North Carolina Car Accident Attorney Blog

A North Carolina drunk driving accident has left 3 teens hospitalized after being ejected from a vehicle Sunday night. North Carolina State Troopers report that 17 year old Keegan Robinson, a junior at East Carteret High School, was under the influence of alcohol when he was driving too fast, ran off the roadway, and over corrected, causing his pickup truck to strike a ditch and flip. Robinson and his two passengers, also high school students, were ejected from the vehicle. Charges against Robinson are pending.

All three teens were initially transported to Carteret General Hospital but were subsequently airlifted to New Hanover Regional Medical Center for treatment of multiple broken bones, internal injuries, and head injuries. As of Wednesday, Robinson was still unconscious and in critical condition.

Hundreds of people attended a prayer service Tuesday at Cedar Island United Methodist Church. Hopefully, the members of this tight-knit community can identify the person who provided alcohol to these teens so that they can be held accountable.

Continue reading "Three Teens Ejected From Truck Following Drunk Driving Crash" »

In a completely preventable tragedy, a car accident in Union County took the life of Weddington High School student Riley Laymon. Four other students suffered serious injuries in the crash.

According to North Carolina State Troopers, a group of high school students were traveling on Antioch Road when the driver, 17 year old Robert Cooke III, lost control of the vehicle, a pickup truck, causing it to flip two times. Roads were wet Saturday, and Troopers believe Cooke was traveling too fast for conditions when he rounded a curve and went off the roadway, causing the truck to roll.

Cooke, who still had his provisional drivers license, was only lawfully allowed to have one passenger in the vehicle. He has been charged with Failure to Wear a Seatbelt, Failure to Comply with License Restrictions, and Misdemeanor Death by Motor Vehicle.

Four of the five passengers in this Cooke's pickup truck were not wearing seatbelts. Three of the teens were completely ejected from the vehicle, and a fourth teen was partially ejected. Only the belted teen was not ejected, and she only suffered minor injuries and has already been released from the hospital.

Continue reading "Car Accident In Union County Leaves 1 Teen Dead, 4 Injured" »

A Raleigh drunk driving car accident has left one teenager dead and another in jail. The Raleigh Police Department has charged 16 year old Garrett Prince, a student at Millbrook High School, with Felony Death by Motor Vehicle, Driving While Impaired, Open Container of Alcohol, Possession of Marijuana, and Driving After Consuming Alcohol While Underage.

Fellow Millbrook High School student Elizabeth Molloy was killed when Prince rounded a curve at a high rate of speed and struck a tree. Police estimate that Prince was driving at approximately 75 miles per hour when he crashed. It is likely that Molloy would have survived the crash had she been wearing her seatbelt. Prince, who was also not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the vehicle.

The accident occurred around 2am Friday morning after the teens left a party in the neighborhood where Prince crashed. Police found several empty alcoholic beverage bottles in Prince's vehicle.

This accident is a tragedy that could easily have been prevented. It has been reported that Prince was driving with a provisional drivers license. Holders of a level 2 provisional license are prohibited from driving after 9 pm unless they are driving to or from work.

Continue reading "One Teen Dead, One Teen In Jail Following Raleigh Drunk Driving Accident" »

Newly licensed teens are at a much higher risk for being involved in a car accident in North Carolina. A new study shows that a newly licensed teenage driver in North Carolina is 2 times more likely to crash during their first month of solo driving than they are following 2 years driving experience. The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center was commissioned on behalf of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety to study the driving behavior of newly licensed drivers.

The study looked at 50 North Carolina families with teenagers applying for a learner's permit. Cameras were installed in their vehicles and recorded activity inside the car, and also activity in front of, and behind the vehicle. Parent interviews were conducted 10 times over the course of a year. The cameras monitored the teens while they were driving with their parents while they had their permits, as well as the first 6 months of solo driving with their provisional license. The study also analyzed the cause of crashes for newly licensed drivers in North Carolina.

In their analysis of the reasons why teens were crashing, they found 3 common behaviors:
-Failure to Reduce Speed
-Not Paying Attention
-Failure to Yield

Continue reading "Newly Licensed Teens At Much Higher Risk For Car Accident In North Carolina" »

North Carolina Highway Patrol has found that 16 year old Taylor Clark was texting when she caused a head-on collision, killing 17 year old passenger, Seth Beaver. Clark has been charged with misdemeanor death by a motor vehicle, failing to yield, and texting while driving.

