On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Truck Accidents on Wednesday, June 19, 2013
It's often true that if someone's timing, focus or other actions had been different by just a few seconds or minutes, a fatal collision would have been avoided. These considerations come to mind regarding a fatal accident in Georgia that left two emergency technicians dead along with the patient in the county ambulance they were operating. It happened recently at about 5 a.m. on state Highway 32 near Ocilla in south Georgia.
The EMT victims were a 44-year-old woman of Axson who was driving the ambulance and a 56-year-old man from Ashburn who was in the passenger seat. Also dead was their 65-year-old male patient of Tifton who was being taken to the hospital for emergency medical reasons. According to witnesses, the ambulance was traveling east on the highway at a high speed with sirens and lights activated. A westbound semitrailer jack-knifed across the center line and into the path of the ambulance.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents on Thursday, June 13, 2013
Usually when someone crosses a median strip and goes into oncoming traffic there is impairment by drugs or alcohol, or alternatively the person may have fallen asleep. A fatal accident in Georgia recently may raise the issue of whether civil liability can be imposed on someone who blacks out while driving, thereby losing control and causing an accident. The question in this case will also be decided in a criminal context as well.
The case involves former Atlanta Hawks player and NBA all-star, Mookie Blaylock. He's in a hospital bed with serious injuries, but he's also under arrest for vehicular homicide. He was in a fatal accident where he crossed the median strip and crashed into a van on a roadway in Jonesboro. The driver of the van sustained a broken ankle but his wife, who was a mother of five, died.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Truck Accidents on Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Some accidents can't be avoided, no matter how careful a person drives. In one recent Georgia accident a Dearing woman was an innocent victim who could not avoid a truck accident in which her Chevrolet SUV was hit by a jack-knifing 18-wheeler. The scenario of events was started when a 43-year-old man ran his Ford Crown Victoria through a stop sign into the path of the truck that was heading north on Wrens Highway at McDuffie. When the truck crashed into the Ford, it jack-knifed and collided with the oncoming Chevrolet SUV.
The Georgia State Patrol investigated and presumably is still investigating the causes of this fatal accident. The injured SUV driver was flown to Georgia Regents Medical Center. The extent of her personal injury was described as serious but the nature of those injuries was not disclosed. The driver of the Ford was declared dead at the scene by the McDuffie County Coroner.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Truck Accidents on Thursday, May 30, 2013
An accident involving death can sometimes be a cause of a second fatal event. This happened in Georgia recently when traffic was stopped on Interstate 20 due to delays caused by an earlier fatal accident. A tractor trailer approached and negligently plowed into a car that was stopped in the delay. The car spun out-of-control and was mauled by another tractor trailer, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
A 17-year-old female passenger in the car died at the scene of the truck accident. Her 13-year-old sister died a few days later. The girls were from Rocky Mount. Their mother, who operated the car, and their 15-year-old brother were injured in the fatal accident. The driver of the first tractor trailer was also reportedly injured.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Car Accidents on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
When the police report sheds no light on which party was at fault in a serious accident, then other investigative procedures will need to be intensified. In the reported Georgia accident, a 62-year-old Norman Park woman suffered serious personal injury and remains hospitalized in serious condition almost a week after the two-vehicle crash. The woman's van, a Mercury Villager, had collided with another at the intersection of Highway 33 and 133, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
The second van, a Plymouth Voyager, was driven by a 43-year-old woman from Doerun. The two vans went through the intersection at roughly the same time and collided. The right front of the Voyager hit the left front of the Mercury, according to the GSP. The State Patrol said that the traffic light appeared to be working but it was impossible to tell which vehicle had the green light.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Car Accidents on Monday, May 13, 2013
In addition to first responders, the most important actors in the post-accident process for a serious accident are the medical providers. In Georgia and throughout the nation, the subject of auto accident injury is more visible right now because May is National Trauma Awareness Month. That is why an ABC news affiliate in Augusta visited the Georgia Regents Trauma Center to see more precisely how trauma doctors are saving lives every day.
Reporters interviewed one 22-year-old man who was in a car accident about two years ago. He was airlifted in critical condition to the trauma center in Augusta while his life was teetering on the brink of death. Doctors at the trauma center had to perform brain surgery, which included opening the young man's head to decrease the brain swelling. He pulled through and today attributes that miraculous survival to his doctors at the trauma facility.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Car Accidents on Monday, May 6, 2013
It's sometimes unnerving to think that a vehicle could cross a highway and come suddenly into your path of travel without you having sufficient time to react. After all, people do not drive with their peripheral vision engaged and focused on what's coming from the other side of the road, which is an even more difficult feat in the dead of night. A Georgia woman recently had that happen to her as she was driving and, although she tried to turn her vehicle away from an oncoming car, was struck by it and sustained serious personal injury.
She had tried to apply the brakes to no avail and her Chevrolet Malibu turned over several times. The offending vehicle was In this case, it was worse for the intruding vehicle, driven by a 54-year-old Bainbridge man, who died at the scene of the crash. The car accident occurred at Tarva Road, near the border of Dougherty and Baker Counties. It's unknown at this time why the Mini Cooper driven by the man crossed over into the opposite lane of traffic. The decedent had been an instructor at Darton College in Albany.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents on Monday, April 29, 2013
Accidents where drivers cross over to the opposing lane of traffic and hit someone dead-on seem sometimes to be epidemic. It happened again today in a fatal accident in Georgia. A 59-year-old man was killed when a vehicle crossed the center line and struck into his Ford F-150 head-on. The collision occurred on Ga. Highway 162 and County Line Road around 4:20 a.m.
The Georgia State Patrol is still investigating this fatal accident but has already stated that drugs or alcohol are not a factor. That early assurance seems to be a bit premature; at least, it would surely be premature if blood alcohol results have not yet been obtained. Also, it's almost always negligence for a driver to cross the highway and plow into other cars.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Car Accidents on Friday, April 26, 2013
Sometimes the severity of an accident can actually be minimized by the slower-moving speed of rush hour traffic. A recent three-vehicle accident in Georgia caused personal injury to four people during rush hour traffic in an incident that could have been even worse if traffic was moving at a faster pace. It was nonetheless serious enough to send four people to the hospital.
The car accident occurred on GA 400 during the evening rush hour. The Georgia State Patrol investigated and reported that two vehicles were heading northbound in the left lane and a third vehicle was going in the same direction in the right lane. As they slowed down for traffic congestion, the second vehicle in the left lane rear-ended the vehicle in front of it.
On behalf of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, LLP posted in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents on Thursday, April 18, 2013
In some highway accidents, even the police are drawn into the physical trauma created by a reckless driver. A north Georgia accident just recently resulted in the death of one man, personal injury for another and a trip to the emergency room for a state trooper. The dead man, a 33-year-old from Dahlonega was driving a 1998 BMW, when he crossed the center line of Highway 9 and went into the path of a pickup truck driven by a 34-year-old Dahlonega man.
The pickup and BMW collided. The BMW burst into flames, and its driver was killed. The driver of the pickup was flown to a medical center with unspecified injuries. A state trooper had been following the BMW for tailgating, reckless acts and driving aggressively on the highway. The trooper witnessed the BMW pass in a no-passing zone and entered a curve while speeding when the driver lost control and crossed the line to on-coming traffic.
