Category: motor vehicle accidents

You may try your best to drive defensively but fail to prepare for some forms of distraction that lead to crashes.

When other people on the road look away from oncoming cars or do not check before turning, you may wonder what you can do to notice these signs. Learning about signs of distracted driving can help you stay safe on the road.

Hands moving freely

According to the United States Department of Transportation, if you notice someone in a car near you continually taking their hands off the wheel in order to pick up food or a phone, then this could be the start of distracted driving. If you try to turn onto another road, this person could ignore your signal and proceed as normal without realizing this could cause a crash.

Having both hands on the wheel at all times is important for keeping control of the vehicle. This lack of attention leads to sideswiping and other preventable accidents. Even simple distractions such as opening a drink with one hand can lead to problems.

Continual talking and glancing around

If someone is attempting to put on mascara or is twisting around in their seat to talk to a passenger, their attention is not fully on the road. Wild hand gestures or a lack of concentration on the other cars around them are other signs of distracted driving.

Actions such as using cigarettes or trying to calm a crying baby also involve a person looking away from where other drivers are. When you begin to notice these signs of distraction, you can better pinpoint the source of car crashes.

When driving, you cannot always predict every incident. If you hear a loud noise while driving, there is a chance you can blame your tire. Tire blowouts are common but according to Allstate, can force your car to swerve out of control.

After an accident, many drivers benefit from understanding how to prevent future collisions. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself after a blowout.

Why do tires blow out?

Most of the time, tires blow out because of underinflation. If your air pressure stays too low, the tires can flex beyond their normal limits. As the rubber flexes, it heats up and the rubber separates from the tire’s cord and fabric reinforcement.

Drivers have a higher likelihood of having a tire blowout when driving at higher speeds, particularly on the interstate. In stop-and-go traffic, you do not build up much heat, so you have fewer chances of a blowout.

What can you do during a blowout?

If you hear a loud boom while driving, try to stay as calm as possible. A lot of people instinctively step on the brake. Unfortunately, when you hit the brake, your wheels lock up and you can lose complete control of your vehicle. Instead, accelerate a little and steer as straight as you can. After accelerating, begin to slow down by lifting off the accelerator.

When you manage to pull over, turn your emergency lights on immediately. Do not try to change the tire unless you have room to do so safely. Often, you may not have room when on the interstate.

Drowsy driving is one of the biggest risks on the road, and one of the most dangerous forms of distraction. In fact, it is even more of a risk in many ways than texting while driving, which takes a huge number of lives yearly.

But how do crashes and drowsy driving correlate? What is the tie between the two, and what determines how much of a risk drowsy driving poses?

How drowsiness affects the body

NHTSA looks into the impact of drowsy driving. First, it is important to understand that drowsiness is more than just simply feeling a little tired. True drowsy driving can easily result in the driver nodding off without meaning to, or engaging in microsleep. This involves falling asleep for brief periods of up to three seconds. These are completely uncontrollable and a driver cannot predict when they will occur.

Deadly highway crashes

This might not sound like a big deal until it comes to freeway driving speed versus distance. The average driver on a freeway travels fast enough to cover the length of a football field in five seconds. This means that a three-second microsleep is enough to cover almost an entire football field’s worth of space.

Needless to say, it is all too possible to crash into other cars in that time. It is also possible to veer off the road entirely, or into oncoming traffic, which can lead to often fatal and serious head-on collisions.

Drowsy drivers cannot react to dangers quickly or prevent accidents from happening. Because of the risks that drowsiness poses, it makes drowsy driving a huge problem for all drivers.

Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its 2020 report on motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. According to the report, 38,824 individuals died in car crashes in 2020. Sadly, this is the highest number of traffic fatalities in a single year since 2007.

Because many Americans worked from home for much of 2020, one would expect there to be fewer traffic fatalities that year. Still, the NHTSA report reveals some alarming trends in driver behaviors that likely caused the uptick in traffic fatalities. These behaviors continue to put the lives of all Tennesseans in jeopardy.

Speeding

Many Americans seem to be virtually incapable of following posted speed limits, as excessive speed played a role in many fatal motor vehicle accidents in 2020. Put simply, the faster a vehicle is traveling, the greater the chances one of its occupants will die or suffer a catastrophic injury in a crash.

Alcohol impairment

Some drivers continue to endanger others by driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Just as speed factored into many of the fatal car accidents in 2020, impaired driving remained a leading cause of these crashes.

Seat belt usage

In 2019, approximately 91% of Americans claimed to use their seat belts regularly, leaving about 9% of drivers who refuse to buckle up. Still, wearing a seat belt every time you drive or ride in a motor vehicle is one of the more effective ways to survive a car accident. Regrettably, many of those who died in traffic accidents in 2020 were not wearing seat belts.

The NHTSA’s 2020 annual report should remind all Americans of the dangers of irresponsible driving. Ultimately, if someone you love dies because of someone else’s irresponsible driving, you may have grounds to pursue substantial financial compensation.

Life may never be the same for Tennessee residents involved in a collision with a semi-truck. The size and weight difference often result in catastrophic injuries and permanent disabilities. If you sustained injuries in a crash that prevent you from living the life you had before the accident, you might have grounds for a claim.

