Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog

On the heels of Toyota's massive recall of 6.1 million vehicles due to accelerator defects, GM announced Monday that it is recalling 1.3 million cars due to problems with power steering.

According to NHTSA, complaints filed against GM assert that the loss of power steering assist in many GM vehicles has led to car accidents and injuries. Owners complain that power steering assist goes out without warning, requiring greater steering effort under 15 mph. The car has to be restarted for the power steering assist to work again.

The defects affect 2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2007-2010 Pontiac G5s, Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada, and Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico. GM began the recall after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) received more than 1,100 complaints.

According to NHTSA, about 10 percent of the complaints allege that the loss of the steering assist resulted in difficulty controlling the vehicle, such as leaving your lane of traffic. As a result, the failure of power steering assist may lead to head on collisions and intersection accidents, causing possible head, neck and back injuries.

Despite complaints of the steering defect for over a year, GM just notified NHTSA and issued its recall Monday night.

Continue reading "General Motors Recall Affects Thousand of Georgia Vehicles" »

In a terrifying car accident, a Georgia automobile careened into a crowd at a north Georgia auto action and sent more than a dozen people to the hospital, including at least six with serious injuries. If you've been injured in a car accident, contact a Georgia automobile accident attorney to ensure you get the compensation you deserve.

According to the Associated Press, the Volvo's accelerator stuck as the car was being driven into the hall for dealers to bid on it.

Recently, Toyota recalled and suspended sales on 3.1 million cars as a result of accelerator problems. In many accelerator defect cases, floor mat interference has been blamed. However, electronic malfunction or electro-magnetic interference has also been suggested as the source of the sudden acceleration problem.

Possible injuries from automobile accidents include wrongful death, brain injury, paralysis, and burns.

Continue reading "Georgia Auto Show Accelerator Accident Injures At Least 6" »

According to WTOCTV, on Monday night a church van and a semi-tractor trailer collided on Highway 80 at the intersection of Old River Road in Effingham County. A pick-up truck whose driver was later charged with a DUI knocked down a stop sign. Moments later, a van was carrying several young people from a local church and went through the intersection and right into the path of an oncoming semi. The semi collided with the van, causing the van to roll into a ditch. The pick-up also ended up in a ditch and the driver took off on foot.

The driver and the passengers in the van were treated and released. One person sustained a knee injury and will receive additional medical attention.
The driver of the van was charged with DUI, fleeing the scene of the accident, hit and run and attempted burglary.

Fortunately in this case, the injuries appear minor. However, if you've been in an automobile accident, even if you believe your injuries are minimal, it's important to receive medical attention and contact a dedicated automobile accident attorney immediately. Sometimes injuries that seem minor at first may have lasting effects. Some common injuries as a result of intersection accidents and head-on collisions include head injuries, neck, and back injuries and spinal cord injuries.

Further, many factors exist in this Georgia intersection accident case - much like in any other automobile accident - which may impact fault. It's crucial to hire an experienced Georgia auto accident attorney to conduct a thorough investigation and to evaluate how all of the factors impact fault and your chances of receiving just compensation.

Continue reading "Effingham County Intersection Accident Between Church Van And Semi-tractor Truck Caused By Drunk Driver" »

Studies show that texting while driving increases your chances of crashing by 20 times. Even using your phone in a hands-free mode is dangerous since it's a "cognitive distraction" which may decrease driving performance. In fact, texting and other distracted driving account for nearly 80% of all automobile accidents.
The effects of car accidents can be devastating. Crashes may results in death and catastrophic injuries, including brain injuries, paralysis and severe burns.

According to the Department of Transportation cell phones are involved in 1.6 million accidents a year, causing half a million injuries and 6,000 deaths.

Teens are especially hard hit. Just this past December a Georgia teenager died while texting his girlfriend. Statistics show the motor vehicle death rate of teens caused by cell phones is 21 percent and rising by 4 percent a year.

A bill aimed at Georgia teens passed the Georgia House last March, but has since stalled. Two more texting bills desgined to ban texting while driving have been introduced. Because of the extreme risks involved, It's crucial we pass these laws to ensure the safety of our Georgia roadways and drivers.

