Litigation is fighting with rules, confrontation with a referee. Most people do not enjoy confrontation, and for others, it brings out their worst. If you are involved in litigation or have a claim that may result in litigation, please take our advice: don’t get cute. A few news articles lately have shown what happens when people try to get cute during litigation. Continue reading
May is National Walking Month. Walking is a fabulous form of exercise. It also helps reduce carbon emissions, allows you to see a city or area more closely, decreases road congestion and saves money. But, walking can also be dangerous. Pedestrian fatalities have increased every year for more than a decade and pedestrians now account for 17% of all fatalities involving cars and trucks. In 2021 (which is the most recent data-analyzed year) there were 1,512 pedestrian involved crashes in the State of Tennessee. In the country as a whole, a pedestrian is killed every 81 minutes. Nashville’s data has been released for 2022 and the city saw a record high 49 pedestrians killed. Read on to refresh yourself on Tennessee pedestrian law and some things you can do to help reverse this trend. Continue reading
Drivers are using their cellphones during 58% of trips taken, an 8% increase from just 3 years ago. Just as alarming, the amount of time drivers are interacting with their phones while driving increase by 23% during that same time period. In 2020, drivers would interact with their phone while driving for 1 minute and 47 seconds. A recent report indicates that has now increased to 2 minutes and 12 seconds. Not surprisingly, all of this distracted driving is literally killing people. Accidents involving cars, bicycles and pedestrians are all up because distracted drivers are 2.4 times more likely to cause a crash. Read on for more scary statistics and tips to protect yourself. Continue reading
Perhaps, too many of us watched an excessive number of Smoky & The Bandit reruns or thought Ricky Bobby of Talladega Nights should be used for driving inspiration. We don’t know the cause, but we do know this: the South is a dangerous place to drive. In fact, according to recently released federal statistics, 8 of the top 11 most dangerous places to drive are “southern states”, as that term is defined by the U.S. Census as opposed to the teams currently comprising The SEC. Read on to learn where Tennessee is ranked and our number one piece of advice on protecting yourself. Continue reading
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released its report on accidents involving cars, trucks, pedestrians and cyclists for 2021 (the most recently analyzed data) and the numbers are alarming. So, let’s just get right to them. More Americans were killed on our roadways in 2021 than any year since 2005 – 42,915 people lost their lives. Another 4.5 million people were injured and 23 million vehicles were damaged. 7,342 pedestrians were killed in 2021, the biggest number since 1981. 985 cyclists were killed, the biggest number since 1980. What is causing this increase in car, pedestrian and bicyclists accidents? What are the financial costs? And how can you protect yourself from this growing trend? Continue reading
Kristen Chenoweth, the Emmy and Tony winning actress, has a new book out, and this week she has been giving interviews to promote it. In the interviews, she has talked at length about the serious injuries she sustained in an accident on the set of the television show “The Good Wife.” Lighting equipment on the set fell and hit her causing a fractured skull, a fractured rib and nose, broken teeth and other long-lasting injuries. Chenoweth’s Dad counseled her to get legal representation. She did not. She now regrets it. Here are some things you should think about if you are hurt in an accident and are reluctant to seek legal representation. Continue reading
According to recent data, in just a single year, 4,282 large trucks were involved in fatal accidents, a 33% increase since 2011. Another 107,000 trucks were involved in injury accidents. (These statistics include trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 10,000 pounds) Not surprisingly, trucking companies and their insurance companies are looking for ways to reduce the number of accidents involving their fleets of trucks. Improved technology in the cab with drivers is helping safety managers monitor their drivers more closely in an effort to improve safety on our roadways. And this technology could be useful to injury victims who are involved in accidents with large trucks. Continue reading
Lane departure warnings, blind spot alerts, back-up cameras, and automatic emergency braking are just some of the more recent accident-avoidance technology that has become prevalent in new cars and trucks. Today, we want to tell you about some technology that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending in order to combat drunk driving and the crash detection technology in the new iPhone 14 that is creating some headaches for emergency dispatchers. Continue reading
Public schools in Middle Tennessee have been in session for a couple of weeks now. And, as of last week, Middle Tennessee private schools are back in session, so every weekday morning and afternoon there are going to be more pedestrians, bicyclists and school buses on our roadways. Now is a great time to refresh ourselves on school zone safety and the penalties for violations of school zone rules. This is especially true since in 2021 the number of pedestrians killed rose by 13% and the number of bicyclists who were killed increased by 5%. Continue reading
It is fascinating to see what some people search for on the internet. “I want a lawyer and a sandwich” is commonly searched because of a popular line in the 2011 movie titled Blitz. A sassy criminal suspect delivers the line in response to being placed in police custody. Of course, most internet searches focus on more routine and basic legal issues such as “When do I need a lawyer for a car accident?” and “How do I hire a lawyer with no money?” and “Can anyone be your lawyer?” We have rounded up some of the most common questions and answered them. Read on. Continue reading
Tennessee Injury Law Center