tragedy involving two Georgia teens that died earlier this week while walking on a rural road at night. They were not wearing white, reflective clothing or carrying flashlights.

We do not know whether the accident would have been avoided had the teens been more visible, but it is important to take every precaution possible in the circumstances in which these Georgia teens were killed. Our hearts go out the families of these fine teenagers.

The August Chronicle reports that two Hephzibah teenagers, who were walking along a rural dark road with two other friends at about 8 in the evening, were struck and killed by a driver of a Jeep. The two teens that had been hit died on the scene. Apparently the teens had attended a church service and were walking to a friend's home when the tragedy occurred.

It has not yet been determined whether the driver was speeding as he rounded a curve and struck the teens. The driver is a 20-year old man who has not yet been charged with any crimes related to the deaths and it is not yet clear whether he will be charged at all. It is also unclear where the teens were standing when they were struck as some accounts say they were on the side of the road and others say they were walking across the street.

The parents of the teens seem to be handling their grief as well as could be expected in these circumstances. One of them has constructed two crosses on the side of the road where the incident occurred which is permissible on rural roads in Georgia.

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys blog wants to take this opportunity and this tragedy to remind everyone that it is important to be visible to drivers while walking or riding a bike at night. Putting a small flashlight in your kids' backpacks or wearing jackets and shoes that have reflective strips will help avoid this type of tragedy if your kids end up walking home in the dark.

Last month, the Georgia Department of Transportation took a big turn on roadside memorials. These are the memorials we have all seen along highways and roads that are constructed by family members and friends after a loved one has died in a fatal motor vehicle accident.

Now the Georgia DOT says these memorials along state and federal highways pose a road hazard for drivers who move their eyes away from the road to take a look at the memorial and become distracted. They say they intend to remove them over time as the roadsides are maintained. This does not apply to city and county roads.

We know from the use of technology within a vehicle such as texting while driving, that when drivers move their eyes away from the road it can be deadly. Presumably, it is a similar safety concern for drivers whose attention is drawn to the make shift memorials that often include messages, flowers and religious symbols, such as a cross.

The families of loved ones who have tragically died in a fatal accident on Georgia's roads have been given an alternative by the DOT. The state is offering a more "uniform" solution to the public memorial. They will issue a sign at the cost of $100 that will include the deceased person's name and the notation "Drive Safely, In Memory" and will give the sign to the person who paid for it, after it has stood for one year. No other memorials will be permitted on Georgia's roads. The application for this sign can be viewed here.

According to a recent account in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, some family members are taking the news of this development very hard. Many bereaved families use the memorials they have created as part of their grieving process and for them it might not be the same creating an individualized memorial for their loved one.

In its Highway Safety Memorial Markers policy statement, the DOT states: "The policy is to provide guidance for the application process and uniform design and placement of memorial markers within the State Highway rights of way."

Although the agency appears to understand that this change is not going to be easy for some families to accept, the DOT's policy on this issue stems from the fact that nearly 1500 people die on Georgia's roads annually.

A big factor in the dangers of the memorials constructed by families and friends is the proximity to the edge of the road. When people gather around these memorials they can be at risk of being hit or killed themselves by oncoming traffic.

Last week, a woman from Norcross was awarded a $1.14 million by a Fulton County jury. The case is an example of the serious injuries that can result from a mere walk on a city sidewalk.

In this case, the woman suffered permanent damage to her foot while walking on an Atlanta sidewalk that had a dangerous condition about which the city knew or should have known.

The accident occurred nearly seven years ago. It took place while the woman was walking across a street at the intersection of Pryor Street and Upper Alabama Street. Her heel was caught in loose concrete on the sidewalk. This resulted in a fall in which she injured her ankle so severely that she had to undergo several surgeries.

Her lost earnings were over $100,000, but the majority of the monetary verdict awarded in Fulton County was over $1 million was for pain and suffering.

This case is a very unfortunate, but common example about how severe injury can be the result of something as simple as walking on a sidewalk. Lives can be forever changed in these circumstances.

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog wants to remind our readers that if you have tripped or fallen on a sidewalk or elsewhere, you might be entitled to recover damages from the property owner who can be held responsible for maintaining safe conditions.