Texting accidents are not limited to automobile accidents. Driver texting has been found as a culprit in trucking accidents, bus accidents and train accidents. In order to address this growing problem, in late January the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it would ban drivers of commercial vehicles from using their cell phone to send text message, effective immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2750.

Continue reading "Georgia Motor Vehicle Accidents - Texting While Driving Increases Risk of Serious Injury or Death" »

The type of Georgia auto accident one is involved in is often predictive of which driver is liable. In addition, certain types of injuries are more common with different types of accidents. For example, when a driver is stopped at a stop sign or red light, and he or she is hit from the rear, then it is almost always, without exception, the fault of the driver behind him. The citation for the offending driver is typically "following too closely". Moreover, the injuries one sustains in such a collision are likely to be to the neck or the back because the neck and spine are thrown forward when one is struck from behind.

In Georgia, sideswipe accidents, head on collisions, hit and run wrecks, drunk driving accidents, intersection accidents, head on collisions, failure to yield wrecks and t bone car accidents can result in devastating catastrophic injury. Some other types of Georgia car accidents with the injury and liability consequences are listed below

Head On Collision. Head-on collisions usually involve one party driving on the wrong side of the road or crossing the centerline of the road into the path of oncoming traffic. Head injuries, traumatic brain injuries, internal injuries, neck injuries, spine injuries and amputation injuries, including decapitation can occur.

Intersection Accident. Intersection collisions often involve one driver disregarding a traffic control device. T-bone or side impact wrecks can result in devastating internal injuries if the driver or passenger is in an impact area that is hit directly and perpendicular. Head injuries are another unfortunate consequence.

Pedestrian Accident. Pedestrian impacts typically result in catastrophic trauma for the pedestrian because she is completely exposed and unprotected from injury, resulting in severe head injury, broken bones, spine injury, road rash, traumatic brain injury, amputation injury, internal injuries and limb injuries.

Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign, Yield Sign or Red Light. Various injuries can result.

Failure to Yield. Like failure to stop at a traffic control device, these crashes can result in varying types of impacts and injuries.

Side Impact or T-Bone Collision. With head on collisions, side impact collisions are typically the most serious of accidents. Traumatic brain injury, spine injury and catastrophic internal injuries can result.

Driving While Texting or Driving Using Cell Phone. Unfortunately, driving while texting or using a cell phone is not illegal in Georgia yet, but studies find that these activities can result in a major lack of awareness resulting in major impact injuries.

DUI Drugs Accidents

Drunk Driving Accidents

With Halloween coming up soon, I would like to remind drivers and families to keep safety in mind as they have fun. Most people don't realize this, but according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Halloween is the second deadliest day of the year for pedestrians, surpassed only by New Year's Day. Not surprisingly, alcohol plays a big part in that statistic. The Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety reports that across the nation. 58% of highway fatalities involved a driver who was legally drunk, with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater. This is far above the national average for the entire year, which is routinely around 32%. As a father and a Georgia drunk driving accident attorney, I'd like to offer safety information for trick-or-treaters of all ages.

In response to the typically high rate of DUI accidents on Halloween, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety promises that law enforcement will be on high alert for drunk drivers. In fact, police agencies began their crackdown a week before, on Friday, Oct. 23, according to MyFox Atlanta. On that day, police agencies throughout Metro Atlanta set up checkpoints to check for alcohol-impaired drivers and stepped up patrols. The same measures are expected throughout the Halloween weekend that begins Friday evening. The enforcement effort includes mobile blood-alcohol testing as well as a team of wreckers standing by to impound vehicles of drivers found to be under the influence of alcohol.

Avoiding drunk driving is at the top of the list of Halloween safety tips offered by Consumer Reports for drivers. In a blog post dated Oct. 28, the magazine reminded drivers that kids may be out even later than usual this year because it's a Saturday followed by the end of Daylight Saving Time, which adds an extra hour to Nov. 1. The blog suggested to drivers that they use extra caution in residential neighborhoods and anywhere else children are gathered, driving slowly and keeping an eye on child pedestrians. It also reminded parents to let kids out of vehicles on the curb side of the road; use flashers during stops; avoid using phones while driving and always use age-appropriate safety seats. For trick-or-treaters on foot, Consumer Reports said parents should accompany kids under 12; kids should stick to sidewalks and walk rather than run; and parents should consider giving their kids glow sticks, flashlights or costumes with reflective material, so drivers can see them easily.

