Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

As a plaintiff's personal injury attorney who handles a wide variety of car wreck cases in Atlanta and the surrounding Metro area, I am sometimes, though not that often, asked to represent people in hit and run incidents. I say not that often because I don't think many people know that their own car insurance may provide coverage to them when they are involved in a hit and run incident, especially when they are hit as a pedestrian. That may come as a surprise to you. It does to many people, including even other lawyers and judges. Unless you routinely handle car wreck cases as a lawyer, you may not be aware that your uninsured motorist coverage (UM) that you have purchased on your own vehicle also provides insurance coverage when you are hit while a pedestrian by a hit and run car.

But the insurance carriers know it, and once you try to make a claim on your car insurance policy for injuries sustained while a pedestrian, that's when the insurance carriers go into full press mode to trot out every excuse in the book to deny you coverage. It's wrong on many levels, especially when you were the one who paid the premiums exactly for that situation. It may even border on fraudulent, because they certainly don't explain that to you when you are paying them the premiums!

This unjust situation came to mind recently as I read a story about a young UGA student who was hit by a hit and run driver while she was a pedestrian in Athens. She was severely injured in the incident. It also came to mind because next month I will be arguing this issue to the Georgia Court of Appeals in which I represent a client who was also severely injured by a hit and run driver while he was walking across Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta. State Farm Insurance Company denied his claim on his own policy on the basis that he did not report the incident to State Farm immediately. Did you know your car insurance policy, regardless of the carrier, has a provision in it that you must report an incident to them immediately. Which begs the question: what if you don't know it's an incident that might be covered by the policy? What average person would think that their insurance policy that covers their car would provide insurance coverage to them when they are on foot? That doesn't even make sense, does it?

That will be the issue I will be arguing to the Georgia Court of Appeals next month, i.e., that no layperson could possibly be held to know that they have to report a injury they received while on foot to be able to get the coverage they have paid for under their own uninsured motorist coverage.

So I go back to the young woman in Athens who was critically injured by a hit and run driver. Do you think her parents, while they have been at the hospital 24 hours a day taking care of their daughter, would know to call their own car insurance carrier and tell them they intend to make a claim on their uninsured motorist coverage? Would you?

It is a rather morbid statistic that the Georgia State Patrol keeps but it is helpful to keep track of, and that is the number of deaths on Georgia Highways during a holiday. For the just completed Thanksgiving Holiday, that unfortunate number is 19. This is an increase in the number of highway deaths from last year's total at this same time of 13. There were also another 263 injuries from Georgia motor vehicle wrecks this year, down from 303 last year. Almost all of the fatal crashes involved either speed, alcohol, or the victim failing to use a seat belt.

The Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) hopes these statistics and their efforts "will encourage responsible driving practices, and create safer roadways throughout the communities. With this information it is our hope that individuals and organizations work to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes that occur yearly on Georgia roads and highways." You can find more helpful information at http://www.gahighwaysafety.org/.

In my plaintiff's personal injury law practice, I deal with death of someone's loved one on a daily basis. I know that each of those 10 killed represents a loving family missing a beloved family member and I know that family is grieving over their loss. My heart goes out to each and every one that they may receive comfort and healing.

Most people don't realize this, but your own car insurance company, the one you pay premiums to to protect you, is your adversary, not your friend. You must treat them like an adversary whenever you are involved in a car wreck, even when it is not your fault. If you have purchased a non-mandatory type of coverage called "uninsured motorist coverage," the minute you attempt to file a claim under that coverage your own insurance company and even your own insurance agent become your adversaries. Their sole goal at that point is not to pay you one cent under the uninsured motorist coverage. It doesn't matter that you may have been an insured with that particular company for 40 years; these insurance companies have no loyalty whatsoever. How else do you think the insurance company has made literally billions of dollars in a down economy?

For example, State Farm, one of Georgia's largest car insurers, managed a $777 million profit nationally in 2009. In just one month, February 2012,Progressive made $106.3 million in profit for the company, up 41 percent from the month before. Profits at GEICO were $587 million in 2011. These numbers are, obviously, nothing to sneeze at.

One way in which car insurance companies build up their other-worldly profits is through denial of claims, especially uninsured motorists claims. This type of coverage is insurance you buy to protect yourself in case you are injured either by another motorist who has no insurance at all (uninsured) or a motorist who has minimum mandatory insurance which is not enough to cover your medical bills. Little do you know that when you voluntarily pay those extra insurance premiums, the car insurance carrier will do everything in its power to avoid having to pay you even a dime. It becomes all out war and nasty litigation.

I am currently representing clients in two separate lawsuits, one in DeKalb County and one in Fulton County, against their uninsured motorist carrier, which happens to be State Farm Insurance Company in both cases. One issue that frequently arises in this type of litigation is whether the insured gave his own carrier "notice as soon as practicable" that he intends to file a claim on his own coverage. Many if not most citizens have no idea their insurance policy, which is a one-way contract, requires them to do this if they want coverage lately. This means if you are involved in a car wreck, even if it's not your fault, you must call your own car insurance carrier and let them know. Your policy may require you to put this notice in writing. I suggest you do so anyway to protect yourself. Get a copy of the police report as soon as it is available and send it to your insurance carrier.

This is true even if you weren't in your own car at the time. For example, if you were struck by a car as a pedestrian, and the car who struck you is unknown because he fled the scene. You would then have a claim against "John Doe" which your insurance carrier then defends under the name of "John Doe." Then your own car insurance company does everything in its power to keep you from getting a red cent on your claim under your uninsured motorist coverage. Trust me. There is an entire body of Georgia case law that often favors the insurance company over the insured (you).

Unfortunately, our Georgia appellate courts have been way too kind and generous to the insurance companies, finding that the numerous exclusions in these policies that essentially eat up the whole policy, do not violate the public policy of Georgia. One of the most recent pronouncements in this regard from the Georgia Court of Appeals says:

"Exclusions are enforceable in insurance policies generally, except when public policy mandates otherwise. Competent parties are free to choose, insert, and agree to whatever provisions they desire in a contract, including insurance contracts, unless prohibited by statute or public policy."

Kovacs v. Cornerstone Nat. Ins. Co., A12A0821, 2012 WL 5076294 (Ga. Ct. App. Oct. 19, 2012). It seems to me the selling of this coverage is, at the very least, an act of fraud because when these insurance companies sell it to you and gleefully accept your premium check, they don't tell you: "By the way...as soon as you try to make a claim on this policy we officially will become your enemy and our sole job at that point is to do everything in our power to keep you from ever collecting a dime under our policy." Shouldn't they be required to disclose this, at a minimum?

I am contemplating litigation for fraud against some of these car insurance companies. I have just had it with the way they treat their own insureds, like common criminals.

Many of you know one of my favorite topics to opine upon as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney in Atlanta, Georgia is distracted driving. I have seen too many families lose loved ones in car wrecks because of another driver's ridiculous insistence on texting while driving. It is rampant in Atlanta and all over the State of Georgia. On nearly a nightly basis as I drive home from my Midtown office, stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I see at least one driver texting while driving (TWD). I have lately even seem almost defiant drivers holding their IPhone or Blackberry in the same hand that is holding the steering wheel and texting while driving. This is NOT just a teenage driving problem; the violators I see on a daily basis almost all seem to be adults.

And now we receive a report that the tool Georgia legislators gave law enforcement officers to help reduce or eliminate texting while driving is not being used. In the two years after a ban on texting while driving in Georgia took effect on July 1, 2010, state records reveal that fewer than 50 people a month have been convicted of the offense, for a total of 1,281 convictions as of Sept. 17. Last year, there were 3,840 crashes attributed to cell phone use/distracted driving in Georgia, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. Nine were fatal and 955 resulted in serious injuries. So we know it remains a safety issue for Georgia's motoring public.

There is no question that the message not to text while driving is being conveyed by various groups or corporations as public service messages. Three years ago, before a law was enacted against it, there was not public messaging about the evils of texting while driving. Now they seem to be everywhere, both in the private and public sector. For example, AT&T is campaigning across the country through its "Txtng & Driving ... It Can Wait" program. Most news stations have public awareness campaigns against texting while driving, e.g., the "No Text Zone." Car insurers, like State Farm Insurance Company, have joined the fight to reduce texting while driving, which makes sense given the fact that as one of Georgia's largest car insurers, it must often have to pay for the mayhem caused by texting drivers. Billboards all over the state of Georgia implore you not to text while driving. One I saw recently said "TWD has G2G."

Perhaps the penalty for being caught is not severe enough to deter would-be TWDers. A single violation results in a $150 fine and one point on a person’s driving record. Does this call for the Georgia General Assembly to increase the penalty? Or does it call upon our Georgia State Patrol and local police departments to work more on enforcement? Or both? It seems to me that both private and public sectors are doing their fair share to help prevent and stop texting while driving. Parents must do their jobs at home with their teen drivers to insist their children not text while driving and we, adults, must exercise some modicum of self-control and simply put down the phone and drive. It's really a simple choice.

There has been a frightening number of wrong way car wrecks in Metropolitan Atlanta lately, four since August 15, and all involving fatalities. This is extremely alarming on numerous levels. First, at least two of these involved alcohol. There is evidence the wrong way driver, the "at-fault" driver, had consumed alot of alcohol before driving the wrong way on the Atlanta road. It is easily understandable how an intoxicated person can confuse entrance and exit ramps to a highway or interstate. But the other two, ostensibly, didn't involve alcohol. So how does a driver who is not impaired in any way make the fatal mistake of driving the wrong way on Georgia roads?

These wrong way crashes in which the "at-fault" driver was not impaired is indicative of a deeper problem, that of roadway design and adherence to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). These wrong way crashes may have very well have been prevented with better warning signs or directional signs, or warning markers actually on the roadway itself that would alert an impaired driver he is going the wrong way. The Georgia Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining our state highways, including Federal Interstates. Georgia, like all other states, has adopted the MUTCD as its policy for proper traffic control devices, which includes not only traffic signals, but all other kinds of roadway signage, markings, paintings, tapings, or actual physical barriers to roads. Supposedly, on a Georgia highway that is properly marked pursuant to the MUTCD, wrong way collisions simply would never occur. The fact that they have suggests the DOT is failing the motoring public with lack of adequate markings or signage or warnings.

Suggestions include glass beads in the road that show up as red for the wrong way driver, or sensors that detect a wrong way driver and alert policeman in the area, or sensors that would automatically disable a wrong way driver's car, or even spikes that would cut only a wrong way driver's tires to stop him before he can get very far down the road. You see these spikes often in rental car lots. The GDOT has declined using them on exit ramps, however, claiming they aren't designed for car speeds of 40 m.p.h.

So for now, all we can suggest is that you don't drive in the fast lane late at night because this is the lane the wrong way driver would likely be driving in. And stay extremely alert at the wheel, keeping an eye out for wrong way drivers and hopefully, you would be able to avoid one coming toward you. The Georgia DOT really needs to take a closer look at these roads that keep producing wrong way drivers, though, keeping in mind the safety of the rest of the Georgia motoring public. Be careful out there!

Despite attempts by numerous State Legislatures, including the Georgia General Assembly, to reduce distracted driving by making it illegal and imposing heavy fines on those who violate those laws, distracted driving continues to cause wrecks and personal injuries. The Georgia Legislature made illegal texting while driving (TWD) and yet I personally observe many Georgia drivers still holding their phones or Blackberries at the top of their steering wheels texting while driving, often at high rates of speed, on Ga. 400, the Downtown Connector, I-75 and I-85. It is infuriating.

A study by Virginia Tech Driving Institute revealed that those who resort to texting while driving are 23 times more likely to meet with an accident. A comparative study of texting while driving versus drunk driving statistics published in a leading car magazine in the United States revealed that texting while driving is even more dangerous than drunk driving. Studies reveal that a person who is texting while driving at the speed of 35 mph will cover 25 feet before bringing the car to a complete halt as compared to a distance of 4 feet which a drunk driver would cover at the same speed. According to the texting while driving death statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 5,870 people died in car crashes in 2008 alone. The same statistics revealed that 515,000 people were injured in various car crashes in the United States. Around 28 percent of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers in the age group of 18 and 29, who admitted to texting while driving. The popular belief, that the number of teenagers texting while driving is more as compared to adults, got a major blow when the texting while driving statistics 2010 compiled by Pew Research Center revealed that 47 percent of the adults resort to texting as compared to 34 percent of the teenagers. The same stats revealed that 75 percent of the adults resort to phone conversation while driving as compared to 52 percent of the teenagers.

