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This past week, the metro Atlanta area has been hard-hit by rain from the edges of Hurricane Melissa. Even when there’s not a hurricane, severe weather can create the perfect conditions for motor vehicle accident fatalities.

Common sense would dictate that extremely severe weather causes the greatest number of accidents, but data doesn’t back this up. In fact, among weather-related accidents, regular rainfall accounts for most accidents, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Among accidents from 2013-2022, 74% of accidents occurring during “adverse atmospheric conditions” occurred during rain. By comparison, freezing precipitation, such as snowfall or ice, accounted for 21%. Rainfall is so common, especially in the southeastern portion of the US, that we tend to discount how dangerous it can make driving conditions. A typical rainstorm reduces visibility, combines with oil to create slick roads, and can even cause standing water and flooding. Atlanta roads in particular are notorious for poor drainage, and a simple summer storm can cause flooding on surface streets within an hour. Standing water can cause a vehicle to hydroplane if the vehicle is driving more than 35 mph, a dangerous situation in which the driver loses control of the vehicle and cannot use the brakes. These conditions combine to cause often fatal and injurious accidents.

Take these precautions before you drive in the rain to reduce the risks:

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While urban counties such as Fulton are known for accident fatalities, rural and exurb areas in Georgia are also at-risk. This is particularly true on interstates and highways frequented by semi trucks and tractor trailers.

On October 13 in Jackson County, a semi-trailer chicken feed truck rear-ended a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan after following too closely. This pushed the Dodge forward causing a chain-reaction crash with four additional vehicles, and both the van and the tractor trailer were enveloped in flames. All eight occupants of the van have been declared deceased, one of whom may have been pregnant. The driver of the tractor has been arrested and charged with eight counts of 2nd degree vehicular homicide, and the crash is currently under investigation by the Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team.

Chain reaction accidents have the potential to cause wide devastation to multiple vehicles and their occupants. In this case, the accident was caused by the truck driver following too closely. To ensure enough distance between your vehicle and the one in front, there should be three seconds of distance between vehicles when traveling under 40 mph. To measure seconds of distance, identify a lamp post or pole ahead of you and check when the car in front of you passes by the pole.  At least three seconds should pass before your car also passes the pole. On highways and interstates where speeds often exceed 55 mph, add an additional second of space, and when following a tractor trailer or other large vehicle, allow additional space, since such vehicles have large blind spots.

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Fall break is here for most areas in metro Atlanta, including county schools in Clayton, Dekalb, Douglas, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. School break means more child pedestrians and cyclists as well as increased teen driving. How can you keep your teen driver safe during fall break, and what are the biggest areas of concern?

DUI: Any Amount is Too High

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 30% of U.S. drivers aged 15-20 years who were killed in motor vehicle accidents had blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.1 g/DL or higher, which is legal intoxication. Teen drivers are already at-risk of impaired driving due to lack of experience, and any amount of intoxication compounds the danger. Make sure your teen driver understands that Georgia has zero tolerance policy laws for all drivers under 21. This means any measurable amount of alcohol is deemed legal intoxication for teen drivers and will result in arrest. Taking away the keys for one night beats arrest and losing your license.

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Georgia cyclists have beautiful roads to explore in our state, especially as we move into fall weather with (hopefully!) cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, not every bicycle meets the safety requirements recommended by Georgia Highway Safety. This is no small matter, since non-motorist fatalities are overrepresented among total accident fatalities in Georgia. Between 2019-2023, pedestrians and bicyclists represented less than one percent of individuals involved in motor vehicle crashes while accounting for 20% of fatalities.

Of course, not all accidents or fatalities can be prevented by cyclist behavior. However, cyclists involved in an accident caused by a motor vehicle are more likely to walk away if they can check “yes” for the following questions about their bikes (for the full list, see the Georgia Highway Safety Bicycle Safety Checklist):

  1. Do the wheels run properly, without wobbling?
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We’ve all heard the common-sense advice: after an accident, exchange information with the other driver. However, when it comes to accidents on busy roadways such as interstates, the common sense answer could get you killed.

On August 13, 36-year-old truck driver Terrell Lowdermilk of Chattanooga was hit by a vehicle while trying to do the right thing. While driving a tractor trailer on I-75 in Marietta, he had a minor sideswipe accident with another tractor trailer. Both drivers stopped after the accident to exchange information, one on the interstate and one on the nearby exit ramp. While Lowdermilk stood in the left lane of the entrance ramp, he was hit and killed by the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado. Unfortunately, this driver fled the scene without stopping to help.