As a Gwinnett County DUI accident lawyer, I hope both drivers and pedestrians take these warnings to heart. Through my work, I frequently see the heart-breaking results of drunk driving. When people choose to get behind the wheel after drinking, they expose all of the innocent drivers and pedestrians around them to death and permanent, irreversible disabilities. These catastrophic, emotionally devastating injuries can throw victims into a financial panic as well, thanks to the double whammy of huge medical bills and unplanned, injury-caused time off work. And of course, the drunk drivers themselves face the heartbreak of knowing they are responsible for these injuries, as well as criminal prosecution and liability in a potential Georgia drunk driving injury lawsuit.

Continue reading "Metro Atlanta Police Agencies Plan Extra Patrols to Cut Down on Halloween DUI" »

As a Metro Atlanta auto accident lawyer, I was pleased to see that the driver allegedly responsible for three deaths in commuter traffic last week is facing the charges against him. According to an Oct. 20 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, driver James Miles surrendered to authorities at the DeKalb County Jail that day. Miles is accused of driving recklessly in the Oct. 13 incident, which caused the deaths of three Southern Co. employees in a nine-person commuter van. One other employee is hospitalized with a broken skull and leg. No injuries to Miles were reported.

The crash happened on U.S. 78 in DeKalb County. Witnesses say Miles, in a Dodge Stratus, was changing lanes in and out of traffic before he clipped the back of the Southern Co. van. The crash caused the van to flip it on its side, trapping the passengers and requiring rescue crews to remove the roof. Killed were the driver, Robert Harold Clinton Jr., 60; and two passengers, Ollie Benny Stephens Jr., 49, and Cindy Fitzgerald, 54. All were from Lilburn. Seriously injured was Courtney Hill, 25, also of Lilburn. Miles is now facing three counts of misdemeanor vehicular homicide, charges that some of the crash survivors said seemed light. Misdemeanor vehicular homicide is punishable by up to a year in jail for each offense. Felony vehicular homicide is punished more severely, but is reserved for cases of DUI, reckless driving or certain other offenses. A former district attorney told the newspaper that reckless driving can be difficult to prove.

I understand the frustration these survivors, who are co-workers and friends of the victims, may be feeling. As a Gwinnett County car wreck attorney, I see the results of careless driving through my work on a weekly basis. Even if a choice doesn't meet the legal standards necessary for a felony vehicular homicide charge, that doesn't mean it's a safe, reasonable or necessary choice under the conditions on the road at that time. However, even if prosecutors' hands are tied, surviving family members have another legal option for bringing the careless driver to justice: a Georgia auto accident lawsuit. With a legal claim, victims of a serious crash can hold the wrongdoer responsible for his or her actions and recover the costs the accident caused.

Continue reading "Driver Surrenders to Face Charges for Fatal Rush Hour Crash " »

As a Georgia defective product attorney, I was pleased to see an announcement Oct. 5 of the largest U.S. recall in Toyota Motor Corp.'s history. According to an Oct. 5 article by the Associated Press, Toyota is recalling 3.8 million vehicles because they have floor mats that, if not properly secured, may cause the gas pedal to stick, leading to uncontrollable speed that can cause a deadly crash. Drivers of the affected vehicles are being asked to remove the driver's side floor mats and wait for Toyota to call them in for a more permanent solution, still in development. More information is available from Toyota's press release, or consumers may call the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's hotline at 1-888-372-4236.