There are numerous tools a driver has at his or her disposal now to prevent distracted driving. One such tool is an application you download on your phone that reads an incoming text to you, either on your phone's speaker or your bluetooth device. For example, I have downloaded on my Blackberry an app called "Txt U L8r." It is a free app created by Car and Driver and Chrysler that reads any incoming text to you while you are driving. I use a Bluetooth hands free device while driving and so this app reads an incoming text to me through my Bluetooth device. The app turns on automatically whenever I turn on my Bluetooth. I have to listen to a brief advertisement first that simply says "This message is brought to you by Chrysler" and then a nice voice reads the text. Then that same app sends an automatic reply text that reads: "I heard your message read by the Car and Driver Txt U L8r app and will get back to you when I'm done driving. Drive Safely. Sponsored by Chrysler." I have received many compliments about using this app. Every time a friend of mine receives it in response to a text they send me, it sets a good example and makes folks think about what they are doing to eliminate distracted driving.

The Chrysler Txt U L8r app is just one of several free apps on my Blackberry. You can also download this free Car and Driver app from the internet. There are probably similar apps on your phone. Just browse the available apps and download onto your phone a similar app that will help you eliminate distracted driving. A simple Google search finds numerous texting while driving apps, e.g., Drivesafe.ly.com. There also apps that forcibly stop your teenager from texting while driving. Some of these apps work by disabling your phone's ability to text while driving. Even some major insurance carriers, like State Farm Automobile Insurance Company, are getting into the act with their very own texting while driving apps in an effort to eliminate distracted driving and thereby eliminating car wrecks.

With so many free tools at our disposal, TWD (texting while driving) has GTG (got to go). It will save lives.

As a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia who handles a great deal of wrongful death lawsuits from car wrecks and various motor vehicle accidents, I have been watching with interest the coverage of the wrongful death case in Florida involving millionaire John Goodman. Mr. Goodman is currently on trial for DUI manslaughter in which it is alleged he caused the death of another individual in a car wreck while driving drunk. Mr. Goodman, not surprisingly, denies the charges.

Mr. Goodman has well known and highly skilled trial counsel, Roy Black, who represents the wealthiest of the wealthiest Americans when they find themselves in trouble. Mr. Black is presenting a very creative, unique defense, i.e., that Mr. Goodman got drunk AFTER the wreck and was not drunk when the wreck happened and that something malfunctioned with Mr. Goodwin's Bentley, a very expensive car, causing it to accelerate uncontrollably.

News comes out today that a civil suit against Mr. Goodman by the family of the decedent has settled. This is good for the family of the decedent. It gives them a little sense of closure, to the extent that can ever be had, and gives them a sense of justice, hopefully. In our Civil Justice System, the only justice that can be had by someone wronged is money damages, and there should be no apology made for that, because a jury can not bring a loved one back to life. All a jury can do is to make the wrongdoer pay money damages for justice.

The defense regarding the malfunctioning Bentley may open up an avenue of justice for the family, too. If there is real expert witness testimony that the Bentley did, in fact, malfunction and run out of control on its own, the family would be able to bring a viable case against the car manufacturer. It sounds like through the good work of defense attorney Roy Black half of that work may already be done, because no doubt he has already obtained expert testimony on that issue. Ironically, his client, Mr. Goodman, would be a star witness in a products liability case against Bentley brought by the family of the person Mr. Goodman killed.

Products liability or products safety cases are complex litigation and expensive to bring and prosecute, but given that a person died in this wreck involving this Bentley, the cost and time would be justified. A key to a viable cause of action would be preservation of the Bentley and lack of alcohol or drug use by the decedent. Also key would be evidence that Bentleys had a history of this sort of unexpected acceleration. But a quick Google search turns up no such evidence.

I'll continue to watch this interesting trial closely. I don't think the resolution of this will come for a long time. You can get a feel of how everyday Americans are viewing the defense in this case simply by searching for articles about the trial online and reading some of the comments from around the country. It doesn't seem like most observers are buying it.

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.

Promoters of beautification of our Atlanta streets may argue these traffic calmers improve safety...but I am not convinced. Having an obstacle course in the middle of a street for Atlanta drivers to have to avoid doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

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.

So, although there may never be full and complete justice for the Porter Family for the wreck caused by the Georgia State Trooper, there is at least some measure of justice available thanks to the Georgia Tort Claims Act.

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.

Statistics show that nationally, from 2000-2009, 47,700 pedestrians were killed in the United States, that’s nearly 400 deaths a month. In addition, 688,000 pedestrians were injured during those years. Unfortunately, Georgia ranks 10th in the United States for danger to pedestrians. Between 2000 and 2009 1,545 people were killed while walking in Georgia, which cost the state $6.64 billion. Reducing pedestrian fatalities just 10% would have saved Georgia $664.35 million over 10 years. Georgia's overall Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) is 102.9, which ranks 10th out of 50 states.

Keep in mind these are all preventable deaths. This is way too high of a death rate for Georgia pedestrians. The Georgia Legislature needs to address this epidemic of pedestrian deaths in our state. You shouldn't die in Georgia just trying to cross the street.

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.

The investigation into this Georgia bus crash continues and, no doubt, will answer many questions regarding fault and blame. Hopefully, bus drivers will become more careful because of it

Some strong issues to consider, but for now, all Georgians should join these parents in those grateful prayers for the lives of their children.

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.

Please be safe out on Georgia highways! They are inherently dangerous and deserve your full attention.

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.

The motorcyclist hit the Jeep and was ejected from the bike, and died at the scene.

So there are really two families grieving tonight, not only the one who lost their family member, but the family of the Jeep driver must also be grieving for the loss of life caused by their family member. Even though the Jeep driver didn't "mean to" kill or harm anyone, he did kill someone, and must still be held responsible. This is the definition of "negligence." "Negligence" means the failure to exercise the duty of ordinary (everyday) care. It doesn't mean you "meant to" cause harm, it means you were careless and your carelessness caused harm to someone else completely innocent. In my experience as an Atlanta trial lawyer, sometimes jurors have a hard time grasping and understanding that concept.

Motorcycles are sometimes hard to see, let's face it. We car drivers, nonetheless, have a duty to look out for them and see them. Motorcycles are considered "motor vehicles"under Georgia law. The Georgia Driver's Manual covers sharing the road with motorcycles extensively. Amazingly, research shows
that over two-thirds of the car/motorcycle accidents are the result of a car driver turning in front of the motorcyclist, just like the Fayetteville crash that occurred yesterday. Here's what the Georgia Driver's Manual says about why it is difficult to see motorcycles: "Motorcycles present a narrow silhouette and are usually much shorter in length
than automobiles. The small profile of the motorcycle may make it appear farther
away and traveling slower than it actually is. Because it is difficult to judge the
motorcycle’s distance and speed, car drivers need to take a second look, and then
a third. Its small size also makes it more difficult to spot in traffic than another car."

I know that many car drivers get irritated by motorcyclists who may dart in and out of traffic or maybe go above the speed limit; but, slow down and be calm. You may actually save a life by doing so.

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

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.

Attorney Robin Frazer Clark, who represents Alan and LuGina Brown, hammered out the deal with lawyers from the office of Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker in the closing hours of a week-long trial described by Fulton County State Court Judge Susan B. Forsling as a "difficult case on a number of levels" because of the emotional tenor of the testimony and the technical details related to the highway's engineering.

Following Joshua's death, Alan Brown established a foundation in his son's name and lobbied the Georgia General Assembly to require 16-year-olds to pass a driver's education course before they can get a license and to add a 5 percent surcharge to traffic fines in order to fund driving simulators in the state's high schools. Known as "Joshua's Law," the legislation passed and was signed into law in 2005.

The Browns sued the DOT in 2005, claiming that the stretch of road on which the accident occurred was poorly engineered and allowed water to pool on its surface rather than run off, among other defects.

Jurors, most of whom stayed behind to chat with the judge, attorneys and plaintiffs, said they had been leaning toward a defense verdict until word was sent to the jury room that the case had settled.

"It's been my calling to get 21st century drivers' education back in high schools," said Alan Brown afterward. "There's not a day that goes by that we don't think about Josh. … I don't think there's ever closure in something like this, but at least this part is behind us."

Staff Reporter Greg Land can be reached at gland@alm.com

$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.

Attorney Robin Frazer Clark, who represents Alan and LuGina Brown, hammered out the deal with lawyers from the office of Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker in the closing hours of a week-long trial described by Fulton County State Court Judge Susan Forsling as a “difficult case on a number of levels” because of the emotional tenor of the testimony and the technical details related to the highway’s engineering.

The Browns sued the DOT in 2005, charging that the stretch of road where Joshua’s accident occurred was poorly engineered and allowed water to pool on its surface rather than run off, among other defects. But jurors, most of whom stayed behind to chat with the judge, attorneys and plaintiffs, said they had been leaning toward a defense verdict until word was sent to the jury room that the case had settled.

Following Joshua’s death, Alan Brown established a foundation in his son’s name and lobbied the Georgia General Assembly to require 16-year-olds to pass a driver’s education course before they can get a license, and to add a 5 percent surcharge to traffic fines in order to fund driving simulators in the state’s high schools. Known as “Joshua’s Law,” the legislation passed and was signed into law in 2005.

“It’s been my calling to get 21st Century drivers education back in high schools” said Alan Brown afterward. “There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about Josh … I don’t think there’s ever closure in something like this, but at least this part is behind us.”

Contributor: Greg Land in Verdicts & Settlements | subscribe to rss | share

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
Total Vehicles: 221
Pedestrian: 0
Injuries: 42
Fatalities: 0
I-95 Port Wentworth reports

Total Accidents: 244
Total Vehicles: 685
Pedestrian: 1
Total Injuries: 98
Fatalities: 2

This is simply unacceptable. Georgia drivers deserve better. State Senator Lester Jackson said about the hazardous road "It's just sad that a fatality had to happen for us to start moving on this project, "said Senator Jackson. But that's what it took to get the GDOT to do something to fix a known hazardous situation, getting the State Senator (Sen. Jackson) involved. The Georgia Department of Transportation should be ashamed of its self. Georgia citizens deserve better.

The Georgia Department of Transportation recently settled a wrongful death claim by agreeing to pay the Plaintiff $600,000.00 for the death of his wife. The Georgia DOT delayed resolution for several years and finally agreed to pay the settlement just before trial in Fulton County, Georgia. The claims in this case, Heller v. DOT, which was pending in Fulton County State Court, involved allegations that the Georgia DOT had allowed trees to grow up too closely to the roadway, presenting a deathly hazard for any member of the motoring public who, for whatever reason, happened to leave the roadway. This is what happened to the taxi Mrs. Heller was a passenger in when it hydroplaned during a rainstorm, causing the cabdriver to lose control of his vehicle and crash into a tree, killing Mrs. Heller.

Georgia DOT has a mandatory clear zone requirement, as set forth in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Roadside Design Guide, which Georgia has officially adopted. DOT cut down the trees by the side of I-85 in 2006 and has a larger tree-clearance program, DOT spokesperson David Spear said. "The principal concern relative to the DOT in this issue was the tree," Spear said. "Relative to drainage and slope design we’ve not made any changes, nor are any warranted."

The Georgia DOT even apologized to Mr. Heller for the death of his wife, an extremely rare gesture by the DOT.

There is no question that the concept of a "clear zone" adjacent to a road way is for enhancing the safety of the motoring public. It is also readily apparent, from the Heller litigation, that the DOT ignores these safety enhancements that are in place to save the lives of Georgia citizens. It is also obvious that until a courageous plaintiff and a trial lawyer willing to fight for what is right takes the Georgia DOT all the way to the mat, i.e., a jury trial, the DOT will continue to refuse to accept responsibility for their role in causing highway deaths.

If you think the Georgia DOT wouldn't knowingly subject Georgia citizens to a hazardous road condition, think again.

Monday, October 25, 2010
GDOT agrees to second settlement
Family of woman killed on same stretch of highway that was cited in separate settlement to receive $1 million
By Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Staff Reporter

Randy Edwards, for the family of Jamie Webb: The road was resurfaced at a cost of $1.8 million, but the short strip that was the source of the problem could have been fixed for about $200,000.

For the second time this month, the Georgia Department of Transportation has agreed to pay a seven-figure settlement because of an accident caused by the same stretch of dangerous roadway in Cherokee County. Together, the two settlements total $2.5 million. Plaintiffs' lawyers say the DOT was warned by county officials before the accidents that the roadway was dangerous and could have made repairs for $200,000.

The latest settlement, negotiated before a lawsuit was filed, pays $1 million to the family of a 21-year-old mother who was killed on Highway 20 west of Canton, according to the family's attorney, R. Randy Edwards of Cochran & Edwards in Smyrna.

Edwards said the DOT agreed to the settlement with the estate of Jamie Leighann Webb, who was killed when her westbound car hydroplaned on a slick, wet stretch of pavement known as Knox Bridge Highway between Knox Bridge and Fields Chapel Road and hit a tractor-trailer truck headed east.

She was rushed by ambulance to Kennestone Hospital. "She lost control of the vehicle because the condition of the roadway is unreasonably dangerous and slick in that area," Edwards said in a letter to the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management Division. "Mrs. Webb was ejected from the vehicle and suffered grievous injuries which resulted in her death."