After investigation, on August 15 police charged Milton police lieutenant Christopher Bradshaw with vehicular homicide and hit-and-run. He was described as a top investigator with 14 years’ experience, but he failed to protect and serve Terrell Lowdermilk. He has been fired from the Milton police department and is being held in Cobb County jail without bond.

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It’s not just using cell phones while driving, but also other types of distracting behaviors like eating and snacking at the wheel that expose motorists to the risk of car accidents.  Unfortunately, when auto accidents do occur, they often involve very serious personal injuries. A new survey conducted by an insurer finds that while motorists are aware of the dangers of texting while driving or using cell phones while driving, they are still likely to engage in other distracting behaviors at the wheel.

The survey was conducted by Nationwide, and found that approximately 20% of motorists continue to use cell phones while driving.  This is in spite of the fact that use of cell phones at the wheel is linked to a much higher risk of being involved in car accidents. More than half of the motorists in the survey also admitted to snacking and drinking while driving.  Another 13% admitted to getting ready for work while at the wheel which includes applying makeup and shaving.

It is clear that cars are no more just automobiles for transporting people around, but have turned into extensions of people’s lives and homes.  This has contributed to a range of distracting behaviors at the wheel that significantly increase a motorist’s risk of being involved in an auto accident.

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While in – car safety technologies can play a significant role in helping reduce car accident wrongful deaths, state and local officials also need to be looking at infrastructure improvements that can have a more immediate effect on motorist safety.

In-car safety technologies including forward collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems and other types of technologies can play a significant role in reducing the number of people being killed in car accidents every year.  In 2025, the number of cars that come with advanced safety features are much higher than they were even a decade back.

However, progress in bringing these technologies to every single American has been slow.  The average American automobile is approximately 12 years old, and lacks most of these newer safety features. Safety groups have been pushing for the expansion of these systems in all cars, but it could be years, or even decades, before these safety features are expanded to all cars. In the meantime, Americans continue to die in car accidents caused by distracted driving, speeding and other dangerous behaviors.  The delay in expanding these technologies has had deadly consequences. In 2022, the number of people killed in car accidents was at least 30 percent higher than in 2014.

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Much of motorist safety has to do with safe vehicle design. Thousands of car accidents every year are likely caused by imperfect or defective design of automobiles.  A disturbing new study finds that some of the top-selling cars in America, including larger automobiles like SUVs and pickup trucks have blind zones that have expanded in size over the past 25 years. Simply put, larger blind spots greatly increase the risk of car accidents.

The analysis was conducted recently by researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a group that has been in the forefront of demanding that automakers implement safer vehicle designs as a way of preventing car accident wrongful deaths.  This study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety used new measurement techniques to measure a motorist’s area of vision around the vehicle.

The study found that between 1997 and 2023, forward visibility around a vehicle dropped by as much as 58% in some of the most popular SUVs on the market. In the case of pickup trucks, the forward visibility dropped by 17%. This means that the blind zones in many of the most popular and highest- selling pickup trucks and SUVs in the United States have actually been decreasing significantly in size over the past few years.

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Persons who have suffered a traumatic brain injury may be at risk of violent or even criminal behavior.  A new study points to specific areas of the brain that may suffer damage during a head injury, exposing the individual to the risk of criminal activity after the personal injury.

According to the study, during certain types of traumatic brain injuries, the victim may suffer damage to the right uncinate fasciculus, or white matter pathway in the brain.  Damage to this part of the brain may result in a number of  consequences. The person may find it difficult to make decisions, and there may also be an impact on the person’s empathy and emotional regulation. The  person may find it difficult to differentiate between right and wrong or to feel empathy for another person.

The researchers focused their study on 17 individuals who had suffered a brain injury and then gone on to commit a criminal or violent act. They compared the brain scans of these individuals with more than 700 other individuals who had also suffered some kind of brain damage and suffered from other symptoms like memory loss or depression.  The analysis found that the white matter area of the brain was the most commonly damaged part of the brain in those individuals who committed violent or criminal acts after the brain injury.

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Thousands of people suffer spinal cord injuries  in car accidents every year. Technologies and therapies that make use of sensors and impulses in order to trigger movement point to the way forward in spinal cord injury treatment.   A recent study also broke new ground in this field.

The experiment was conducted on 17 persons who had no spinal injury. These persons were made to wear special fitting headgear that measured their brain impulses. They were asked to extend their legs or think about extending them.  The researchers then recorded brain waves to identify when a subject moved his leg and intended to move his leg.

The researchers found that the brain waves were very similar in both the actual movements as well as the imagined movements. Using these electrodes, the researchers were able to identify when people were thinking about moving their leg even when they were not actually doing so, based on the brain waves recorded. These people were able to move their legs just by thinking about moving it, helped by the triggering of electrical impulses in the spinal cord.

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