The vehicles affected by the recall include:

• 2007 - 2010 Toyota Camry
• 2005 - 2010 Toyota Avalon
• 2004 - 2009 Toyota Prius
• 2005 - 2010 Toyota Tacoma
• 2007 - 2010 Toyota Tundra
• 2007 - 2010 Lexus ES350
• 2006 - 2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350

Unfortunately, the recall was prompted by a deadly accident that took place in San Diego in August. California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family died when the pedal became stuck on their Lexus ES350. People inside the vehicle called 911 for help, but couldn't stop the vehicle before it reached a speed of 120 mph. They hit another vehicle, then fell from an embankment and rolled several times before bursting into flames. Toyota's press release included instructions for drivers in this situation to pull away the mat, brake, shift into neutral or turn off the engine.

As a Metro Atlanta product liability lawyer, I'm impressed that Toyota has taken what seems like reasonably quick action on this problem. In the past, manufacturers have not always been quick to order a recall, even when the safety problems were real and undeniable. You may remember the Bridgestone/Firestone tire recalls of 2000, which primarily affected Ford vehicles. The tires were unreasonably likely to fall apart (tire tread separation), particularly at high speeds, due to a manufacturing problem. In that recall, safety advocates claimed that Firestone undertook a "documented coverup" of problems that reached back into the mid-1990s or earlier. This claim is controversial, of course, but if there was a delay, it undoubtedly helped raise the death toll to an estimated 40 to 120 -- far more than the four deaths documented so far in the Toyota recall.

Continue reading "Toyota Recalls 3.8 Million Cars and Trucks to Correct Potential Stuck Accelerator Problem" »

As a Georgia car wreck lawyer, I was pleased to learn that the federal government called a meeting among top government and private transportation experts to discuss the problem of distracted driving. As Fox News reported, the two-day Distracted Driving Summit ended Oct. 1 with a promise from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to make new rules against distracting use of handheld electronic devices while operating a vehicle. Speakers denounced a variety of driver distractions, but a major focus of the conference was the problem of texting and talking with cell phones while driving. A series of studies that appeared before the summit made the problem explicit, with one study finding that texting increased truck drivers' chances of a crash by 23 times.

No specific legislation emerged from the conference, although LaHood said the Department of Transportation would call for permanent rules against the use of handheld devices by people operating trains, buses and tractor-trailers. However, one of the speakers, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), used the conference to endorse his federal legislation against texting and driving. The ALERT Act would require states to make laws banning texting and driving for all drivers or lose 25% of their federal highway funding. A similar law helped establish nationally consistent laws on drunk driving -- and indeed, Schumer said texting is more dangerous than drunk driving. Federal research showed that an average of 800,000 Americans use hand-held phones while driving each day.

The research on texting and driving is sobering. The above study on texting and driving found that truck drivers took their eyes off the road for an average of five seconds while texting. That's enough time for a Mack truck at highway speeds to travel the length of a football field -- without anyone behind the wheel paying attention. In another study, the University of Utah found texting increased the chance of a crash by eight times among students using a driving simulator. And federal research on actual crashes showed that nearly 6,000 people died from distracted driving in 2008. That's enough to convince me, as a Metro Atlanta auto accident attorney, that we should address this safety problem. Mobile devices have improved our lives, but we should never let those improvements come in exchange for lives.

Continue reading "Federal Summit on Distracted Driving Ends With Promise of New Rules Against Texting While Driving" »

As a Gwinnett County auto accident lawyer, I was sorry to read in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about how the recent rains claimed their first life Sept. 23. Barbara Jean Smith of DeKalb County was killed after she stopped at Spaghetti Junction to help a driver whose car had spun out on the wet roads. She was out of her vehicle and standing on the ramp from I-85 south to I-285 east when a third driver rear-ended one of the stopped vehicles, pushing the vehicle into Smith and Smith over the edge of the bridge. She fell about 50 feet onto the northbound lanes of I-85, the newspaper said, and died at the scene.

Smith's three children, ages 19 to 22, describe her as a generous person who was sometimes impulsive in her urge to do good. She may have been acting on impulse when she stopped for the spun-out driver, Donald Sykes of Covington in Metro Atlanta. She had lent Sykes her cell phone and was standing with him on the elevated shoulder of the road when Marcelino Chavez-Lopez rear-ended one of the stopped cars. The crash pushed the stopped car into the two, throwing Smith over the bridge's railing and leaving Sykes with multiple fractures. Chavez-Lopez is charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, driving without a license and failure to stay in his lane.