The settlement does not include the injuries to Webb's infant son, then 6 months old, who was "partially ejected from the vehicle and suffered life-threatening injuries," the letter said. The crash fractured the baby's neck and femur, according to Edwards, who plans to proceed with a lawsuit for the child when he is older and more is known about how the injuries affected him. Edwards' letter claims another $1 million of loss for the child.

Webb also had a 2-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old husband who were not in the car.

Webb was killed on April 10, 2009, nearly a year after another crash in the exact same stretch of roadway that recently led to a $1.5 million settlement with the Georgia DOT, according to the attorneys in that case, David M. Zacks and Melinda C. "Mindy" Pillow of Kilpatrick Stockton. (The first case was described in the Daily Report Oct. 15.)

The Kilpatrick Stockton client is Tameche Brown. She was traveling east on the same road headed to work when a westbound truck driven by Dr. Gregory Crawley hydroplaned and crossed the center line on a slick wet, curved slope, just as Webb's car did a year later. When Tameche was hit, she was seven months pregnant. Her injuries led to premature emergency delivery and neurological damage to her child, Miracle, who survived but suffered disabling effects.

The attorneys in both cases also cited a 2007 crash in the same spot in which a 9-year-old girl, Taylor Rainey, was killed when her mother's Mercedes SUV hydroplaned in front of a dump truck.

"It all stemmed from a defective patch that the Department of Transportation put on the road in 2006," said Edwards. Traffic wore down the rocks in the patched pavement within a few months, leaving nothing but tar on an uphill, curved road, according to Edwards, who called it "an accident waiting to happen."

"During wet and rainy conditions, when vehicles are traveling up hill from the Knox Bridge in the right, or outside, westbound lane of the Knox Bridge Highway heading towards Fields Chapel Road, there is an excessively slick portion of that lane which causes them to lose traction in their drive-side wheels, resulting in a spin-out and loss of control of the vehicles. Since the vehicles are already turning to the left as they round the curve in the roadway, the loss of control results in the vehicles crossing into the oncoming traffic lane, resulting in collisions," Edwards' letter to the DOT said.

Edwards' letter to the state also included a letter detailing the problem that Norman Hall, commander of the Cherokee County Traffic Enforcement Unit, sent to the DOT May 29, 2008, following the Brown wreck but nearly a year before Webb's fatal crash.

Hall's letter described "one of the deadliest roads in the county," scene of several fatal and many serious wrecks. The commander went on to report, "The aging of the roadway creates extremely hazardous travel conditions, especially when the surface becomes wet. The surface has worn down to the stones, which are polished, and when wet, results in a surface that is highly slippery, and the resulting vehicle accidents are normally very severe, with fatalities and serious injuries being the end result, not to mention the enormous amount of damage. Hydroplaning under wet conditions is the leading factor in these accidents."

Hall requested the "immediate re-surfacing" of the road.

DOT District Engineer Kent L. Sager wrote a letter in response to Hall's request on June 8, 2008, saying the section of State Route 20 was scheduled for bids in July 2008. Sager's letter went on to say, "Please be aware that although these sections are of top priority to the district, they also compete statewide against other resurfacing projects and with limited financial resources to accomplish all the resurfacing needs."

Edwards said the road was finally resurfaced this year, under a contract awarded in February 2010, at a cost of $1.8 million for a nine-mile stretch of highway. However, Edwards said the much shorter strip of pavement that was the source of the problem could have been resurfaced for about $200,000.

The two settlements total $2.5 million.

The attorney who represented the DOT in the settlements, G. Michael Banick of the state attorney general's office, said he could not talk about any cases and referred the call to the attorney general's press contact, Russell Willard. Willard did not return the call, but in an e-mail suggested calling the DOT. DOT press secretary David Spear has not responded to calls.

Edwards concluded: "The department of transportation needs to act responsibly when they have knowledge of a serious, dangerous situation on one of its roads. In this case, the DOT completely failed."

Staff Reporter Katheryn Hayes Tucker can be reached at ktucker@alm.com

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A San Antonio, Texas jury recently found a bus driver guilty of reckless driving for causing a rear-end motor vehicle collision while he was texting on his cellphone. The texting driver now could be sentenced up to 30 days in jail. He had requested probation in a plea deal, but District Attorney Susan Reed — who described the verdict as a warning to all who text while driving — said she'd like to see jail time imposed.

“This is setting a community standard,” Reed said after the verdict. “The jury and my office has said, ‘Don't do this. You need to resist the temptation (to pick up the cell phone). It's very dangerous.'”

Many of you know I have long crusaded on my blog against driving while texting (DWT). I was stopped in traffic on I-75 last night due to a rush hour wreck and took an informal survey of all of the drivers around me. I would say a good 8 out of 10 were texting while behind the wheel. Granted, traffic was stopped, but the new Georgia law prevents any texting whatsoever while behind the wheel. I wonder whether the newly enacted Georgia law against TWD is having the desired effect. U.S.D.O.T. studies on pilot programs show texting while driving has declined 68 percent in Hartford and 42 percent in Syracuse. It is too early to tell whether the Georgia law is having the same effect. Additionally, On Sept. 21, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off the 2010 National Distracted Driving Summit by announcing new anti-distracted driving regulations for commercial truck and bus drivers, rail operators and drivers transporting hazardous materials.

With this must exposure on the issue, no one in Georgia, or the United States for that matter, can really claim they weren't aware of the hazards associated with driving while texting. Awareness is up. Now we just need compliance.

As a plaintiff's personal injury attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, handling numerous car wreck cases, probably the saddest case of all is one that involves the death of a child. I have blogged before about the absolute necessity of back-up cameras in SUV's, vans, trucks and really any vehicle that sits high off the ground. Now I see another child in Georgia has been killed by her own parent due to the lack of a back-up camera in the parent's SUV. A back-up camera, which is very inexpensive, would have prevented this tradgedy. Many newer model vehicles now include these cameras as standard equipment. These cameras are inexpensive and easily found for purchase on the internet.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) estimates that in 2009 there were 292 fatalities involving backing over a pedestrian or bicylist. The NHTSA complete report indicates that among cases where the type of the striking vehicle is known, 78 percent of the backover fatalities and 95 percent of the backover injuries involved passenger vehicles. While people of all ages are victims of backovers, this report confirmed that children under 5 years old and adults 70 and older have an elevated risk of being backover victims compared to the rest of the population. Backover fatalities happen in a variety of areas with the most common area being the driveway, closely followed by other residential areas, public roadways, and nonresidential parking lots. Backover injuries tend to happen more frequently in nonresidential parking lots than other areas.

Golf carts are everywhere in Georgia. We see many golf cart accidents in Peachtree City, Georgia, and this one in Gainesville, Georgia sounds like it may have been caused either by faulty manufacture of the golf cart's brakes or faulty maintenance.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- One person was seriously injured and three others were taken to the hospital after a golf cart accident occurred at a political fundraiser.

Georgia State Patrol officials said 45-year-old Beverly McDowell was a passenger on a golf cart at a private campaign event for 9th District U.S. rep. Tom Graves in Gainesville when the brakes failed Friday night.

McDowell was airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center where she was listed in critical condition.

Two others were injured and taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. Their conditions have not been released.

Another passenger, Mark Marlowe, told the Gainesville Times newspaper that he suffered a broken shoulder in the accident.

Officials said the golf cart was shuttling people to the private event at a home in the Harbour Point subdivision when the brakes failed while going down a hill. The driver sideswiped some parked cars in order to stop the golf cart, which overturned and ejected the passengers.

Marlowe told the Gainesville Times that Graves spent most of Friday night at Northeast Georgia Medical Center checking on the injured.

There is a very interesting article in today's Marietta Daily Journal Online that has many Georgia citizens calling the Georgia Department of Transportation's lack of road maintenance, including the right of ways next to state roads, a disgrace. Many may not even realize the impact on driver safety the DOT's failure to meet their duty of road maintenance may have.

Budget crunch forces GDOT to cut back on road maintenance
by Kathryn Dobies
kdobies@mdjonline.com
July 19, 2010 12:00 AM | 956 views | 6 | 5 | |

Weeds stand tall beside Macland Road in West Cobb on Sunday. The budget crunch has forced the Georgia Department of Transportation to cut back on their highway cleanup efforts.
slideshow COBB - Budget cuts have reduced the fight against what one Cobb resident calls an epidemic of debris - trash and weeds along many state routes and highways throughout Cobb.

D.F. Lane, 73, has lived in Powder Springs for six years and thinks the abundance of litter and overgrown grass along the highways in Cobb has become an embarrassment to the county. He is leading a charge in his retirement community of MacLand Square to get the Georgia Department of Transportation to address the problem.

"We need to get some immediate action on a very embarrassing problem," Lane said. "We're talking about weeds on the middle of some major highways ... I think it's a prelude to a larger issue."

In a letter to the Journal dated July 9, Lane explained further: "Viewing these scenes, would you invest in a new business in this setting of weeds and littered highways? ... I still believe a vast majority of the citizens are willing to pay a half-penny or more for highway maintenance."

Lane took pictures of weeds at the intersection of State Routes 360 at 176 in Powder Springs, SR 360 at Highway 120 in Marietta, and along SR 5 near Barrett Parkway, and sent them to Georgia DOT in mid-June.

Georgia DOT spokesman Mark McKinnon said Friday that crews used to clean up the state highways four times a year, but with budget cuts beginning last year the DOT has lost both manpower and money, and now mows the highways once a fiscal year, which begins July 1. Most of Cobb's highways, McKinnon explained, haven't been mowed or cleaned since last spring.

Lane said GDOT engineer Thomas Mims told him funds and equipment to clean up the roads are limited and that the highways in Cobb are on a list to be cleaned up this summer.

McKinnon said crews have already started working on Cobb's highways, an effort that takes about three to four months to complete. He said the highways should be finished by the end of August, although he could not provide a specific date, because he said crews are given a list of roads to clean and simply work their way down the list.

Lane acknowledged Friday that a lot of weeds had been cut at select intersections, but he believes that a quick cleanup effort is not enough to turn around the streets of Cobb. Instead, Lane thinks more citizens need to take action and contact GDOT to urge them to take better care of the streets. He said the state transportation department has training for residents interested in helping to clean up the highways, something he has also done.

"We need someone to say that problem is petty, it's embarrassing and it shouldn't exist," Lane said.

McKinnon said weeds are a never-ending problem, but littering is preventable. He said litter pickup costs the state DOT $14 million each year. The department uses its own manpower to clean up the litter, but generally contracts out for mowing.

"That's really money that shouldn't have to be spent," he said. "If people wouldn't throw things out of their vehicles and just find a trash can for them, then we wouldn't have to spend that money, because it is taxpayer money. That's an expense that's preventable."

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Budget crunch forces GDOT to cut back on road maintenance

Looks like Georgia highways this Fourth of July Holiday weekend were actually safer than the Georgia State Patrol had predicted, which is great news. Ten people died in car wrecks over the holiday weekend and the Georgia State Patrol had predicted, in one of the most morbid official acts it, apparently, must do, eighteen people would die. There were 2,648 car crashes with 699 injuries.

While we are all enjoying our time this holiday weekend with our families, we must remember that there are ten Georgia families grieving over the loss of a loved one today. As a personal injury attorney here in Atlanta, I often have to talk with people at one of the darkest times in their lives, after they have lost a loved one in a car wreck. My heart goes out to them.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources also reported yesterday that boating accidents and BUI's, or Boating Under the Influence, arrests were also down. There were eight boating accidents on Georgia waters this weekend, compared to 18 last year. Department of Natural Resources officers arrested 16 people for boating under the influence, compared to 31 last year.

This is good news to know that fewer Georgia lives were lost this year on the road and on the water than last year, but there are still Georgia families grieving today.

I came across a pretty neat idea in the Blackberry App World today, an app for your Blackberry Smartphone called "Drive Safely" that reads your incoming texts out loud to you while you are driving so you don't look down at your phone and become distracted while reading that all-too-tempting text. It's a free app (although you may buy a souped-up version, too) and here's what it offers:
Features include:

-It is free to use DriveSafe.ly
-Automatically plays incoming text SMS and email messages
-Play messages on demand through menu
-No complicated software to install easy to use
-Small footprint lightweight app does not slow down your phone
-Customizable auto-response and timeout duration
-Human sounding text to speech powered by iSpeech.org

Just a thought while TWD (Texting While Driving) is on my mind. Let me know if you try it.

Many of you know that my practice here in Atlanta, Georgia is dedicated to representing the victims of other people's negligence in personal injury lawsuits. Many of my clients have been injured in serious car wrecks, some of which were caused by a distracted driver who was using a cell phone or texting while driving (TWD). Many of you know I have often written about the dangers of distracted driving and that I supported the Georgia Legislature's efforts to ban TWD. The Georgia Legislature did just that this session, the Governor signed the bill and it will go into effect this Thursday, July 1, 2010. Many other states also have new laws prohibiting TWD going into force on July 1, also, including Iowa and Michigan. These other states are facing the same questions regarding enforcement of the law as Georgia police officers and state troopers are. One Michigan sheriff said "I want to make sure our officers aren't arbitrarily pulling somebody over just because they have a phone in their hands."

