Crashes with trucks

Nine fatal crashes with commercial trucks have been recorded in Titan. In those nine fatal crashes No truck drivers were at fault.
One car ran a light and hit a truck.
One car slammed into a truck stopped in traffic.
Four car drivers crossed the center line and ran into trucks.
One car crossed into a construction zone and ran into a TDOT dump truck.
One crash was caused when a car slid on ice and ended up in a crash with a truck.
One car was driven by a suspected impaired driver, who ran into a truck.

Cars running into trucks due to driver error are on the rise and they don't end well for the errant driver.

Truck crashes

Last year 4,102 people lost their lives in crashes involving commercial motor vehicle crashes.
89% of them died due to driver error.

This year we have had 12 fatalities involving trucks in the first 18 days of the year. We only had two at this point so far! Last year we had a total of 98 in Tennessee all year. This is a little scary!

Jim Wigmore: Trauma and Elimination of Blood

Toxicologist Jim Wigmore has an interesting and excellent article concerning his review of laboratory studies concerning physical trauma and elimination of alcohol from the bloodstream. Read it at:


Trauma: Does it Affect the Elimination of Blood Alcohol?

No Refusal Results

The results are in from the 16 counties that participated in the No Refusal New Years Weekend effort.
There were 96 arrests and 2 search warrants.
In the counties there were no alcohol related fatalities.
There were three non alcohol fatalities.

To read the results and see which counties participated with the Dept of Safety effort, go to:

Tennessee Highway Patrol Announces New Year's Eve No Refusal Results | TN.gov Newsroom

Rest in Peace

James Lonzo Morgan, 90, of Knox County;
Chad Scism, 34, Williamson County;
Alanna Wiiliams, 36, Weakley County;
Tanner Perkins, 20, Carter County.

We lost them on our roadways this week first week of the year.

29 Booked for DUI 1/1/13 in Nashville

A Basic New Year's Resolution for everyone should include a sober ride home. 29 in Nashville forgot that resolution. They are:
Robbie Casas, John Casey, Keene Russell, Tiffany Rogers, Antonio Mason, Eric Whitman, Rita Robinson, Alisha Webber, Austin Young, Tiffany Weddle, Jeff Whitaker, Michael Jaran, Austin Hughes, Samantha Cassetty, Francisco Dominguez, Donna Johnson, Christopher Harrison, Cory McGuire, Ronald Denson, Malleri Buresh, Justin Butler, Jason Carpenter, Sarah Reese, Fernando Hernandez, Amilcar Trujilla, Andrew Yorks, Herbert Melendez and William Blankall.

Congratulations to the officers who stopped these people before they crashed and killed or crashed and died!

The last fatal crash

We lost 23 year old Tyler Wheatly of Knoxville in what was probably the last fatal crash of 2012.  According to the latest report Tyler was one of 1,013 persons to die on our roadways in 2012. That's 76 more people than last year. May he and all rest in peace. Let's resolve to do better in 2013.

The News Sentinel article indicates that Mr. Wheatley lost control of his vehicle and died upside down in a pond. For his family I suspect their whole world has turned upside down as they try to cope with their loss.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/01/man-killed-when-suv-plunges-into-west-knoxville/