I'm sorry to say that, as a Metro Atlanta car wreck attorney, I have long been aware that stopping by the side of the road is not very safe. Drivers who pull into shoulders and breakdown lanes to take care of car trouble or other unavoidable problems are killed far more often than they should be by drivers who drift out of their lanes. In fact, this is such a widespread problem for law enforcement and emergency personnel that Georgia has a Move Over Law requiring motorists to change lanes or slow down when passing emergency vehicles on the side of the highway. Drivers have a legal and moral obligation to be careful at all times, of course, but it's especially important to slow down and stay aware when passing stopped vehicles on a busy, high-speed highway.

Continue reading "DeKalb County Woman Dies in Rear End Accident While Trying to Help Flooded Driver" »

The most common serious injury suffered by the victim of an auto, truck, boat, motorcycle or other vehicle accident in Georgia is a back or spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injuries are extremely serious and require immediate medical attention. The symptoms depend on the severity and location of the trauma. A "complete spinal cord injury" is defined as an injury where the nerves are not functional at any point below the injury, where with a "partial spinal cord injury" there is some nerve function below the injury.

The human body has 24 movable vertebrae: 7 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar. The spinal nerves wind through the spinal canal. The cervical vertebrae are in the area of the neck, the thoracic center around the upper back and the lumbar are associated with the lower back. The vertebrae are numbered in sequential order with #1 at the top, so C1 would be the top cervical vertebra and C7 the bottom cervical vertebra and the one above T1. An injury occurring higher up the spinal cord results in relatively more paralysis than one affecting the lower vertebrae.

A complete spinal cord injury in the C1 region is considered a catastrophic spinal injury and could affect a victim's breathing and result in quardraplegia, paralysis of all limbs. A compete injury of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae might result in paraplegia, or paralysis of the arms or legs. Other symptoms of spinal cord injuries could include: stiffness or spasticity of the affected arms or legs, loss of bowel or bladder control and sexual dysfunction.

Treatment of the injury for spinal cord usually consists of 3 distinct phases:

1. Stabilization of the injury and minimization of further injury to the spinal cord;

2. Rehabilitation of the injury so that the patient can function at maximum mobility;

3. Coping with the injury and the life changes associated with any permanent impairments.

More than 10,000 American suffer serious spinal injuries each year. Most of these occur in automobile wrecks and trucking accidents. Motorcycle accidents and boating crashes are other common causes. If you are injured in an accident, even if you don't necessarily feel seriously hurt, seek medical attention immediately. If the injury is a complete spinal cord injury, you will likely have no choice. However, even with a partial spine injury, wait for the ambulance. Adrenaline may cause you to feel stronger and less injured than you really are. You can make the injury worse if you don't stop moving immediately.

I represented a man with a partial spinal injury who exacerbated the injury by his unrestrained movement after the fact. Not only was he more severely injured than he should have been, but he also could not seek damages for the exacerbation caused by his post-accident movement, as it was not caused directly by the wreck. Don't let this happen to you. And, by the way, wear your seatbelt in your vehicle and your helmet on your motorcycle because a severe head or brain injury is not just devastating, it's likely fatal.

Hire a lawyer who is experienced in cases involving spinal cord and head injuries. The medical details can be confusing, and you don't your lawyer to learn on the job when so much is at stake.

The most common serious injury in a vehicle accident is a back or neck injury. With so many cars in Atlanta, Gwinnett County and the surrounding areas, I have seen my share of clients with major back and neck pain. Everyone understands that back injuries are serious. Tragically, the effects of a spinal cord injury are immediate obvious. Spinal cord injuries that result in paralysis are catastrophic and devastating. But, what about serious back injuries that are not obvious at the time of an auto accident, truck wreck or motorcycle crash? Herniated discs, slipped discs, ruptured discs and bulging disks are just those types of injuries. These may not be catastrophic injuries, but they are often permanent injuries affecting the victim for the rest of his or her life.