So many of you may have the question of how this law will be enforced? Many police departments are saying police officers will actually have to see with their own two eyes a driver texting before they can arrest that driver. Interestingly, an adult driver may punch in (really can't use "dial" anymore, can we?) a telephone number while driving but simply cannot text or read a text. How will a police officer tell this difference? Bottom line: he won't. He will fine you for TWD and then it will be up to you to try to convince the traffic court judge he was wrong and you were really just calling someone on your cellphone, not texting. Plan to bring your cell phone records with you to traffic court!

I am convinced this new law will save lives. Just get the desire to text while driving out of your system now. You may text while driving freely without fear of reprisal up to midnight this Thursday; after that, drivers beware! In a nod to American entrepreneurship, companies that can help you with your texting while driving addiction are popping up. One example is PhonEnforcer, which automatically turns off your cellphone while you are driving if you lack even a modicum of discipline to do it yourself. Of course, if you have teenagers driving, this might be a lifesaver...literally.

In the meantime, there remain all sorts of things that drivers do that distract them that aren't illegal, including changing the song on their IPOD, putting on makeup, talking, eating, and even reading (yes, I have personally observed many Atlanta drivers with newspapers and books in their hands as they inch through rush hour traffic). But the TWD law is a start and a good one. I, as the mom of a soon-to-be-driving-teenager, appreciate the efforts of the Georgia General Assembly.

Friends: I couldn't resist bringing this article to you as an example of how, apparently, nothing is beneath State Farm to try to make a buck. How low will it go? This shows how low State Farm is willing to stoop to make a profit. Unbelievable! Take it from an Atlanta trial lawyer, don't trust State Farm.

Family asked to pay for car damage after dog run over
May 27 03:40 PM US/Eastern

State Farm Insurance has asked a Canadian family to pay for repairing a bro...

A car insurer has asked a Canadian family to pay for repairing a broken bumper after their dog was struck by the vehicle and died, local media said Thursday.
The traffic accident occurred in March while Jake, a 12-year-old yellow Labrador, was out for his daily stroll around a quiet neighborhood in Aurora, Ontario, north of Toronto.

Kim Flemming had let the dog out when she arrived home from work. Moments later, a man knocked on the door to say a car had run over Jake.

"I got to the road and he was dying," Flemming told the Toronto Star. "He died in my arms."

Two months later, the family received a bill in the mail for 1,732.80 Canadian dollars (1,648.95 US) from State Farm Insurance.

The letter said Flemming had been found responsible for damage to the vehicle. "As such, we are looking to you for reimbursement," it reportedly stated.

State Farm spokesman John Bordignon told the Star: "They could have made sure their dog wasn't free on the roadway."

A local bylaw requires pets to be on a leash when off the owner's property, but the Flemmings said Jake had become accustomed to roaming outside the family's home.

State Farm was not immediately available for further comment.

"We've lost a member of our family but we're supposed to pay for the damage to her bumper? That's just wrong," daughter Katherine Flemming said.

This Friday, April 30, is National No Phone Zone Day, thanks to Oprah. Oprah will be doing her show live on Friday here in Atlanta at the Ferst Center of Georgia Tech, in Downtown Atlanta. Oprah has created a nationwide phenomenon of awareness of just how dangerous distracted driving is. Texting While Driving (TWD) is just one familiar form of distracted driving. Our community has seen way too many teen deaths thanks to texting while driving. My regular readers know that as an Atlanta plaintiff's personal injury lawyer, I am taking on the crusade by blogging about the dangers of TWD and trying to help get legislation passed this session of the Georgia General Assembly making it illegal to TWD. Blessings to Oprah, who has a platform like no one else, for taking on this cause.

Save a life today by taking Oprah's No Phone Zone pledge. The life you save may be your own, or your child's.

I am both surprised and delighted to report that the Georgia Senate has passed a bill making it illegal to text while driving! This bill would impose a $150.00 fine for violation of the law. The bill now goes to the Georgia House for consideration and, hopefully, passage. The $150.00 fine is, obviously, too low, but at least it's a start.
I believe there is no question that public awareness about the hazards associated with texting while driving is now heightened. That is a good thing. Every media outlet seems to be emphasizing it, from Oprah to 11 Alive. Now is the time for the Georgia House to act to make it illegal. This will, no doubt, save lives. What better public policy is there than to save the lives of Georgia citizens?

If I were a Toyota owner (I am NOT), I would still be a little apprehensive about whether Toyota really has fixed the problem with millions of their cars. The latest scare, yesterday in California, involved a runaway PRIUS, with the driver having no brakes and the accelerator stuck at speeds of up to 94 m.p.h. The 911 call is harrowing.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The PRIUS owner had taken his car to a Toyota Dealership for repairs and was incorrectly told his car was not on the recall list...but, you guessed it, it was. The investigating police officer reported that the floor mats were all secure and not involved in the runaway acceleration, which brings to mind whether Toyota has been telling the truth about this problem from the get go. I
DOUBT it.

Now Federal Regulators in the Department of Transportation are investigating a similar crash in New York that occurred on Monday. The driver of the car told police that the car accelerated on its own, then lurched down a driveway, across a road and into a stone wall.

This brings into question whether what Toyota is doing to "fix" their rather severe problem is really the solution, or whether Toyota is simply trying to pass it off as fixing the problem. I am skeptical, but as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney in Georgia, I am skeptical about alot of things. Toyota Owners: BE CAREFUL!!

For my regular readers, you know how long I have been writing about the need to make texting while driving (TWD) illegal in the State of Georgia. I am glad to report the rest of America seems to be catching on. First, Oprah introduced her "No Phone Zone" pledge. This is a pledge that you can print out and sign which says you swear not to text while you are driving. Tens of thousands of people have taken the pledge. If you have a teenage driver I urge you to visit this No Phone Zone page with your teen to watch numerous videos on the dangers of driving while texting. It is extremely informative and scary.

Now even automobile insurance companies are jumping on the bandwagon and urging their insureds and the motoring public in general not to text while driving. Progressive Insurance is supporting Oprah in her no texting pledge. I noticed Melbourne Insurance out of Florida is emphasizing not to text while driving.

One neat potential solution is a smartphone app called Drive Safely that apparently will read your text voices outloud to you while you are driving. Unfortunately, although it will convert a text to voice, it does not yet convert voice to text, so it will not eliminate the oh-so-uncontrollable urge to respond ASAP to that text you just got! That will take some self-discipline!

The State of Florida appears to be poised to pass legislation banning TWD and Florida Governor Crist is supporting it. Likewise for the State of Massachusetts. And now NHTSA, the National Highway and Traffice Safety Administration is even urging states to pass a ban on TWD. Where is Georgia Governor Perdue on this issue? Shockingly silent. Where is the leadership the State of Georgia needs NOW on this issue? What about the Georgia General Assembly? Yes, bills have been filed, but have they made any progress in the intricate procedure of getting legislation in Georgia passed? Not yet and we begin the second half of the General Assembly session on March 8. I urge Georgia lawmakers to make texting while driving illegal, for the sake of all Georgia citizens. It will save the lives of thousands of Georgians.

Two Georgia lawmakers are proposing a ban on texting behind the wheel that could make the practice illegal for all drivers.

State Reps. Allen Peake and Amos Anderson have introduced bills to prohibit the practice and come with a fine and driver’s license penalties. If the law passes, it would go into effect on July 1 and make Georgia the 20th state to outlaw texting while driving. Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Virginia and Washington are among the 19 states that ban text messages for all drivers. Nine states ban text messaging for teen drivers.

Peake says the bill is a step in the right direction for Georgia. He stopped short of a total ban on cell phone use and says the legislation addresses the “more dangerous” practice of texting.

Representative Mary Margaret Oliver introduced another such ban last session in House Bill 23. There was no explanation why these two Representatives felt the need to introduce an entirely new bill when House Bill 23 accomplishes the same thing. House Bill 23 has already been passed by the House and awaits action from the Senate.

My consistent readers know I have been on a crusade to eliminate Texting
While Driving (TWD) here in Georgia. I will be offering my assistance to Georgia Legislators interested in passing that bill this session. Seems lots of folks are getting on the TWD bandwagon now, including Oprah. This is wonderful news because Oprah seems to have the Midas Touch...she makes things happen. Please watch Monday's Oprah at 4:00 p.m. on WSBTV (Channel 2) entitled "This Show Could Save Your Life: America's New Deadly Obsession." As I was traveling down I-85 South coming home from my daughter's basketball game this morning, I saw a woman in a red Chrysler Sebring hard-top convertible going about 75 m.p.h., texting with her arms outstretched stuck through her steering wheel. Scary!! I hope she will be on watching Monday.

Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve, a night when those who have had too much to drink from celebrating the New Year will, undoubtedly, be out on the road. This is known to be such a dangerous night to drive that a funeral home in Rome, Georgia is actually offering a free burial to anyone who dies from driving drunk tomorrow night. No joke! I can assure you the Georgia State Patrol is preparing for tomorrow night. They will have various random road blocks to check for possible DUI's and they will arrest plenty of intoxicated drivers.

December is “Drunk and Drugged Driver Awareness Month” in Georgia as holiday parties can increase the number of impaired drivers on the state’s roads. Leading into the Christmas and New Year’s weekends, Georgia State Troopers and officers with the Motor Carrier Compliance Division will concentrate on intercepting impaired drivers on the roads before they can cause a traffic crash. In what is one of the more morbid activities performed by the Georgia State Patrol, the GSP predicts during Holiday driving periods how many Georgia drivers are likely to be killed in motor vehicle accidents. For example, The State Patrol predicted 16 people would die
during the Christmas holiday weekend, which turned out to be safer than expected on Georgia roads. Twelve people were killed during the 78 hour period. Likewise, The Georgia State Patrol predicts that 16 people will be killed in wrecks over the 78 hour New Year's holiday period, which begins at 6 PM Thursday. Many of those traffic fatalities will involve drinking. Roughly one-third of the traffic deaths each year in Georgia involve an alcohol or drug impaired driver. The Georgia State Patrol has "Nighthawks" division, the Nighthawk DUI Task Force, which was recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as the outstanding DUI team in the nation in 2005. The Nighthawks patrol the roads of Georgia looking to find DUI drivers and get them off our roads.

Do your part in keeping our roads safe. If you are out drinking, take a cab home. This is made easier if you have the name and telephone number of a local cab company already programmed into your cellphone. Do this before you go out tomorrow night. Another option is to call Safe Ride America. Safe Ride America is a non-profit driver for hire company. Visit them at http://saferideamerica.org/ Safe ride will drive you and your car to your home or hotel, so no worries about leaving your car in some parking lot overnight in Buckhead. A third option: stay home and celebrate with your family. Who better to bring in the New Year with than your family?

Enjoy New Year's Eve, be safe and Happy New Year to you and your family.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Picks for 2010 came out today and for the first time ever, roof strength was tested and included in the ratings. This means the Institute is seriously acknowledging the likelihood of rollover accidents and the survivability of them depending on what type of car you are in. Automobile manufacturers have traditionally tried to ignore roof crush standards, but they really can't now. Especially given the high center of gravity of an SUV, that more and more Americans (including Georgians) are driving SUV's now and, consequently, more rollovers are occurring. The starting premise of the crashworthiness of your vehicle is that your own vehicle should not kill you. This means that if you are in a wreck and the wreck is survivable, your car should not cause your death. In a rollover accident, if the roof is not strong, it will flatten like a pancake, leaving very little room for the occupants of the cab. Sometimes, the roof will crush and hit an occupant's head and cause severe and even catastrophic neck injuries, e.g., paralysis. I am glad to see the Institute including roof crush standards in its report. Suburu, Ford, Volvo and Volkswagon all fared well in the safety report. Certainly something to consider before buying your next car. Speaking of which, you may also find at this link a brochure about buying safer cars. Consult this when you are next in the market for a new car.

5,000 Deaths a Year Can Be Stopped
By Tom Hodgson

Congress should be commended for its work on the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 in the U.S. House, and the Federal Aviation Administration Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act in the Senate.
The two pilot safety bills were introduced in reaction to the Feb. 12 crash of a commuter airliner near Buffalo, N.Y., in which 50 people tragically perished. The new laws will enhance pilot training requirements, strengthen background checks, upgrade pilot records databases and take other important steps — including measures to reduce pilot fatigue and provide better pay.
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood also deserves kudos for convening a conference in Washington to address safety lapses inherent in texting by drivers of heavy commercial vehicles.

