Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

As an Atlanta car accident lawyer practicing in north Georgia, I have written several times about the perils of stopping on a metro Atlanta highway and exiting your vehicle. I am moved to do so again. There are articles in local papers weekly about someone being catastrophically injured or killed because they got out of their vehicle somewhere in metro Atlanta. I just read another such article in the AJC on line.

In the AJC on line article, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle on I-75 in Bartow County. The Driver of the vehicle stopped to check on the pedestrian, and after exiting his vehicle to do so, a tractor trailer struck the stopped vehicle, the driver and the pedestrian. The pedestrian was killed and the driver was badly injured.

Folks, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident or if your vehicle becomes inoperable for any reason when you are on a busy highway (in Atlanta or not), only leave your vehicle if it is safe to do so and you can quickly and safely get to an area where you are completely out of harms way. If you leave your vehicle under any other conditions, there is a very good chance you will be struck by on coming motorists.

If you are, it may not be your fault and the driver of the vehicle that hits you may be responsible for your injuries or your death. But that will be of little consequence because of the severity of injuries that typically occur when pedestrians are struck by vehicles moving highway speeds. Driver inattention may very well be the likely cause if you are hit. Drivers operate their vehicles daily on the highways while talking on the phone, texting, surfing the web, eating, drinking, grooming, reading, etc. So, even if you are extremely careful in exiting your car, when drivers are not paying attention, horrible results can occur.

Continue reading "Atlanta Car Accident lawyer knows Exiting your Vehicle on Metro Atlanta Highways can Lead to Serious Injuries and Deaths" »

As an Atlanta personal injury and wrongful death attorney practicing in north Georgia, I was saddened to read an online article by a local Albany news station about 2 children run down by an elderly driver while awaiting a school bus. Not only was I saddened, I was also amazed because the tragedy is almost identical to a situation handled by our firm about two months ago. In the earlier case, a young Hispanic girl was tragically killed in Cobb county when an elderly woman ran her over while she waited to board her bus to go to school. Although neither child died in the Tift county incident, a young boy is still in intensive care because on his injuries.

In the Tift county incident, a 92 year old driver somehow failed to realize the school bus was stopped and ran over the children while they crossed the road to board the bus. It is likely the bus had its stop sign out and its red lights flashing. The impact was so hard that the little boy was knocked out of his shoes and flew some distance before landing on the road unconscious. Although no charges had been filed when I wrote this blog, it is my guess that the investigation will reveal that the children did nothing to contribute to the incident, and that the blame will be on the elderly driver for failing to observe the stopped school bus with its flashing lights.

It is difficult for me to understand all the heartache that comes from this type of incident. First, my heart goes out to the 92 year old gentleman and his family. As we all get older, we know the day will come when we will be unable to continue to do the things we once could, including drive safely. I don't know if this is the case for the driver in this incident, but I bet it might be. To discover this and to cause harm to children at the same time - I can't imagine how that would make you feel.

Continue reading "Two Children run Down by Elderly Driver While Crossing the Street to Board a School Bus in Tift County Eerily Similar to Recent Cobb County Child Pedestrian Death" »