Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Transportation officials across Georgia have been busy over the past few weeks as winter weather continues to create additional dangers for motorists.Over the past few weeks, icy weather conditions have been reported across several counties in Georgia. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and its 1,500+ employees have been closely monitoring the weather as temperatures dip, and roads freeze.Our Atlanta vehicle accident attorneys have also been reminding people to stay safe on the slippery roads.

Transportation officials have already blamed icy weather for some accidents on Georgia highways this winter.None of these accidents resulted in fatalities, but they did lead to injuries and roads being shut down.Most of the accidents are being blamed on automobiles that hit a patch of ice, or vehicles that went out of control on roads made slippery by melting ice.

GDOT has increased travel warnings for Georgia motorists.Drivers are being asked to be very cautious while on the road, and to watch out for ice patches on interstate ramps and before and after bridges.

Investigations into the recent school bus accident in Newton County are continuing.However, as of now, it does not appear that brake failure was a reason for the accident that injured more than 40 children.

The accident involved 2 school buses. According to the Georgia State Patrol, one of the school buses rear-ended the other, which had stopped to drop off children on Georgia Highway 162.Both of the buses were carrying students from Rocky Plains Elementary School.

Thirty four injured students and one of the bus drivers had to be rushed to the Newton Medical Center.Six other students were injured and taken to another hospital. Although the children had to be hospitalized, none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening.

Across the country, approximately 86% of all motorists buckled up before driving in 2012.That was a record high for seat belt usage in the U.S., and marks a significant improvement over the past decades.

The data came from a new study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which found that national seat belt usage rates are at an all-time high of 86%.The National Occupant Protection Use Survey finds that the use of seat belts here has increased steadily since 1994.That has coincided with the fact that many states across the country, including Georgia, have enacted stricter seatbelt laws that require all motorists to buckle up.

In many states like Georgia, seat belt laws are primary enforcement laws, which means that a police officer who sees a motorist driving without wearing a seatbelt, can simply pull him over, without finding any other infraction.Primary enforcement laws are much more stringent, because they lead to stronger enforcement of the laws.Not surprisingly, the study found that states like Georgia that have primary enforcement laws have much higher seatbelt usage rates compared to states that have secondary enforcement laws.

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) recently adopted expansions of its policies related to distracted driving and drugged driving.These are 2 factors that are cited in thousands of fatal and injury-causing car accidents that occur in the metro Atlanta region every year. We have continued to see an increase in drunk driving accidents in our office, and believe a tougher stand on this problem is necessary to protect Atlanta drivers and passengers.

The GHSA is calling for a complete ban on the use of handheld cell phones while driving across all states.Just a few states have complete bans on hand-held cell phones while driving, while more than 35 states, including Georgia, have banned texting while driving.

The Governors Highway Safety Association earlier supported only bans on text messaging while driving, and bans on the use of electronic devices by both novice drivers as well as school bus drivers.This is the first time that the GHSA has voiced its complete support for bans on handheld cell phone.

A number of states around the country have experimented with an increase in speed limits on some of their freeways and highways.Earlier this month, Texas had the dubious distinction of becoming home to the road with the highest speed limit in the country, with one stretch now having a speed limit of 85 mph limit.In Georgia, similar plans are being discussed that would raise our speed limit.

However, Atlanta car accident lawyers would warn against any rush to increase speed limits on roadways, without carefully analyzing the possible effects on motorist safety and the increased risk of accidents.

In Georgia, the Department Of Transportation is currently experimenting with increasing the speed limit on I-285 from 55 mph to 65 mph.Those 65 mph speed limits are fairly reasonable, when considering that the current highest speed limit in Georgia is 70 mph.While motorists in Georgia may complain that the speed limits in the state are far too low, the fact is that very often, motorists decide to drive at least 10 mph above the posted speed limit.So when you have a speed limit of 70 mph, you’re likely to have many motorists traveling at 80 mph.

If a proposal by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to mandate seatbelt alerts for rear seat passengers is approved and goes into effect, it could mean a much lower risk of injuries to passengers in the back seat.

Rear seat passengers have much lower rates of seatbelt usage compared to drivers and front seat passengers.Nationally, only 74% of backseat passengers buckle up all the time, compared to seat belt usage rates of 83% for front seat passengers. Our Atlanta car accident attorneys agree that higher rear seatbelt usage would help prevent some of the most serious injuries.

The proposal would require that alerts and warnings that are currently in place for motorists and front seat passengers who have not yet buckled up after the car has been put into operation, are also included for rear seat belt passengers.The typically include a chime or beep that continues to sound until the seatbelt it engaged.

A recent report by the Consumer Federation of America shows that some insurance companies are using claims software that allows them to manipulate payments, thereby paying consumers less than they deserve after an accident.

The report found that popular injury evaluation software used by many insurance companies comes with provisions that allow the insurers to ‘lowball’ consumers.These software programs include the CSC Colossus package which allows insurers to manipulate claims payments.The software can be used to reclassify injuries as less than serious, compared to the diagnosis of a doctor.

Over the past 15 years, many insurance companies in the United States have implemented such software to streamline claims processing procedures.However, as this report indicates, the claims processing software may have more useful benefits than merely efficiency.The report concludes that the claims processing software has allowed many insurance companies to increase profits by lowballing consumers, and reducing the amount that is actually paid to consumers who file injury claims.