But while pilot safety and anti-texting initiatives are getting all the headlines, the facts show that 100 people every week lose their lives in highway crashes involving heavy commercial vehicles.

So, we ask, what about them?

Their deaths don’t make national headlines, but shouldn’t Congress be taking action to save the lives of those 100 people killed each week? The deaths of 400 people each month in highway wrecks involving heavy commercial vehicles is equal to two Boeing 757 airliners crashing and killing all aboard month after month after month — an unbelievable, intolerable nightmare scenario. Fatal crashes between cars and heavy trucks on our highways have been at critically high levels for decades, yet there is no government or media outcry to reduce the death and suffering.

Why?

Steve and Susan Owings of Atlanta founded Road Safe America after their son, Cullum, was killed in 2002 when his car — stopped in an interstate traffic jam — was crushed from behind by a speeding tractor-trailer truck on cruise control going 7 mph above the posted speed limit.

Since its founding, Road Safe America has been joined by the American Trucking Associations, all national safety advocacy organizations, numerous trucking firms, business executives, insurance companies and thousands of citizens in seeking a national regulation requiring activation of electronic speed-limiting governors set at 65 mph on all trucks 13 tons and up built after 1992. That’s the year electronic speed limiters became standard on all large trucks.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration did not act on this regulatory request. Road Safe America and its supporters are working with the Obama administration to have the speed governors activated on heavy commercial trucks. Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, are pro-highway safety, and Road Safe America recommends citizens contact them with comments in support of speed limiters on heavy commercial vehicles.
All trucks 13 tons and up built since 1992 already come with the speed governors installed, but drivers are not required to use them. It would be a simple task to activate the governors and initiate a common sense, inexpensive regulation that would save the lives of many of the approximately 4,000 motorists and 1,000 truckers killed each year in crashes involving big trucks.

If saving lives is not motivation enough to support this cause, in this era of dependency on foreign sources of oil, consider the fact that activation of speed-governing technology is already being applied by many trucking firms as a way to cut fuel use as well as improve safety.
With a reduction of only 5 mph, millions of gallons of fuel can be saved annually in the nation’s trucking fleet.

The European Union, Australia, Japan and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec already have regulations requiring speed-limiting devices set at 65 mph or slower on all large trucks.Sadly, instead of showing international leadership, the U.S. is behind the rest of the world in this area. Australia experienced a reduction of 26.5 percent in heavy truck fatalities between 2002 and 2004 through speed governor requirements, aggressive fatigue management programs, random drug testing and seat belt promotion within the trucking industry, according to Australian government statistics.

No one at Road Safe America is anti-trucking or anti-trucker. In fact, the opposite is the case. In terms of annual deaths and injuries, trucking is one of the most dangerous professions in America, and we want to change that. We are trying to educate drivers of passenger autos and other vehicles about the need to operate more safely around large trucks because of the dangers present. Trucking is an absolutely vital industry to the economic health and prosperity of our nation.

However, by limiting the maximum speeds of heavy commercial vehicles, we know that many more drivers will make it home to their families at the end of a long run, and more motorists will live to see their loved ones again as well.

Tom Hodgson is executive director of Road Safe America, which sponsors its annual Road Safer Sunday on Nov. 29. You can read more about this important organization at roadsafe.com.

Georgians who may be planning to rent a U-Haul truck should be aware of potential problems in the U-Haul truck fleet with maintenance of their trucks that may present a safety hazard for the driver of the truck or anyone around the truck. This safety issue came to light in a trial in Texas in 2008 in which a 74-year-old man was seriously injured after a parked U-Haul truck he rented rolled over him.

In 2006, Talmidge Waldrip, a Texas resident, parked a rented U-Haul truck in front of a warehouse, set the parking brake and turned off the ignition.When he stepped out of the cab, he fell. The truck rolled, running over Waldrip, crushing his pelvis and lumbar spine, rupturing his bladder and causing a number of other serious injuries. As a result, he has had a numerous surgeries and is now partially paralyzed.

Waldrip sued the truck company, alleging negligence and gross negligence. The key to the case was evidence that the company failed to maintain the brake and transmission systems of its truck fleet properly, including the 18-year-old, 234,000-mile driven truck that caused Waldrip’s injuries. The six jurors returned an $84.25 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Talmadge Waldrip, including a $63 million in punitive damages against U-Haul International for failing to maintain its rental trucks in safe working order. U-Haul has appealed the verdict.

The evidence showed that six other renters who had driven this vehicle in the year before that had the same problem with rolling. Reports also showed that upwards of 30 percent of U-Haul’s rental fleet had brakes that were not properly working, and that the particular truck in question had been cited in Canada for poor maintenance and banned from being driven in that country. In addition, evidence was presented that the company chose to ship the truck back to the U.S. from Canada to keep it in operation.There are many U-Haul accidents happening throughout the United States to completely innocent renters.

Some of the cases currently pending against U-Haul involved trailers that were being pulled by a Ford Explorer. In each case, the trailer began swaying and ultimately caused the towing vehicle to roll over, leading to the driver’s death. Shortly after the first of these two cases was resolved in 2002, U-Haul issued a new policy preventing rental of its trailers when the customer is driving a Ford Explorer. "Trailer Sway" is a problem well known to U-Haul, although U-Haul apparently has ignored it over the years.

Was U-Haul’s announcement was nothing more than a publicity stunt? There are many skeptics who have handled this kind of case and some of these lawyers feel it is unsafe to allow any personal vehicle to tow a trailer, especially an SUV.

So, Dear Georgians, please consider this the next time you go to rent a U-Haul truck or trailer. There may be problems with the brakes on that vehicle that you may not realize until it is too late.

I am proud to represent Alan Brown in his quest for justice against the Georgia DOT for its failure to build and maintain a safe road. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution ran an article yesterday on the front page of the Metro Section about Joshua's Law, which Alan Brown, Josh Brown's father, created after the death of his son, Josh, in a single vehicle collision that resulted in Josh's death. Although the State of Georgia has collected $33 Million in fees thanks to Joshua's Law, the State of Georgia has returned only $9 Million of that money to fund Joshua's Law, which requires driver's education classes in Georgia high schools. How can this be, you ask? Isn't the State of Georgia just making money on the back of Georgia taxpayers when those funds should be going to driver's education instead of the State's general operating account? Makes sense...but that's not the way it works in Georgia, oddly enough. Just like the Georgia Indigent Defense Program, which has its own funding mechanism, it is up to the State to give that money to the program it was intended to fund. In the case of Joshua's Law, trying to get back all of the $33 Million raised by Joshua's Law into the funding of Joshua's Law is a classic David versus Goliath. The good news is that in the Valley of Elah, David won, with only five smooth stones. Watch out, Goliath!

Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist Mike Luckavich had the perfect cartoon about texting the other day. It is a group of friends at a bar and they decide to be responsible on the drive home, so one of them says "OK, so who is our designated texter?" Perfect! As you know from reading my blog, studies have absolutlely proven that a sober driver who is texting while driving is really more impaired than an intoxicated driver! Now that's some sobering news.

I have been writing about this subject for awhile, hoping that come January 2010 the Georgia General Assembly will make it illegal in Georgia to text while driving. Interestingly, now Congress is thinking about making it a Federal offense! Wow! Talking about upping the ante! The Obama administration planned to offer recommendations this past Thursday to address the growing safety risk of distracted drivers, especially the use of mobile devices to send messages from behind the wheel. "We can really eliminate texting while driving. That should be our goal," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, declining to provide specifics of the recommendation.

Well, the statistics don't lie: the Transportation Department reported that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million were injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, often by mobile devices and cell phones. This is insane! How many Georgians have to be injured or killed by careless drivers who are texting behind the wheel before it is made illegal? Perhaps the Georgia Legislature could create a new offense, "DWT: Driving While Texting"?

In the meantime, I urge you: DO NOT test while you are driving. Put your Blackberry down. It can wait until you reach your destination. Or simply pull over to the side of the road if you MUST text.

I read yesterday that a group of United States Senators have filed a bill that would make it illegal on a Federal level to text while driving. These Senators are Senator Charles Schumer of New York, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina. The measure, S. 1536, called the Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers Act (or “ALERT Drivers” Act), would apply to drivers of any car, truck or bus, as well as most other mass transit systems, including light rail. The legislation would not apply to individuals using mobile devices in a parked vehicle, nor would it apply to passengers. Lawmakers said the legislation is necessary, citing a study by Virginia Tech researchers showing that drivers are 23 times more likely to get into an accident when texting on their phones. Other studies show that the effects of driver texting are similar to driving while intoxicated, the lawmakers said.

Good for them...although I really don't think this is an issue that should be dealth with on a Federal level. It seems to me it is inherently a State issue and I register my hope again here that the Georgia General Assembly takes action in January 2010 to make texting while driving (TWD OR DWT) illegal. Other states have already taken this measure, including New York and California. http://lawyersusaonline.com/?article=432572 Why can't Georgia be next? Why shouldn't Georgia be next?

A new study by the American Association for Justice shows that 28,000 motor carrier companies, operating more the 200,000 trucks on American roadways, have violated federal safety regulations. Literally hundreds of Georgia trucking companies were listed as having safety violations. That's mind-boggling, isn't it? And scary.

There is no question that the motoring Georgia public takes the brunt of these intentional violations. If you have the misfortune of being involved in a collision with a tractor-trailer or other large commercial truck, you are likely to sustain some pretty serious bodily injuries. Another thing that disturbs me about Georgia law is that currently those tractor-trailers that travel only within the state limits of Georgia are required to carry only $100,000.00 in liability insurance, compared to interstate tractor-trailers, which are required to carry $750,000.00. Georgia is way behind on this issue. The reality is that a tractor-trailer that is intrastate (traveling only inside Georgia) is just as likely to kill or maim you in a collision as is an interstate (traveling from state to state) tractor-trailer. I hope I will be able to make some progress with the Georgia General Assembly next session on this issue.

Meanwhile, do your best to stay away from tractor-trailers while driving. Keep a lane in between your car and the truck. I once an an accident reconstructionist tell me never to drive side by side with a tractor-trailer and just let them go on down the road and stay clear of them. Wise advise from someone who, like me, had seen the end results of too many tractor-trailer accidents.

I saw this new PSA on the hazards of texting while driving on The Today Show this morning. As a mother of a teenager about to get his driver's permit, I intend to make him watch it. You can watch it, too, but, WARNING: it is extremely graphic. It graphically shows the wreck caused by a teenage driver who was texting while driving three of her friends. A terrible collision occurs and although she survives, she has killed her three best friends. Unfortunately, I have seen this scenario all too often in my plaintiff's personal injury practice in Atlanta.

For my regular readers, you'll know it has been somewhat of a crusade for me to advocate the passing of laws against driving while texting. The newest studies are startling. Recent studies show that texting while driving may be as dangerous and lethal as drunken driving. Up to a quarter of the estimated 40,000 vehicle fatalities in the U.S. annually may be traced back to distracted drivers texting. A recent Virginia Tech study found that texting drivers are 23 times more likely to be involved in a collision than nontexters. And although the AAA reports 95 percent of drivers polled acknowledge texting while driving is dangerous, 21 percent of them have done it recently anyway.

Will the Georgia Legislature take the next available opportunity in January 2010 to outlaw texting while driving? Such a law could save thousands of lives. I don't know what the Georgia General Assembly will do, but for now, concerned parents should have their teen drivers watch this video and think twice about texting while driving.

My heart is heavy and sad this morning after hearing the news that the little six year old girl who was struck by an SUV driver as she was exiting a MARTA bus died yesterday due to internal injuries suffered in this horrible collision. The driver of the SUV has now turned himself in this morning to police and faces vehicular homicide charges. The SUV driver violated the Georgia Rules of the Road by crossing a double yellow line when he struck the little girl. A Clarkston police officer who was parked on the corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue saw the wreck. He had just written tickets to six other drivers for passing on the double yellow line and was just about to go after this particular SUV driver when the driver hit the little girl.

This is a tragedy beyond all proportions. The family had been in Atlanta only for a few days having immigrated here from Nepal. She died on what would have been her first day of school at Indian Creek Elementary School. The Clarkston police chief said the driver who hit the little girl had a lengthy history of disobeying the rules of the road and that he "has no regard for the law."

So what is wrong with Atlanta drivers? Many obviously ignore the rules of the road, as evidenced not only by this horrible collision but also by the fact that the police officer there had already written six tickets for the same violation just moments earlier. Atlanta is particularly dangerous for pedestrians. My law office is at the corner of Peachtree Street and 15th Street in Midtown, and I personally see numerous drivers run the red light at the intersection every day, and yet nothing is ever done about it. One day someone is going to get killed at that intersection, and I wonder then whether anything will be done about it. Should there be stiffer penalities? Should drivers be required to take driving tests periodically? For now, Atlanta drivers should just take a collective deep breath, calm down and drive more slowly. Maybe if everyone is not in such a big hurry, they will be able to think about what the Georgia Rules of the Road require of them and maybe they'll actually follow them. Until then, Georgia families are going to face more tragedies like this one.