Disc injuries are almost never diagnosed on a trip to an emergency room. In fact they cannot be detected with an X-ray, CT scan or the other types of diagnostic equipment typically at a hospital ER. Instead, if an accident victim complains about a back or neck injury, and there is no bone fracture, the ER doctor will typically advise a patient to follow up with an orthopedic doctor if the pain persists. If the patient does so, the orthopedic doctor will typically advise the patient to seek physical therapy or massage therapy. Only after all conservative measures are exhausted, will a doctor order a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the affected area. Sometimes, he will only do so at the insistence of the patient. MRIs can be expensive, and insurance companies do not want to pay for them.

The MRI will show the orthopedist the state of the cartilaginous discs in between the spinal vertebrae. These discs are filled with fluid and allow the spine to bend and twist, allowing normal torso movement. When a bulging disc is suffered, the disc has swelled or is otherwise "bulging" in one area relative to the rest of the disc. More seriously, a disc can become herniated or ruptured, and all that spinal fluid that keeps the disc hydrated can leak out. The disc can then become brittle and lose its elasticity. Unfortunately, this fluid cannot be put back in, and the disc cannot heal or become whole again.

Herniated discs are very serious injuries, and anyone who has suffered a herniated disc in an accident that was caused by someone else should seek the services of an excellent back and spine injury attorney. Surgical options are typically limited and imperfect for disc injuries. The doctor could perform a discectomy, where he or she removes the shredded disc. Alternatively, the doctor may "fuse" several vertebrae together. Obviously, fusing vertebrae together does not result in the type of mobility one enjoyed before this procedure. There is simply not a lot that can be done to make the patient the way they were before. After surgery, a victim of a herniated or ruptured disc may still suffer debilitating pain. This is one reason people get addicted to pain medications.

Perhaps medical science will advance to the point that herniated or ruptured discs can be made perfect by surgical procedure. Until that day comes, one needs to make sure that they are fully compensated for their future medical costs, pain and suffering.

I am asked this question all the time in my practice by people who have been seriously injured in an auto accident, truck accident or motorcycle accident. After all, a personal injury or wrongful death wreck case is not really worth pursuing unless the offending driver had insurance, right? Well, unless the person that hit you is really wealthy, that's right. Of course, if that tortfeasor was wealthy, he or she would probably have insurance. You are much more likely to be hit by a poor person or be a victim of a drunk driver without insurance. Why is that so? Think about it. I could get into the socio-economics of that debate, but I have limited space here. Here's what to do if you want to find out if the other driver or drivers in your accident had auto insurance.

First, go to the Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Report. A Georgia accident report has conspicuous blanks for the insurance information of all parties. Police officers are required to obtain insurance for both drivers in a wreck, and I have found they do a very good job. Making sure all the parties have the insurance information of the others is really the main point of the accident report process. Contrary to popular belief, it is not to assign blame. With the insurance info in the hands of the parties, the officer and his department can rely on the insurance companies to sort out the details while they get back to protecting and serving. It is against Georgia law to drive without insurance, and an officer can and will arrest a driver who he discovers does not have insurance at the scene of a wreck.

Second, if the Georgia accident report does not exist or does not reveal the insurance company, you have the right to ask the other driver to give you his insurance information. The Official Code of Georgia § 33-3-28 (a)(2) requires an insured to disclose the name of his or her insurer within thirty (30) days of receiving a written request for that information from the claimant. If you read the statute, however, you will discover that it is relatively toothless. There are no useful penalties for failure to comply. You could sue the other driver, but you might as well sue him for your injuries.

Third, you can try the Georgia Department of Revenue - Motor Vehicle Division - (404) 362-6500. This office is the official repository for this information in Georgia. However, you need the vehicle identification number of other driver's car or truck.

Fourth, you can go to an experienced Georgia personal injury attorney. If you have a case the lawyer will accept, he will start by making a demand pursuant to Official Code of Georgia § 33-3-28 (a)(2). If all else fails, he or she can just file suit. The courts will require the surrender of the insurance information. In many cases, there are not one but several policies that can pay your claim. Many times this insurance is "stackable" meaning that you could obtain the policy limits of several policies, thereby increasing the total recovery.

