Automobile Accidents

August 3, 2015

The Blood Test You Need If You Have A Suspected Brain Injury

Each year, more than 1.4 million people will suffer a brain injury from a car accident, fall, assault or some other cause. The brain is incredibly complex and so is the treatment of brain injuries. Primarily, physicians have relied upon CAT scans and physical symptoms such as loss of consciousness, dizziness, nausea, slurred speech, confusion and the like to determine the severity of the brain injury.

But both of those methods have their limitations. For instance, CAT scans can only detect if there is cranial bleeding. They are unable to detect damaged brain cells that are not bleeding. As for the physical symptoms, they may not always be detected or reported. For instance, in a car accident, a person may lose consciousness for a short period of time and regain it before any emergency medical personnel reach the scene. Or with a young infant who has not yet learned to talk, it would be difficult to know if the child was slurring its speech or was dizzy, etc. Continue reading

June 25, 2015

A Man Walks Into A Bar . . .

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

And stabs and kills his mother’s boyfriend. The parents of the murder victim sue the restaurant and win $40 million dollars. Probably not the punchline you were expecting and you might be wondering how the restaurant is to blame. Well, let me give you a few more facts. Continue reading

June 8, 2015

New Technology To Prevent Drunk Driving

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) will prevent a car from moving if the driver has a blood alcohol concentration at or in excess of .08, which is the legal limit in all 50 states. The technology is available in two forms: breath analysis and touch analysis. With breath analysis, the driver simply exhales normally into the device for an instantaneous measurement. And for those with a germ phobia, you do not have to actually touch your mouth to anything. The system is contact- free. The touch system measures BAC under the skin’s surface via the use of an infrared light at the fingertip. So when will it be available and where? Continue reading

June 4, 2015

100 Deadliest Days of Driving for Teens

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Car crashes are the number one cause of death for teenagers. And according to AAA, the deadliest days of driving for teens are the 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day. With teens out of school, they are on the roads much more and often have other passengers in their vehicles with them. Below are some statistics for teen drivers in Tennessee and some tips on how to keep your teenager safe during this peak accident time.

First, let’s look at teen driving statistics for some Tennessee counties. Listed below are the counties with the highest young driver (ages 15-24) crash rate rank for 2014 and the number of crashes for each county: Continue reading

May 29, 2015

Whipped Cream: Bad for the Hips and Your Criminal Record

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Last week, a Franklin woman drove her Lexus SUV into a ditch. After she managed to get her vehicle out of the ditch, she proceeded along Battle Avenue until she crashed into a brick mailbox. When police arrived on the scene, they found the driver disoriented. Upon searching her vehicle, they found 13 cans of nearly empty whipped cream. According to reports, the driver had been huffing the aerosol in the whipped cream cans in order to get high.

Of course, a natural reaction upon hearing this story is to titter and then crack all sorts of wise comments. But, we need to remember that impaired driving is impaired driving. It really does not matter whether you impairment stems from alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, whipped cream or something else. If you are impaired, you should not be driving. Fortunately, for this woman, she did not hurt anyone else or herself. So how common is this problem? Continue reading

May 18, 2015

Preventing Wrong-Way Accidents

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Wrong-way accidents are just as the name implies: an accident caused by another driver going the wrong way on a street, highway or interstate. Wrong-way accidents are not terribly common but when they occur they typically involve a fatality because the impacts are usually head-on and severe. In fact, more than 350 people are killed each year in wrong-way accidents.

By and large, wrong-way accidents involve a driver who is impaired by alcohol. So then, it will probably not surprise you to know that you are more likely to be the victim in a wrong-way accident at night and on weekends. You are also more likely to be involved in a wrong-way accident if you are driving in the lane closest to the median. Why? Because the wrong-way driver will typically move to the far right lane thinking it is the slow lane. Since they have been drinking, they choose this lane so they do not get pulled over for speeding. Finally, older drivers are over-represented in wrong-way accidents. Aside from cracking down on drunk driving, what can be done to prevent wrong-way accidents? Continue reading

April 29, 2015

I Was Not Wearing My Seatbelt At The Time of the Wreck. Will That Hurt My Case?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

It depends upon the type of claim you have. If you have been injured in a car wreck, you may have multiple claims. Of course, you have a claim against the other driver who caused the accident. But, you may also have a claim against your own insurance carrier if the other driver was not insured or not adequately insured to compensate you for all your damages. If the other driver had been drinking before the accident, you may have a liquor liability claim if the other driver was overserved at a restaurant or bar. If your vehicle failed to perform as designed in the accident, such as the airbags failed to deploy, you may have a product liability claim against the automaker. If the accident happened in a construction zone that was improperly marked, you may have a claim against the construction company. Other claims might also be possible.

In most of these cases, the fact that you were not wearing your seatbelt, or that you were cited for failing to wear your seatbelt, is NOT admissible based on a Tennessee statute, T.C.A. 55-9-604. In other words, the other side will not be able to bring it up in your case. Below is a handy-dandy list on whether the seatbelt issue could hurt you in your type of case: Continue reading

April 27, 2015

Is The Other Driver’s Traffic Citation Admissible In My Injury Case?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Here is the scenario: You are lawfully passing through an intersection when you are struck by another vehicle that ran the red light. Police respond to the scene and investigate the accident. After talking to witnesses, the police issue the other driver a citation for running the red light. Because you were injured in the wreck, you hire a lawyer (hopefully us) to file a lawsuit for your damages. As part of that litigation, you want to know if the citation is admissible to help prove your case.

So what is the answer? It depends. Sorry, we know folks hate those kind of answers but here is why we say that. A traffic citation is sort of like being arrested – it is not proof of anything unless there is a finding of guilt. So if the other driver’s traffic citation is tried and he either pleads guilty or is found guilty of running the red light, then the finding or conviction may be used in the civil case. But what if there is not a guilty plea or guilty finding?

April 23, 2015

New State Legislation for Uber, Lyft and Other Ride-Sharing Companies

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

SB 0907/HB 0992 seeks to establish requirements for transportation network companies (TNC). The bill defines a TNC as a business that operates suing a digital network to connect drivers and customers/passengers for prearranged rides. Taxi services, shuttle services, limousine services and other private passenger services are not subject to the bill.

The bill has several positive features for Tennessee consumers. Below is a summary of some of the key provisions:

April 17, 2015

Distracted Driving: You Shouldn’t Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. While texting and driving gets a lot of attention (and for good reason), there are many forms of distracted driving, just as many laws that relate to it and, the good news, plenty of strategies for preventing it. Let’s review, shall we?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorize distracted driving into three forms: visual (taking your eyes off the road), cognitive (letting your mind wander from the task of driving) and manual (taking your hands off the steering wheel). Some of the more common forms of distracted driving are texting while driving, eating while driving, using a navigation system, putting on make-up and daydreaming.