For those of you who have followed my blog, you know that one of my greatest concerns is the danger that texting drivers present to the motoring Georgia public. Texting while driving is not illegal in Georgia...yet. It is already illegal in several states. Today, another extremely alarming study was made public that concludes truckdrivers who text while driving their semi-trucks are 23 times more likely to cause an accident than another undistracted driver who is driving a passenger vehicle. 23 times! Watch out, Friends!

I have been pointing out incident after incident where an operator of some type of vehicle caused an accident because he or she was admittedly texting while driving. This is especially scary when the offending "texter" s the operator of a public transit vehicle, e.g., a bus or a train. For example, in Boston, Massachusetts, a trolly operator has just been indicted on charges of gross negligence for causing a collision with another trolley that injured 62 people, all caused by his texting when he was supposed to be driving the trolley. In September of last year, a commuter train engineer missed a stop signal while trading text messages with a friend, leading to a collision with a freight train that killed 25 people in California, according to federal investigators. The accident injured 101 people.

What will it take here in Georgia for Georgia Legislators to act? How much scientific evidence do they need to know that texting while driving has become an extremely dangerous proposition for the motoring Georgia public who are doing their best to drive cautiously on Georgia roads? Until texting drivers face some harsh consequences, all I can advise is to stay away from truckers. I would suggest you do this anyway, but with the new study showing that texting truckdrivers are an accident to waiting to happen on Georgia roads, just stay away from them on the road.

As many of you know who read my blog regularly, one of my pet peeves is folks who text while driving a motor vehicle out on the streets of Atlanta, or really anywhere in Georgia. I wrote about this recently when the State of California banned texting while driving, and I assume California has many more licensed drivers than Georgia, given the relative sizes and populations of the two states. Studies have proven that texting while driving makes you just about as compromised of a driver as a driver who is intoxicated.

So you can imagine my excitement when I see today an article announcing that certain Georgia legislators are planning to sponsor a bill in the 2009 Georgia General Assembly session to make texting while driving illegal for Georgia teenagers. A reasonable person might now ask why should this law apply only to teenagers? Isn't it just as dangerous for adults to text while driving? And I would say, yes, it is, and yes, the law should apply to all drivers in Georgia; however, like many things, this is an issue we must take baby steps at a time with, and the logical place to begin is with Georgia teenage drivers, who text and receive texts hundreds of times a day and who have little driving experience at all, much less experience driving while texting.

So it is a start, and that's where things must begin. I congratulate the Georgia lawmakers who have taken this on and hope the other Georgia legislators see fit to pass this important bill.

I am tickled to report a verdict this week in DeKalb County, Georgia against the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in the amount of $650,000.00 for the DOT's negligence is causing a collision that resulted in a fractured hip and hip replacement of the plaintiff. Couldn't happen to a more deserving defendant. My readers have known for years now what utterly ridiculous stances the GDOT takes in its litigation, at Georgia taxpayer expense. And this is after they have injured a Georgia citizen!

The plaintiff in the DeKalb County case was the driver of a van that was struck by a DOT truck as the truck crossed the gore on I-20, resulting in a hip replacement. Defendant DOT contended that the truck was stopped in the gore and that the plaintiff drove into the back of it. It is illegal for a car or truck to cross through the gore. Can you believe the silly position the GDOT took in this case, that the plaintiff drove into the back of the DOT truck? The DeKalb County jury saw through this smokescreen and insured justice prevailed for this poor injured Georgia citizen. This case probably could have been settled for well less than the verdict prior to trial...but the GDOT and its insurance carrier, the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS), continue to show its extreme hardheadedness in refusing to admit fault where the DOT is at fault and refusing to try to mitigate the damages and the impact to the pockets of Georgia citizens. What is wrong with the Georgia Department of Transportation?

Once more the GDOT thumbed its nose at the Georgia Rules of the Road, that we all have to follow, and then when the DOT got caught, cried "I didn't do anything wrong." Leave it to a good ole DeKalb County jury to set the DOT straight. The jury system is a wonderful thing indeed and the best thing we have to level the playing field against the likes of the Georgia DOT.

Well, here we are again. I know I have been harping alot on this hot subject, texting while driving, but I have witnessed too many Georgians being needlessly injured because of a car wreck that happened because one of the drivers was texting while driving. I have personally experienced being cut off by another driver in DeKalb County because he was texting while driving, and it appeared to be a teenager driving mom's car while he was doing it. I was able to avoid an accident narrowly.

Now, I am happy to see that the State of California has made it illegal to text while you are driving. Amen!! Georgia should be next! There are now plenty of studies that prove a person driving a car while talking on the cell phone is as impaired as a drunk driver. I can imagine that texting while driving, because you are required to be looking down at your cell phone, eyes away from the road, and you are using at least one hand (and I am sure some folks use both hands and steer with their knees) to type out a message, would even be worse than simply talking on the cellphone. Yet our government simply ignores this immense threat on Georgia roads.

You may have seen the news about the horrible commuter train wreck in Los Angeles, California recently. Turns out the conductor of the train was texting while driving the train! The engineer reportedly sent a text message a minute before the devastating crash to a teenage train buff he had recently befriended. Unbelievable! Twenty-five citizens lost their lives because of a text message. The repercussions for these poor families are enormous and tragic. And Georgia citizens are simply lucky something like this has not happened here yet. But it could, if we continue to ignore the threat of texting while driving. Hopefully, the Georgia Legislature in 2009, amidst all of their budget cuts, will take a look at this pressing issue and act.

This is a fair-minded debate about whether the driving age in Georgia should be raised. Today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced its position that the driving age should be raised in all states as a safety measure. It is a known fact that car wrecks are the number one leading cause of death among teenagers. The research shows that if the teen driving age were raised, teen deaths in car wrecks would go down. Simple math.

As a parent of a fourteen year who will be driving in a year and the parent of an 11 year old (who thinks she is 15 already), I say "Amen!" I kid my son and his teenage friends all the time asking them if they have read in the newspaper that the Georgia General Assembly has raised the driving age to 18. At first they fall for it, incredulous looks on their faces, then it dawns on them that I am, once again, "pulling their legs." It's a fun pasttime. Of course, my attitude now is a far cry from my attitude I had about the issue when I was a 16 year old growing up in rural Kentucky. I grew up surrounded by livestock and crop farms, where many youngsters drove a pick-up truck on and around these various farms as long as it had "FARM TRUCK" emblazoned on it somewhere. "FARM TRUCK" was the secret code to police officers there was no need to stop the driver for underage driving because he was driving the truck with full immunity because it was a "FARM TRUCK!"

Of course, that was also in a town of 1800 people, not a city like Atlanta of 5 million. Big difference!

As a plaintiff's personal injury attorney, I have seen for myself and have represented way too many grieving parents who have lost their teenage son or daugther to a reckless car accident that never should have happened. A change in the teen driving age would help avoid this needless suffering for so many families. Georgia, however, is a big state and is largely rural and agricultural and so I doubt whether the Georgia Legislature would ever seriously entertain an increase in the driving age...but don't you think they should? Let your State Senator and State Representative know how you feel.

I am please today to report a $20.1 Million verdict in a motor vehicle accident wrongful death case against an electrical supply company and their employee driver. The verdict came back today from the Clayton County State Court jury.

The case involved a 62 year old school teacher who suffered broken ribs when he was rear-ended by an electrical supply truck. The teacher was stopped at a red light when the truck crashed into him. While hospitalized he developed an ilieus and subsequent complications. He ultimately aspirated and died.
As it turned out the truck driver was driving a truck during the day and working nights at Wal-Mart. He was only getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. The defendant company violated transportation regs by failing to ask him about other jobs he might be working. It took the driver a grand total of 3 weeks working two jobs before he killed someone.

About a week before trial Defendants announced their intent to apportion responsibility to a non-party. Defendants tried to blame the treating physicians for failing to save the patient they had put in the hospital. They named their medical expert the week before trial.
The decedent in this case was a very special man who was living a full life at 62. His students loved him and he did quite a lot of volunteer work for the homeless and other charitable causes. Plaintiff's counsel were Williams, Jane Sams, and Kenneth Lester of the Cochran Firm. Defense Counsel was Edward Lindsey.

It is with great pleasure that I report to my fair readers that the Georgia Court of Appeals has affirmed a $1.3 Million wrongful death verdict against the Georgia DOT. The case, Baldwin v. DOT, involved the Georgia DOT's failure to notice and fix a stop sign that was down for a length of time between two weeks and two months. The stop sign was supposed to be up at an intersection in Meriwhether County, Georgia at which one road had no traffic-control devices at all, and the cross-street was supposed to be controlled by the stop sign. You can readily imagine what happened. Mrs. Baldwin was driving down the road at which the stop sign was down on the ground, the intersection appeared to her to have no traffic control devices for her direction of travel and she continued on into the intersection. Unfortunately, another car was coming down the road she was crossing and struck Mrs. Baldwin's car and killed her.

There was expert testimony that the DOT was required to do a weekly drive-through inspection of this intersection. One of the purposes of this inspection was to discover if a stop sign was down. The witnesses' testimony showed that the DOT failed to discover the downed stop sign for at least two weeks and maybe as long as two months. The DOT's failure to perform their duties caused the death of Mrs. Baldwin. I understand that prior to the trial, the DOT offered only $100,000.00 to settle the death claim.

Now, I ask you, as citizens of the State of Georgia: What was the DOT thinking? This is a sign of a severely broken DOT. The Georgia motoring public relies on the DOT to perform its job to keep the roads in Georgia safe and, as shown in Baldwin, are failing miserably. How many more Georgia citizens have to die before the Georgia DOT finally takes notice and starts doing its job?

Recently, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that walking while texting can be hazardous to your health. This may, in fact, be true...but I ask the question: Why is everyone so quick to blame the pedestrian? If you are behind the wheel of a 6,000 pound vehicle, shouldn't you watch where you are going and avoid ANY pedestrian, even those who are texting while they walk? If a pedestrian is walking in a crosswalk, a vehicle must yield to that pedestrian regardless of whether the pedestrian is texting, or talking on a cell phone, or picking his nose or doing cartwheels across the street. The streets of Atlanta have become so dangerous for walkers and bicyclists mainly because our automobile drivers have taken on an attitude that they own the road and watch out, here I come! This seems especially true given the proliferation of SUV's. Getting behind the wheel of an SUV does not give you the right to mow down someone walking on the street. Drivers need to take more care in operating their vehicles and pay attention to what is ahead of them in the road.

I am pleased to report a verdict last Friday, July 11, 2008 against the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) in Taylor County in a wrongful death case. This was a death case against Georgia DOT in which the decedent motorist hydroplaned off the road into a beaver pond and drowned. The Georgia DOT was negligent for failing to maintain a guardrail at this section of road where one was required. This verdict is significant beyond the fact that it was well tried by lawyers I know to be exceptionally talented: Chris Clark, Manley Brown and Chuck Byrd. The verdict is a valuable insight into the minds of rural county juries not only about how they value life, but how they will not tolerate any longer ineptitude by the Georgia DOT.

This verdict against the DOT comes just shortly after another wrongful death verdict against it, in Meriwhether County, Georgia, in the amount of $1.3 Million, obtained by my good friend and fellow trial lawyer, Lester Tate. In that case, the DOT had allowed a stop sign, for which they had maintenance responsibility, to remain down at an intersection for several weeks. This caused a horrible wreck resulting in the death of a pregnant woman and her fetus she was carrying. One wonders how much money the DOT could have saved the citizens of Georgia had they simply been reasonable, admitted their responsibility for causing these deaths and settling the cases before a jury told them how much they should pay.

All Georgia citizens who have replaced the tires on their cars in the last couple of years should immediately check the valve stems on the tires. They may be from a defectively manufactured lot of valve stems made by a company in China. There have been numerous instances of horrible wrecks and rollovers due to the failure of these Chinese valve stems breaking while the car is operating. Some of these wrecks have resulted in either catastrophic injuries and deaths.

The driver is completely unaware that something is wrong with his tires until it is too late. It would be a tragedy to lose a Georgia citizen to a defectively manufactured Chinese valve stem. Please check those tires today.

Federal roof crush rule has been delayed
By Reni Gertner

Staff writer
Published: July 14, 2008

Just prior to the deadline for issuing a new roof crush standard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced that it is going back to the drawing board under pressure from Congress and consumer advocates.

Earlier this week, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said that the final standard would be delayed until Oct. 1.

"Because of the number of new comments we received and the additional analyses that are required, additional time is now needed to complete the final rule," she said in a letter to the congressional committees that oversee NHTSA.

The agency, which has not updated its rollover safety standards in over 35 years, was originally scheduled to send a new roof crush rule to Congress by July 1.