If a Georgia Auto Accident or truck accident results in the death of a driver, passenger or bystander, a Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Report is drafted by the investigating police officer, just like for any other accident. However, when a fatality is involved, Georgia law requires that a supplemental accident report be drafted by specially trained officers. Sometimes these officers work for police departments, but rural areas and small cities may not possess the resources to staff a specially trained team. Usually, if a municipality does not have appropriate personnel, then the county will provide a team. If the county does not have a team, then another local jurisdiction can provide a team. If no local officers are qualified, then the Georgia State Patrol will investigate and draft the fatality accident report supplement.

What do these specially trained officers do? Well, they perform a complete forensic investigation, including but not limited to: a) an evaluation of the collision dynamics; b) a mechanical inspection of the vehicles; c) a more thorough identification and interview process for drivers, passengers and witnesses; d) speed calculations; e) time and distance studies; f) crash data downloads from on board vehicle computers on tractor trailer rigs that have been involved in serious accidents; and g) computer animations. If you have ever driven in metro Atlanta or Gwinnett, Cobb or Dekalb Counties near major interstates, you know that if an accident has resulted in a death, that the entire road can be shut down for hours. These teams do their jobs carefully, regardless of the ambient chaos around them.

The most highly trained of these Georgia accident investigation teams are the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Teams of the Georgia State Patrol. SCRT units were authorized in 1997 after the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia demanded greater emphasis be placed on forensic examinations so that serious violators of Georgia's traffic laws could be prosecuted and so Georgia DUI accident victims could obtain justice. SCRT officers receive over 1100 hours of comprehensive training in traffic accident investigation and reconstruction. Since January 1998, the SCRT units have conducted over 2000 fatal crash investigations. There are 5 SCRT teams in Georgia, spread out among the state so that they can cover all regions of Georgia quickly and efficiently.

Georgia Accident Reports and supplements for fatal car or truck accidents can be difficult to make sense of. You should contact an experienced Georgia wrongful death attorney to obtain copies and discuss the contents with the investigating officers. The reports, including any SCRT Reports, should be available through the Georgia Open Records Act.

Like any accident report, time is of the essence when mistakes are made. Mistakes can become "facts" if not corrected. Be diligent in obtaining and reviewing a report should a tragedy occur.

As a Metro Atlanta car crash lawyer, I have followed the national debate on cell phones and driving with great interest. This month, a coalition of top state highway safety officials took a bold step suggesting that they have as well. The Governors Highway Safety Association is a group of leaders of state highway agencies -- in Georgia, that's the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. On Aug. 31, the group passed a new policy calling for a ban on texting and driving in every state, calling the practice a distraction and a serious safety problem. The announcement was part of the GHSA's annual meeting, held Aug. 31-Sept. 2 here in Georgia, in Savannah.

The policy is part of a growing momentum among safety experts and some regulators to limit what drivers do with their phones. As the GHSA's press release notes, its announcement follows the release of a study by the Virginia Tech Traffic Institute, which placed cameras in the cabs of long-haul trucks to determine what behaviors led to a crash or a near-crash. The hair-raising result: Drivers who texted took their eyes off the road for an average of five seconds, which is enough time for a large truck traveling at highway speeds to travel the length of a football field. The study concluded that drivers increase their chances of having or nearly having a serious tractor-trailer accident by 23 times when they text. The GHSA also said it looked forward to the results of a study by the federal Department of Transportation investigating effective enforcement strategies.

Meanwhile, Congress has introduced legislation that would tie a ban on texting and driving to federal highway funding, much as it once did for Georgia drunk driving laws. And on Sept. 30, the federal Secretary of Transportation will hold a summit on distracted driving, including but not limited to texting while driving. As a Georgia auto accident attorney, I am pleased that distracted driving is getting attention at the highest levels of our nation's government. A previous study by the Virginia Tech institute found that distracted driving was a major cause of crashes and near-crashes -- almost as common as speeding. It found that anything that took the driver's eyes off the road for two seconds or more could substantially raise the chance of a crash, including cell phones, but also sleepiness, rubbernecking, eating, makeup or shaving and reaching for objects inside the vehicle.

Continue reading "State Traffic Safety Experts Call for National Ban on Texting and Driving at Georgia Meeting" »