Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

Yesterday was a bad rush hour in Atlanta, with constant rain and poor visibility. Already bad traffic was made worse by the rain. It presented the right conditions for lots of car wrecks. I was heading home a little early but it was still just dusk…still enough light for street lights not to be on, but dark enough to present a real hazard to the Atlanta motoring public, especially with the rain. A driver directly in front of me on East Rock Springs Road in Atlanta, without any warning or explanation, ran right over a traffic calmer that looked similar to the one in the photo above. But this one was not exactly the same, because it didn’t have the proper markings or signage as the one above does. This driver ran right on top of the calmer, flattening three of his tires, knocking various things off his car and causing sparks to fly in the air. He couldn’t have been going faster than 30 m.p.h., because that’s how fast I was going and I was right behind him. That touch up with the “traffic calmer” undoubtedly cost that young man a lot of money in repairs to his car. Not much of a “calmer” to him! Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be injured.

There is a manual that all road engineers and departments of transportation, including the Georgia Department of Transportation, must follow when installing these obstacles in the middle of a perfectly good street. It is the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, known as the MUTCD, and it mandates that traffic calmers must have sufficient markings and signage to warn drivers of its existence. The fact that this unsuspecting driver yesterday drove right on top of the thing suggests this one was not properly marked. There are many ways to mark a traffice calmer to warn drivers, including reflectorized tape around the curb, or even delineator posts, as shown below.

This accident yesterday I saw harmed only the car, but it is not difficult to understand how these “calmers’ can do the exact opposite of what is intended and actually cause harm to a driver. These things are seemingly being installed everywhere these days. New ones have just been installed on 14th Street and Peachtree Street in Midtown between 14th and 15th. I have to try to avoid running over them every day. One particularly hazardous “calmer” is found on Peachtree Street in Buckhead near its intersection with Piedmont Road. It proved deadly when it lacked any lighting, lacked any reflectorized tape or paint, lacked any delineator posts and had no signage. Drivers at that time didn’t stand a chance against it.

In the wake of the tragic New Year’s Eve car wreck that killed Kathy Porter, the wife of Atlanta Braves trainer, Jeff Porter, many lay folks have asked me, since my practice in Atlanta is exclusively plaintiff’s personal injury, whether the Georgia State Patrol or the individual Georgia State Trooper would be liable for causing this wreck. There seems to be absolutely no dispute the Georgia State Trooper was at fault in causing this wreck. http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/witness-gives-account-of-1283677.html The question arises, however, whether the State of Georgia would be liable for the State Trooper’s recklessness? Or would the State of Georgia be able to avoid liability by asserting the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity, which allows the State in some instances to avoid civil liability completely?

The Georgia State Tort Claims Act (GTCA) allows injured individuals to hold the State of Georgia responsible for their injuries caused by the negligence or carelessness of State actors/employees in limited scenarios. First, the injured party must give the State of Georgia and the agency involved “ante litem notice,” or notice of the intent to bring a claim against the State, within 12 months of the negligent act or incident. Then the negligent act must fit squarely within the types of act for which the GTCA allows liiability; there are many exceptions in the statute itself.

And there are some trade-offs for even being able to bring suit against the State of Georgia. For example, one such trade-off is that the State’s liability for anything, no matter how egregious the conduct, is limited to $1 Million dollars. That means in any case in which a State employee’s negligence results in the death of another human being, the most the family of the decedent can recover is $1 Million dollars. And surely we can all agree that the value of the life of anyone is greater than a mere $1 Million dollars. Another such trade-off is the State of Georgia can never be punished by punitive damages, regardless of how unconscionable the subject incident was. For example, in the Kathy Porter case, there is evidence that this particular State Trooper had caused four prior wrecks. If we were talking about a private corporation’s employee who had caused four prior wrecks and killed someone in his fifth, a jury could decide to punish that corporation for continuing to employ that reckless employee by awarding punitive damages against the employer. Not so against the State of Georgia.

I often represent the familes who have lost loved ones in car wrecks on Metro Atlanta roads. It is always a painful time as they share with me the details of their loved one’s death. Last night’s killing of two teenagers by a distracted driver must be one of the worst things these two families have ever gone through and my heart goes out to them. Last night two teenagers were killed while walking in the emergency lane of Georgia Highway 138 in Stockbridge, Clayton County, Georgia. A third teen was struck in the same collision and remains hospitalized in critical condition.

We all know by now that texting while driving (TWD) is illegal. But there is strong evidence that simply talking on a cell phone while driving is just as distracting. In the Clayton County collision last night, the at-fault driver apparently was arguing with her husband on the phone. This argument or “conversation” was distracting enough to cause her to leave the laned highway, go into the emergency lane and strike three pedestrians, hard enough to kill two and seriously injure one. What in the world is going on here in Georgia with distracted driving? This is a problem that should worry us all, whether we’re in another car or pedestrians.

The hitting of pedestrians in Atlanta and Georgia has become all too commonplace. Just two weeks ago a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for vehicular homocide in striking and killing a pedestrian in Carroll County, Georgia. Earlier this month a Georgian citizen who was a pedestrian was struck and killed by a car on Savannah Highway. Most of us have heard about the mother in Cobb County whose child was struck and killed as a pedestrian crossing busy Austell Road and the Cobb County District Attorney proscecuted the mother for vehicular homocide, even though she and her children were pedestrians.

Many Georgia parents are saying prayers of thanks tonight that no one was injured in the latest bus crash in Georgia. This latest crash near Macon, Georgia involved a bus loaded with Gwinnett County students coming home from Orlando, Florida following a school choir trip. Many of the bus passengers were injured, many with broken bones and other orthopedic injuries. I am sure this most recent bus crash has reminded many of us of the Bluffton, Ohio bus crash, also on I-75, that occured in 2007 here in Atlanta. Obviously, a parent’s worse nightmare.