Under the proposed version, a roof would have been required to support 2.5 times the vehicle's weight, up from the current standard of 1.5 times the car's weight.

The delay comes in the wake of ongoing complaints from consumer advocates and members of Congress, who contend that the proposal is not strong enough. A bi-partisan group of senators sent a letter to NHTSA in June, urging the agency to take additional time to develop a more stringent standard.

Critics assert that most new cars already conform to a 2.5 standard and that the standard should be raised even higher, to 3.5.

"If we have a little increase in roof strength that doesn't result in a major decrease in fatalities and injuries, we've done nothing," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., at a hearing about the standard in June. (Click here for a story about the hearing.)

A controversial provision in the proposal stated that the standard would preempt state law claims brought by individuals injured in rollover accidents.

"NHTSA's proposed roof crush rule puts the profit of car manufacturers first and the safety of consumers last," said American Association for Justice President Kathleen Flynn Peterson in a statement responding to the delay of the final rule. "This time, when they go back to the drawing board, NHTSA should strengthen roof crush standards instead of giving negligent corporations a get out of jail free card."

A study released earlier this year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the stronger the roof, the lower the risk of injury to occupants of a vehicle.

Plaintiffs' attorneys say that that study is boosting one of their key claims in these cases – that weak roofs are the main cause of death and serious injuries in rollover accidents.

For a story about that study, see "Report drives home plaintiffs' argument in rollover cases," Lawyers USA, April 7, 2008. Search terms for Lawyers USA website: Durango and Lawlor.

Do you remember the tragic Bluffton, Ohio baseball team bus crash that occurred here in Atlanta on I-75 last year? The Georgia DOT, in typical hard-headed fashion, denied any responsibility for their confusing road signs, which led the professional bus driver to continue to drive on what he believed to be the diamond lane for buses, when, in reality, it was an exit ramp to the LEFT of I-75. By the time the bus driver realized it, he was tumbling off the overpass. There were numerous needless deaths and injuries.

Well, the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) has finally ruled it was the faulty, confusing DOT signs that caused the horrible tragedy. I am sure this comes as a surprise to no one except the Georgia DOT. Immediately after the bus wreck, the Georgia DOT was out on I-75 changing the signs, replacing the old ones and putting more signs up, even while, all the time, the DOT denied any responsibility. Georgia citizens really deserve better accountability from the DOT. Everyone in the State of Georgia (and everyone in the State of Ohio for that matter) knows this wreck was the DOT's fault, from confusing road signs to having an exit ramp from the left, which is counterintuitive, in the first place. The Georgia DOT has been in disarray lately with Board resignations and even a settlement for sexual harassment. It is high time the DOT gets its act together, before more innocent people die on Georgia roads.

Georgia Trial Lawyers Association

Protecting the Constitutional Promise of Justice for All by
Guaranteeing the Right to Trial by Jury,
Preserving an Independent Judiciary,
And Providing Access to the Courts for All Georgians

Governor’s Signing of Insurance Bill
Ensures Georgians Will Get What They Pay For
SB 276, a bill ensuring fairness for auto-insurance policy holders,
signed into law by Governor Sonny Perdue

Atlanta – Today, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law a bill that expands options for Georgia auto-insurance consumers. SB276 will permit Georgia consumers to purchase Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage that can be stacked on top of insurance covering the at-fault driver in an automobile accident if the at-fault driver does not have enough coverage to help the injured consumer. Twenty three other states, including most of Georgia’s southeastern neighbors, already permit “UM Stacking.”

Stacking UM Coverage allows you to stack your coverage on top of the at-fault driver’s liability coverage up to the amount of your damages; whereas before you could only access that portion of your coverage – if any at all – that exceeded the at-fault driver’s liability coverage.

“Before SB 276 was signed into law, a person who had elected to pay for UM insurance coverage and paid a monthly premium for that coverage, often was not able to recover the money they needed from their insurance company – even if they were in a catastrophic accident,” said Buck Rogers, an Atlanta attorney. “For roughly the cost of a gallon of milk per month, families who choose to purchase Stacking UM will finally get what they have paid for – and when they need it most. SB 276 is very pro-consumer and wise public policy legislation and we appreciate the Governor’s recognition of that fact.”

“Sadly, most people didn’t know that they could not access this coverage until they were in a bad wreck,” said Chan Caudell an attorney in Cornelia. “I would get calls from people who were injured, missing work, and didn’t know how to cover their bills and feed their families. They thought the insurance they had purchased would help them. Unfortunately, it did not. SB 276 changes that.”

SB 276’s passage was a two-year process that began with the Senate’s adoption of the bill in 2007. During the 2008 session, the House added a second pro-consumer piece of legislation to the bill. The new piece ensured that the Insurance Commissioner would still control the rates for the mandatory coverage demanded by state law while letting the other coverage compete within a free market.

“Governor Perdue appropriately rejected the doomsday rhetoric of bureaucratic regulators determined to hold onto their personal political power and did Georgia’s consumers a big favor by signing SB 276,” said Bill Clark, Director of Political Affairs for the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. “Now Georgians can rest assured that they will be getting what they pay for.”

The Georgia Supreme Court has issued an opinion affirming an Athens-Clarke County jury's verdict of $13 Million to the widower of a woman who burned to death in a rear end collision on Highway 129. This is an important decision because it was based on the fact that Ford Motor Company refused to turn over relevant crash data in the case that it was required by law to provide to plaintiffs. The Georgia Supreme Court, in essence, has said in Georgia, we are going to hold big corporations, including car manufacturers, to the letter of the law. Below is an article from the Athens paper, the Athens Banner-Herald, with more details.

Family closer to award in fiery crash
Ford loses appeal in gas-tank explosion, death
By Walter C. Jones | Morris News Service | Story updated at 11:24 PM on Saturday, March 29, 2008

ATLANTA - The family of a Clarke County woman who burned to death when her car's gas tank exploded during a 1999 rear-end collision is closer to getting a $13 million jury award after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in their favor Friday.

Ford Motor Co. and the maker of a trailer hitch on the woman's car lost their appeal when the supreme court unanimously upheld the verdict of an Athens-Clarke State Court jury.

Anne Marie Gibson died at the scene when a pickup slammed into the back of her 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis as it was stopped on U.S. Highway 129 waiting to make a left turn. Her car was hit again when it was forced into oncoming traffic.

Bolts from the trailer hitch gouged into the car's gas tank, causing it to burst into flames as the passenger doors jammed and Gibson's seat collapsed, dropping her back into the flames.

Gibson's widower, Artumus Gibson, filed suit and won.

His attorney, George W. Fryhofer III of Atlanta, said as many as 50 other people have been killed or seriously burned in similar accidents involving Fords.

"The great tragedy in this case, however, is that Ford's exploding gas tanks continue on the road, and Ford has never warned a soul," Fryhofer said.

The family's long wait for a check should be about to end, according to Fryhofer - the only option for Ford and trailer-hitch maker Draw-Tite to delay the case would be to appeal in federal court, but Fryhofer says there are no federal or constitutional issues to base an appeal on.

"I think this is pretty close to the end of the line for Ford in this case, but that doesn't address the other possible victims," he said.

Ford would not release information about other suits filed about similar cases of exploding gas tanks. It only released a brief statement about the Gibson case.

"We are disappointed that Ford will not receive a fair trial in this case, in which the jury will decide the issues," wrote company spokeswoman Marcey Evans. "We have not decided at this time whether we will seek further review."

In the appeal, Ford was contesting a decision by state court Judge Kent Lawrence to punish the automaker for refusing to turn over records about crash tests it had conducted on that model. Ford contended the documents should remain confidential as attorney-client communications.

Lawrence ruled that if the company wouldn't supply the files, then the jury should consider that an admission that the seats and fuel tank were defectively designed.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision written by Justice Harold Melton, concluded Lawrence was within his authority.

"Specifically, the requested evidence documented past car-to-car crash tests conducted by Ford on a line of vehicles that included the Mercury Marquis, and that had similar fuel tank locations and performance as the Mercury Marquis driven by Ms. Gibson at the time of the incident involving (the other) car," the decision read. "As evidence that could have shown Ford's prior, direct knowledge of fuel system, car door, and seat back design problems in car-to-car collisions such as the one that resulted in Ms. Gibson's death, we cannot say that the trial court clearly abused its discretion in concluding that Gibson had a substantial need for these documents."

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 032908

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution's Editorial Board came out on Monday in favor of legislation currently pending in the Georgia General Assembly that would toughen penalties for teenagers who are caught not wearing their seatbelts while they are driving or riding in a car. The legislation, HB 924, is currently "dead" because it was not passed by one house prior to "cross-over" day, the deadline for legislation to pass at least one house to be considered by the other house. The sponsor of the legislation, Representative Melvin Everson (R-Snellville), will be looking at other bills still alive to which he could attach his seatbelt legislation.

This legislation is a good idea. As both a personal injury trial lawyer in Atlanta and a mother of a teenager, any law that would stiffen penalities for teenagers who don't wear their seatbelts will save lives. Too often I have sat here in my office with parents who have either lost a child or had one seriously injured because they weren't wearing their seatbelts at the time of a car wreck. Parents often tell me they insist on their children wearing seatbelts while riding with them, but it is a different story when those same teenagers are in a car with their friends. Their parents' rules of wearing seatbelts are quick to fly out the window.

And it has been proven in recent medical studies that teenagers simply don't have the brain development necessary to be able to make good judgment calls, such as always wearing seat belts. These new studies show teenagers are more likely to demonstrate impulsive behavior rather than sound judgments because the frontal lobes of their brains, that area where high thinking or executive functioning takes place, is not fully functional during teenage years. Teens simply don't have the appropriate level of brain functioning to make good judgmental decisions such as always wearing their seatbelts.

Perhaps tougher penalties for not wearing seatbelts would get through to them, such as points on your driver's license? Seems like that would get their attention. I am in favor of any legislation that toughens penalties for failure to wear seat belts. Simply put: seat belts save lives.

This child never had a chance. Yesterday, in Atlanta, a two month old infant was killed because she was sitting in her mother's lap while her mother was driving a car and hit a telephone pole. The air bag deployed, as it should, and the infant died immediately. The mother was physcially unharmed. As would have been her baby if the mother had simply taken one minute to strap her into a child's car seat.

Parents can learn more about child car seat safety from the National Highway Traffic Safety Admininstration (NHTSA) and its Child Passenger Safety Program. Specifically, for Georgia law on child car seats, parents can have their questions answered at The Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Continue reading "Car Seats Save Lives~Buckle Up the Ones You Love" »

An Arizona jury returned a plaintiff's verdict yesterday of a whopping $36.5 Million against Swift Trucking Company for Swift Trucking's driver's negligence in causing a horrible crash that killed the father of eight children. $13.5 Million of the verdict was for punitive damages to punish Swift for not producing their driver's logs in the litigation. Tractor-Trailer drivers are required by Federal law to maintain log books showing how many hours they have driven. At issue in this case, and many others, was driver fatigue.

Swift tractor-trailers are all over the roads of Metro Atlanta and Georgia. For safety's sake, drive as far away as possible from big tractor-trailers. Leave a lane between you and them if you can. Try never to drive in front of them if possible. Some wrecks, like the one in Arizona, are 100% the fault of the truck driver and there is often nothing the victim could have done to avoid the wreck. But it helps increase your chances of not having a wreck with them if you stay as far away from them on the roads as possible.

Another log truck accident in Milledgeville, Georgia has killed a 12 year old girl and injured her mother. The accident happened on Sparta Highway in Baldwin County. Although much of the Georgia economy depends on logging, these accidents with logging trucks happen too often and, when they do, they are usually fatal. Although the details of this accident haven't yet been made public, my guess based on my experience in handling these types of serious trucking accidents is that logs may have become unstable or lose and may have gone right through the Toyota Camry in which the child was riding. My heart goes out to the mother who was driving and to the child's family. There is nothing as devastating as the loss of a child.

What could be scarier this Halloween?

Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360° prepare to hear a chilling story of lies and deceit as the story
of two everyday Americans are haunted by undercover agents in their own
church.

Progressive Insurance willingly accepted the premiums that Bill and Leandra
Pitts paid them each month for UM Insurance. After a car crash in Henry
County that left the Pitts with injuries and damages not covered by the
at-fault driver, they turned to their UM coverage to pay for what was
left-the coverage that they had dutifully paid for every month.

Progressive Insurance, in an attempt to save a buck, hired two undercover
private investigators to follow the Pitts in their community and to their
church where the two agents posed as prospective members. Taking the deceit
to incredible lengths, the two agents talked their way into a private
Bible-study held in a private home and were privy to intimate and personal
disclosures of the church members. Progressive hoped that they would
discover something that would free them from covering the damages. But they
didn't.

The Pitts, after hiring GTLA member Wayne Grant, have filed suit against
Progressive Insurance alleging that the company's spooky tactics against
their own clients went too far. Tonight, Anderson Cooper on CNN will look
into the case.