According to the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization, more than 2,200 accidents occurred locally between 2016 and 2019, resulting in fatalities or life-altering injuries.

Catastrophic injuries

Severe injuries that result in functional disability typically require extensive, long-term medical treatment. Some of the most common semi-truck accident injuries include the following:

• Severe burns
• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
• Disfigurement
• Crushed limbs resulting in amputation
• Traumatic brain injuries

Medical expenses begin building immediately after the crash with emergency and trauma care. After the initial treatment, your injuries may need many surgical procedures and teams of medical specialists. In addition, prescription medications and pain management techniques can become costly over time. Ongoing pain and frustration with your new circumstances might affect your mental health.

Calculating damages

Physical limitations may prevent you from working at the job you had before the crash. They might also prevent you from living independently or enjoying life as you once did. Disabling injuries result in both economic and noneconomic losses. The value of a claim depends on various factors. Calculations often include past and future medical expenses, emotional trauma, loss of your enjoyment of life, pain and suffering.

Understanding your options for pursuing a claim is critical for its success. A settlement may help you pay for home health care, rehabilitative therapy, and necessary medical devices.

Whether you ride your bike every day because it is a convenient method of transportation or you occasionally ride for fun or to get exercise, you need to understand the risks you could encounter near traffic. Every year, bicycle accidents claim many lives and far more bicyclists suffer devastating injuries that shatter their lives.

It is helpful to take a look at statistics on bike accidents in order to understand the scope of this problem. Moreover, drivers should review this data to understand how many of these accidents occur.

Bicycle accident injuries and deaths

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 467,000 people suffered injuries from bicycle accidents during 2015, and more than 1,000 people lost their lives. When someone dies in a bike accident, they often leave behind loved ones who struggle with immense emotional trauma and financial challenges. Moreover, bike accident injuries can lead to lost wages, intense physical pain, mental challenges and other hardships.

Other statistics on bicycle accidents

According to the CDC, bicyclists have a higher chance of sustaining injuries and losing their lives than those riding in motor vehicles, even though bicyclists’ trips only make up 1% of all trips on the road in the U.S. Furthermore, 2010 data shows that bicycle accident injuries (fatal and nonfatal) led to $10 billion worth of lost productivity and medical expenses.

If a negligent driver caused you to suffer injuries while you were riding your bike, you need to take a firm stand for your rights and go over options that could help you piece your life back together.

Traffic fatalities are on the rise across the nation, and Tennessee is among the states seeing especially high jumps. Studies show that Tennessee is one of eight states that saw its traffic deaths increase by at least 30% since the first half of 2021, raising questions about what transportation officials might do to help protect citizens traveling state roadways.

According to CBS News, Tennessee’s traffic fatalities increased by 30% between the first half of 2020 and 2021, with 682 traffic deaths taking place within this span.

National statistics

On the national level, there were 21,450 road deaths that occurred on the nation’s roads between the first half of 2020 and 2021. This is a notable increase over both of the two years prior. During the first half of 2020, there were 18,480 traffic deaths nationwide. In 2019, there were 18,384 such deaths that took place from coast to coast.

Contributing factors

Many of the factors contributing to rising traffic fatality rates may come as no surprise. Driver distraction is a major contributing factor, and it often involves motorists texting and driving or using handheld phones while driving, regardless of state laws. Reckless driving, aggressive driving and drowsy driving are also common factors in fatal car wrecks. So, too, are alcohol abuse, road rage and speed.

Some fatal car wrecks happen because of inclement weather, such as rain or ice storms. Others have no identifiable cause at all. In some cases, this may be because motorists are hesitant to admit to law enforcement that they were using their phones or otherwise exercising negligence before their crashes occurred.

Advances in safety over the years have made it much easier to ride in a car without fear of serious damage in the event of a crash. However, even the most modern safety technology cannot account for every potential damage.

But it is important to understand the difference that properly applying these safety mechanisms can be when it comes to serving a driver’s health. For example, how can seat belts actually minimize the damage of a crash?

Seat belts and the decline of severe injury

The National Library of Medicine shows what regions of the body a seat belt has the largest impacts on. In specific, the study examines claims that seat belts can actually create more injury in certain cases, such as sprains or even breaks.

However, the study also concluded that seat belts have a significant impact on the decline of more severe injuries. This includes:

• Injuries to the head, face and neck (29.3 percent for non-seat belt and 16.6 percent with seat belt)
• Traumatic brain injury (10.4 percent with no seat belt, 4.1 percent with seat belt)
• The severity of spinal injury from the thoracic to coccyx area (22.0 percent with no seat belt, 4.2 percent with seat belt)

Note that damage to the thoracic to coccyx area of the spine occurred at a higher rate when wearing the seat belt, though as shown above, the severity of the damage ended up greatly reduced.

A reduction of medical costs

On a whole, seat belts also decreased the overall cost of medical treatment and concerns in the aftermath of a crash. In other words, seat belts help cut down on the physical risks of crashes while also reducing the overall cost load that comes along with them.