Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog has posted numerous examples of the terrible consequences of combining excessive alcohol use with driving. Over this past weekend in Cobb County, this dangerous activity is likely to have caused another tragic loss of life.

According to Cobb County authorities, alcohol apparently played a role in the death of a 28-year old man who lost his life while driving his motorcycle in Powder Springs. He failed to properly negotiate a curve and hit a mailbox at a residence on Moon Road, finally coming to a stop in a neighboring yard.

Although in this motorcycle accident the driver did not harm anyone but himself which is itself a terrible and heartbreaking tragedy, we know that the risk of getting on the road while under the influence not only raises the potential for a DUI, it also raises the potential for serious injury or death to other drivers.

So why do people still get on the road when they should not? This may be because of the impaired judgment that goes along with alcohol abuse and the fact that over time, our brains can deteriorate with substance and alcohol abuse and impair our judgment to even a greater extent than an occasional lapse in good thinking. Over the next several weeks, the Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog will be posting on brain health and how you can protect your brain, the most important organ in the human body. Having good brain health is important for recovery from injuries that can happen in one's life, such as a simple concussion from a motor vehicle accident.

In our Georgia community, the tragedy of car and motorcycle accidents involving drugs or alcohol is all too common. We also know that Georgia's laws, and often its juries, treat the perpetrators of death or injury in these cases with much more harsh consequences when substance abuse is involved in an accident.

Three years after causing a
Gwinnett County car accident in which one Georgia woman was left brain dead, a Duluth man has finally been formally indicted for the crime. According to the indictment, in the 2007 crash, Scott Michael Rynning was driving under the influence of alcohol and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. Both are sedatives, and in combination they can create extremely unsafe conditions for driving.

The indictment carried six charges: felony serious injury by vehicle, failure to maintain lane, two counts of driving under influence of alcohol, one count of driving under influence of a controlled substance, and one count of driving under influence of alcohol and drugs together.

Perhaps the worst part is that, according to Gwinnett County jail records, Rynning was also arrested for a similar crime in 2008--after this accident occurred. This suggests he is a repeat offender for driving under the influence in Georgia. They say that old habits die hard, but it's a particular shame when those habits destroy the lives and livelihood of others. Being a repeat offender certainly won't help Rynning's case in this indictment, being one more piece of evidence pointing to his reckless driving behavior. Let's hope he at least learns his lesson this time and stops driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol for good.

Today marked the trial date for Carmon Cody Rhoden, 22, who was charged with killing four in a Gwinnett County drunk driving car accident in March 2008.

The wreck, called the deadliest accident on Northeast Georgia's I-85 in more than 15 years, happened just after Rhoden attended an Atlanta Braves game, where police say he was seen drinking several beers. Witnesses estimated his car was swerving down I-85 at more than 110 miles per hour. At that speed, he clipped an SUV limo, causing a multi-car pileup. But instead of pulling over and accounting for his actions, Rhoden continued on to the next highway exit, parked his wrecked car and called his father to take him home.

Meanwhile the limo, which had been taking a family home from the airport, took the brunt of the force. Four of its seven occupants, including its driver, were killed: Alex Randle, 14; Whitney Randle, 21; Whitney's infant son Kayden; and limo driver Mark Anthony Gay, 44; all of Lawrenceville.

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.

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

Traumatic brain injuries are devastating for the victim. Impairments vary depending on the type of trauma. An accident resulting in a seizure disorder can leave the victim many functional faculties of her brain, but the seizure patient is always anxious, afraid that a seizure might occur at an inopportune time. I have represented many clients with seizure disorders that were caused by head trauma. In fact, my very first client suffered a seizure disorder as a result of a serious traumatic injury. Because of the side effects, he was unable to take dilantin to treat the seizure, so he had to seek other medications. Seizure medications are often expensive, physically draining and have side effects that are very difficult to tolerate.

The science of brain injury is complicated and sometimes difficult to decipher, even for expert doctors, and seizure disorders are one area of medicine that has not been adequately understood. This is changing. Modern medicine has developed devices that fit inside the head and countermand the electrical impulses that can lead to seizures. However, many more years of clinical tests are necessary before many of these mysteries will be unlocked. Many times the seizures can be controlled, but they are usually present for the life of the patient.

Brain injuries from traumatic accidents like automobile accidents, boating accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, premises liability and other types of injuries that occur because of someone else's fault are particularly devastating because they occur without warning and without any opportunity to prepare you or your family financially, emotionally or logistically. Epileptics and other seizure disorder patients often are not allowed to drive or operate heavy equipment. This affects their mobility and their ability to maintain employment. If the uncertainty and upheaval associated with a traumatic brain injury has affected you or someone in your family, contact a well respected Georgia brain injury and seizure injury attorney.