Here in Georgia, Progressive Insurance Company has admitted to spying on its own insureds in a confidential church group.
Progressive Insurance Company hired two private eyes to spy on Progressive's own insureds by infiltrating the couple's private, confidential church group, lying about their identities and their motives, so that they might be able to find out some kind of personal "dirt" on the insureds so Progressive could use it against them in an uninsured motorist lawsuit. Progressive's CEO has now "apologized." And Progressive has the unmitigated gall to claim "it's all about you" on their website!

It's absolutely appalling and disgusting, but should give you a real life glimpse into the way insurance companies work to do everything in their power, including outright deception and invasion of privacy, to avoid paying legitimate personal injury claims. It's sickening. The Progressive CEO said "What the investigators and Progressive people did was wrong - period," Renwick, head of the third-largest U.S. auto insurer, said in a statement. "I personally want to apologize to anyone who was affected by this." He apologized the day after the article exposing Progressive's deception was published in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Sounds like to me the Progressive CEO was sorry they got caught, not sorry they engaged in fraud. This is made clear by the fact that Progressive continues to deny liability in a lawsuit brought against Progressive by the two insureds for invasion of privacy. Seems to me if Progressive was truly contrite it would simply admit the allegations of that lawsuit and take responsibility for its actions. But, as usual, it refuses to do so.

I just want to let the public know that nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, is beneath an insurance company when it comes to their efforts to avoid parting with money, even when the claims are being made by their own insureds, who have paid premiums for years. Nothing is beneath insurers. Progressive got caught, but their exposure only begs the question of how many other insurers are doing the exact same thing but haven't been caught?

Teen cellphone use while driving is not illegal yet in Georgia, or in Metropolitan Georgia, but it should be. Too many teens are getting killed or injured, or killing others, while using the cellphone while driving. As a trial lawyer here in Metropolitan Atlanta, I see it all too often, usually while meeting with the grieving parents who have just lost their child at the hands of a teen driver. I have posted other blogs on this in the past, and it continues to be a subject near and dear to my heart, with a thirteen year old son who will want to start driving in a few years and who already is addicted to his cellphone.

I raise the issue again because California's Legislature, in its wisdom, has banned Californians under age 18 from using cellphones, text message devices and laptop computers while driving. When signing the legislation, which goes into effect in 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his own two daughters as examples: "I told my daughters: 'I give you the car. I give you the cellphone, but if I see you one time using both at the same time, both of them are gone,' " he said.

Georgia should have a similar law. Teenagers are dying behind the wheel, and killing others, because of poor judgment. Yesterday in Savannah, a Georgia 17 year old was charged with vehicular homicide for the deaths of three other teenagers who were in his truck with him when he wrecked due to driving erratically. Nationwide, teen drivers have the highest risk of crashing out of any age group.
The Southeast has higher teen-driver fatality rates than any other region in the country. Of the bottom 10 states, half are in the Southeast.

Selfishly, I would like to see Georgia adopt the same law that California did to ban the use of cellphones by teenagers while they are driving. Another loss of a teenager is simply not worth the price.

Friends, I have been out of the office for the last week or so trying a case in Cobb County Georgia State Court and successfully won my client a $151,000.00 verdict! I tried the case last week in front of the Honorable Judge Katherine Tanksley and she did an outstanding job as a jurist. (During the trial Governor Purdue named Judge Tanksley to the short list for the opening on the Cobb County Superior Court, which is seen as a promotion from State Court. From what I have seen, she would do a fabulous job in Superior Court).

This was a case against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in which State Farm had only offered a measley $10,000.00 before trial. Long-time State Farm defense attorney Blair Craig represented State Farm. This case involved a rather bad car wreck in which my client was hit on his driver's side door. He had initial complaints of left side pain, chest pain, neck pain and tailbone pain. All of the pain eventually subsided after physical therapy and medication, except for his neck pain. His neck pain continued and only got worse, until one day he got out of bed and his arms felt heavy and different. His physician then recommended he see an orthopedic surgeon, who diagnosed a herniated disc in his neck and operated, performing a surgery that is called an ACDF, an anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion. In this surgery a titanium plate and four screws were implanted in my client's neck along with some cadaver bone to fuse those two cervical (neck) vertebrae. After the surgery and six weeks rehab, my client did very well and returned to work full duty.

State Farm defended the case on the argument that the point when my client starts having arm symptoms was a "new" injury for which State Farm was not responsible, even though State Farm really had no evidence or proof of any new event or injury that could possibly explain the onset of these symptoms. Also, your should know that in Georgia, although the case was really against State Farm, Georgia law allowed State Farm to defend in the name of the individual who hit my client in the wreck, and the jury never even got to hear that State Farm, my client's own carrier because this was an underinsured motorist case, was the one who was really not taking responsibility for the wreck.

But I believe in the jury system, and the jury got this one right. The jury saw through the smoke and mirrors put up by State Farm and rendered a verdict that both spoke the truth and gave my client justice. We really can't ask for more. Justice for All: It's a Beautiful Thing.

The Georgia Department of Transporatation continues to study the feasibility of "trucks only" lanes here in Metropolitan Atlanta. I encourage you to speak in favor of the proposal as it would increase your safety as a member of the motoring public here in Atlanta and in Georgia. The Georgia Department of Transportation invites the public to view I-75/I-575 project maps, plans and displays and to voice their opinions on the expansion at the following meetings. For more information see www.nwhovbrt.com/ or call 404-377-4012.
Statistics in Atlanta show that even now traffic tops 10,000 trucks per day on the north end of I-285 and 30,000 trucks per day on parts of I-75. This represents a potential 40,000 truck and car wreck accidents looking for a place to happen on the roads of Metropolitan Atlanta. The tonnage shipped to, from and through Georgia is forecast to increase by 63 percent by 2025. Freight movement in the state is dominated by trucking, which carries 87 percent of all cargo. More than 100 motor freight carriers serve the Atlanta area alone. Georgia has 35 scheduled carriers, 2,200 intrastate haulers, and 25,000 interstate truckers serving points throughout the state. And we all know that in a wreck between an 18 wheeler and a small passenger car, the 18 wheeler wins. In my tractor-trailer cases I handle in my personal injury law practice, I can attest to the devastation that a wreck with a tractor-trailer can have on a family.
One Georgia possibility to expedite truck traffic is toll-financed truck freeways. When the Reason Public Policy Institute asked trucking companies to propose routes on which they would consider paying tolls in order to operate long double and triple tractor-trailers, the companies came up with 17 possible routes.[20] One of Reason’s tollway recommendations after analysis was the I-75 corridor from the Ohio Turnpike near Toledo south through Cincinnati, central Kentucky and Tennessee, and Atlanta to the northern end of Florida’s Turnpike and Tampa. Reason predicts it would be “a major north-south trucking route of high efficiency and safety.” I think Georgia should continue to explore this option through these public hearings about "trucks only" lanes.

Many of us personal injury lawyers here in Atlanta, Georgia actively discourage the practice that some lawyers unethically engage in of using "runners," or individuals whose job it is to place accident vicitms with an attorney. These unscroupulous lawyers hire individuals to "run" cases for them, i.e., to go out and find car accident victims and deliver them to the unethical lawyer for the handling of a personal injury case. Then the unethical lawyer pays the hired lay individual, which is, by the way, illegal, for bringing the personal injury case to him. These "runners" often sit and wait in police departments, just waiting until police reports on car wrecks are filed,and then they get your contact information off the police report. These attorneys and their "runners" are truly the "ambulance chasers" of the profession and, unfortunately, have alot to do with giving lawyers a bad name.

Georgia law actually makes this practice illegal under Official Code of Georgia Section 33-24-53, yet anyone is rarely proscecuted under it. There has been at least one instance where an ethical lawyer and his client who had been previously contacted by one of the "runners" helped the Cobb County District Attorney's office in an undercover sting to nab these illegal "runners," and it worked. To watch a short news video about this case, click here. But such instances are few and far between.

If this ever happens to you after you have been in a car wreck in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, or anywhere in Georgia, call the Solicitor or the District Attorney for your county and report it. It is a crime and the use of these so-called "runners" in Georgia is a disservice to the Georgia public. You should not hire an attorney who has used the illegal services of a "runner" either. More than likely, you will not get good, attentive legal representation from any attorney who resorts to using illegal tactics to get cases in. Instead, ask for referrals from friends, families and lawyers you know who may not handle personal injury cases and do some reserach on the internet.

I was shocked to see that this week another totally innocent Georgia citizen died needlessly in another police chase on Metropolitan Atlanta streets. It all started simply on the basis of a report of a "suspicious vehicle" in front of a home in Cobb County. Cobb County, Georgia officers spotted the vehicle, a Chevrolet station wagon, on Barrett Parkway and tried to pull over the driver. The officers failed at an attempt to "box it in" and pursued the car in a high speed chase. During the chase a big screen tv fell out of the station wagon. The officers continued their high speed chase up I-575, a highly traveled road between Cobb and Cherokee Counties in Georgia. The station wagon sped up I-575 until it crossed over the grass median near Bells Ferry Road, striking a four-door Buick that was southbound on the interstate. The female driver of the Buick was killed and several of her passengers were severely injured. To read the news article on this, click here.

I think part of the real crime here is that an innocent Georgia citizen died, apparently, because some vehicle had a big screen tv in it. To compound that crime, the innocent Georgia citizen's family will, most likely, never see any justice for her needless death. This is because Georgia courts, and even the United States Supreme Court has said that these types of high speed police chases, essentially, are acceptable and that police departments can not be held responsible for the loss of innocent life as a result of these chases, even where such a chase my have violated the police department's own policies and procedures. In a recent Georgia Court of Appeals case, in which fellow GTLA member Dennis Cathey represented the plaintiffs, the Court held the police department had immunity from a lawsuit by the family of an innocent victim of a police high speed chase. More recently, the United States Supreme Court held in a case that occurred here in Georgia, in which the Plaintiff was represented by fellow GTLA member Craig Jones, such high speed chases are allowable, even though they may violate department policies and procedures.

The result of all this is that the families of these innocent victims will never be able to realize any justice from their senseless deaths and streets in Metropolitan Atlanta will only get less and less safe for the law-abiding Georgia citizens. And all for a big screen tv.

In my plaintiff's personal injury practice, I have learned that tractor-trailers traveling through Atlanta can do a lot of damage in a motor vehicle accident, including catastrophic injury, such as paralysis, or death. Georgia trucking accidents would be reduced if the Georgia Legislature passed a law creating trucks only lanes. After handling so many of these cases in my practice, I have made it my personal preference and habit to stay out of the way of all tractor-trailers, including not traveling in the same lanes as tractor-trailers, if at all possible. A small passenger vehicle stands little chance if hit by a tractor-trailer.

Yet I concede that tractor-trailers are the backbone of American commerce, and a necessary way for goods to be moved across Georgia and across the United States. This does not take away the fact, however, that they can be extremely dangerous on Georgia roads to the motoring public of Georgia.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is considering building "trucks-only" lanes on the state's interstate highways and major roads. The Georgia DOT says it is studying putting in new lanes, not taking over existing lanes on the Interstates. DOT estimates that 940 million tons of freight was moved across Georgia highways in 2004, but in less than 30 years that number is expected to double. Interestingly, truckers questioned about the proposal think it might help them with their work by eliminating passenger vehicles in their lanes. I think it would be beneficial from a safety standpoint to Georgia citizens. Others in Georgia agree.

Continue reading "Trucks Only Lanes Not a Bad Idea in Atlanta, Georgia" »

In my motor vehicle accident cases, more and more frequently I am seeing cases in which the at fault driver was careless and inattentive because he or she was either talking on the cell phone or text messaging using the cellphone at the time of the accident. As a mother of two and as a personal injury trial lawyer who handles alot of car wreck cases, this increasingly gives me cause for concern.

I saw today where the City of Lynn, Massachusetts wants to make it illegal for teens to drive and text message at the same time. The measure was put together by a city councilor after a run-in with a distracted teenager. The ban would apply to both talking and texting while driving, except in an emergency.

As adults become increasingly more attached to their Blackberries and Treos, I think such a law might not be such a bad idea for adults, too. Car manufacturers can help, too. Car manufacturers have technology available now, for example, that will not allow a car to operate unless the driver is deemed sober after blowing through a tube attached to the seatbelt.

DeKalb County has already imposed an add-on fine to the at-fault driver of a motor vehicle accident if that driver was using his or her cellphone at the time of the wreck. This is a step in the right direction. Scientific studies have shown a person is just as impaired a driver while using the cellphone as if he or she were intoxicated while driving, and yet there are no laws in Georgia against the use of cellphones or hand-held devices while driving. We are talking about the safety of the motoring public and of pedestrians. How many preventable deaths will have to occur on Georgia roads before the Legislature acts to protect the safety of Georgia citizens?