Reports indicate the bus driver may have been following another vehicle too closely, leading to the wreck. Parents also report not being told of the accident for hours. Forty-seven (47) passengers were reportedly injured.

This bus crash also brings to light the issue of having seatbelts in buses, and I mean buses of any type, from charter buses like this one to Georgia school buses. With Bluebird bus manufacturer in Georgia, the country’s largest manufacturer of school buses right here in our very own state, it makes one wonder how many more people, including children, will have to be injured before seatbelts are made mandatory. I advocated this back in 2007 with the Bluffton crash. Had there been seatbelts in the Bluffton bus, lives would have been saved and young men would not have become paralyzed.

I was saddened to learn of the death of a DOT Hero Unit employee today while he was doing his job helping a stranded motorist on the side of I-85. My deepest sympathies go out to the family of the deceased DOT employee. As a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer here in Atlanta who represents family members who have lost loved ones, I have seen first hand the depth of grief caused by the sudden loss of a beloved family member.

This tragedy todays brings to light the truth of how dangerous many Georgia Department of Transportation jobs are. Since 1973, 56 Georgia DOT employees have been killed in construction zones. Construction zones are inherently dangerous places, but today’s DOT employee death happened on an Interstate Highway, not a construction zone. It has been reported that it was a Ford F-450 truck pulling a landscaping trailer that hit and killed this man on I-85. Georgia law requires vehicles to move into the next lane when there is either a police officer or other emergency vehicle in the emergency lane giving assistance. The Ford F-450 driver apparently didn’t do that, so it would not surprise me if vehicular homocide charges are filed against this individual. Clearly, he is at fault in this wreck. Remember, under Georgia law, vehicular homocide is death by vehicle where the at fault driver was simply careless or negligent; drugs or alcohol do not necessarily have to be involved. The concept of “negligence” is an unintentional act that reasonably prudent people would not do. Violation of a statute, such as the one requiring drivers to move over into the next lane when there is emergency personnel present in the emergency lane or shoulder, can be evidence of negligence. Said another way, a reasonably prudent person would have done something different.

Although bringing charges against the at fault driver of the Ford F-450 won’t bring back the loved one, it does sometimes give the family a sense of justice that can be instrumental in helping the family cope with their sudden loss.

As a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney, I often have the difficult job of representing the family members or next-of-kin in wrongful death cases in which a loved one has been killed in a wreck. That sometimes includes motorcyclists, bicyclists and even riders of ATV’s.

I saw that another Georgia motorcyclist was killed late Thursday when he collided with a vehicle that had pulled into his path.

According to ajc.com, the wreck happened about 10:30 p.m. at the intersection of Ga. 85 and Porter Road in Fayetteville. The young motorcyclist was operating a 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle northbound on Ga. 85 when a 1994 Jeep Wrangler, driven by an 18 year old, making a left turn from Porter Road pulled into his path.

It is a morbid statistic to keep up with, for sure, but one the Georgia Department of Public Safety has been keeping for years, that it the number of Holiday Fatalities on Georgia Roads. This Thanksgiving Holiday (from Wednesday to Sunday) eleven Georgia citizens lost their lives on Georgia roads. As a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer in Atlanta, who has represented many, many Georgia families who have lost loved ones in car wrecks, I know the pain these Georgia families are suffering right now, especially during the Holiday Season.

The Georgia state patrol reported 520 wrecks resulting in 231 injuries this year during the Thanksgiving Holidays, but that does not include reports of wrecks from other police agencies, e.g., municipal police departments. More people are on our roads for Holiday travel, so statistically, more people are going to be in wrecks. We don’t know how many Georgians suffered personal injuries from the 520 wrecks reported by the Georgia State Patrol, but we can pretty much assume there were numerous injuries. Many states launched a safe driving campaign just before Thanksgiving, but I didn’t see one for Georgia this year. Even other countries are ahead of the United States in this effort. For example, in 1997, the Swedish Parliament adopted the “Vision Zero” policy, which sets a goal of reducing roadway fatalities and serious injuries to zero. According to some knowledgeable commentators, when it comes to preventing death and serious injury, we too often focus on individual behavior and vehicle safety but ignore the crucial role of roadway design, which leads to one of the deadliest ingredients in any crash: speed. This is why I have brought numerous cases against the Georgia Department of Transportation, because Georgia Citizens shouldn’t let their DOT off the hook on state roadways that are inherently hazardous and that are killing people through no fault of their own.

Perhaps one Monday after Thanksgiving I will write here that the Georgia State Patrol reports no Holiday Deaths on Georgia roads. Wouldn’t that be something?

Monday, November 22, 2010

$750K deal reached in ‘Joshua’s Law’ case

By Greg Land, Staff Reporter

$750K settlement reached in “Joshua’s Law” case

1:17 pm, November 19th, 2010

The parents of Joshua Brown, the 17-year-old driver killed in 2003 when he lost control of his car on a stretch of wet highway north of Cartersville, reached a $750,000 settlement with the Georgia Department of Transportation just before the case was to go to a jury Friday.

How many Georgians have to die before the Georgia Department of Transportation does something to fix hazardous roads? At least more than one appears to be the answer to that question. In Chatham County, the interchange of I-95 and Georgia Highway 21 has been a hazardous road known to the GDOT for a long time, but it took a fatality last week finally to get the GDOT to act to try to protect the lives of Georgia citizens.

Here are the statistics for this hazardous stretch of road in South Georgia:Georgia Highway 21 off ramp

Total Accidents: 106