It has been illegal for drivers in North Carolina under the age of 18 to use a cell phone while driving since 2006, and for any driver to text while driving since December 1, 2009, but drivers such as Clark continue to ignore this law. In fact, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has reported that even though North Carolina bans cell phone use by drivers under 18 years of age, cell phone use by this group actually increased since the law went into effect.

There are currently three bills pending in North Carolina, all aimed at curtailing the use of cell phones by all drivers. If passed, House Bill 31 will make it illegal to use a cell phone while driving, and House Bill 44, would allow use of hands free devices only. Senate Bill 36 is nearly identical to House Bill 31. If passed, these laws will go into effect on December 1, 2011.

Our experienced car accident attorneys encourage you to talk to your teen. Reinforce the rules. Sit down with your child and watch "Faces of Distracted Driving". Real stories, about real teens, who paid the ultimate price when someone was texting while driving.

Police have identified 18 year-old Chahid Omar Solamen as the driver in a one car accident in Greenville, North Carolina that left one person dead, and three hospitalized. An unknown fifth person walked away from the wreckage.

Solamen has been charged with Driving While Impaired, and more charges will likely follow due to the death of one of the passengers. At least three of the passengers were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle.

In 2009, over 45,000 drivers were involved in fatal car accidents and more than 10,000, or 22%, had a blood alcohol levels above .08. Of those drunk drivers, 35% were between the ages 21-24, 32% between the ages 25-34, and 19% between the ages 16-20. Those not even old enough to drink legally were responsible for 19% of drivers in drunk driving fatal accidents.

Until people get the message that it is not OK to drink and drive, these statistics will not decrease. As for the passengers in Mr. Solamen's vehicle, if they knew or should have known that Solamen was under the influence of alcohol, it can prevent them from recovering damages. For more information, contact an experienced car accident attorney.

In our North Carolina Car Accident Attorney Blog, we recently wrote an article, New Approach to Teach Teens Danger of Texting While Driving. In that article, we described a video that was shown to teens participating in the program, illustrating the danger of texting while driving. AAA Carolinas has announced that it will be airing the video over the upcoming July 4th holiday weekend. That video can be seen by clicking here. WARNING: This video is graphic.

North Carolina State Highway Patrol Officers acknowledge the difficulty of enforcing North Carolina's ban on texting while driving. In their efforts to teach teens the danger of texting while driving, troopers are visiting North Carolina high schools with a program designed to deter the illegal act.

The students watch a video that re-enacts a traffic fatality involving a teenage girl texting while driving, and then drifting into oncoming traffic, ultimately killing the occupants of her vehicle, as well as those in the oncoming vehicle.

Following the video, the students participate in an obstacle course while driving a golf cart. On the first run, students navigated through orange traffic cones without texting. During their second run through the course, they were instructed to read and respond to a text message while driving through the course. One of the teens hit 15 cones while texting and driving through the course.

The results were no different in White River Junction, Vermont, where troopers, following the program initated in North Carolina, ran students through a similar program. One of the Vermont students readily admitted to striking 11 cones while texting and driving.

The aim of the program, of course, is to save lives. The captain of the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicle enforcement found a 400% average increase in driving errors and dramatically decreased reaction time.

The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that cellphone use, whether talking or texting, is responsible for 1.6 million crashes, or 28%, per year. They also report that people who text while driving are 8 to 23 times more likely to crash. These are exactly the statistics troopers hope to reduce through their "dnt txt & drv" program.

North Carolina law prohibits motorists under the age of 18 to use a cellphone, yet a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has found that since the enactment of this law, teen cellphone use in North Carolina has actually increased.

As part of its study, IIHS watched teen drivers as they drove away after school in the afternoon. Before the law went into effect, researchers noted that 11% of teen drivers were using their cellphones as they drove away from school. A few months after the law took effect, researchers found that almost 12% of the teen drivers were using their cellphones as they drove away from school.

Ironically, the study also found that teenagers were more likely to even be aware of the ban on cellphone use for drivers under the age of 18, than their parents. The study reported that 39% of parents knew of the ban, while 64% of their teens knew about it.

Not surprisingly, however, teenagers did not support the ban as strongly as their parents. Of the parents and teens that were aware of the ban on teen cellphone use while driving, 95% of parents supported the ban, while only 74% of teens supported it. Eighty-eight percent of the parents surveyed reported that they restricted their teenager's cell phone use, but only 66% of teens admitted that their parents restricted their cellphone use.

Despite the ban on cellphone use for teens under the age of 18, almost half of the teens surveyed by IIHS admitted that they still used their cellphone while driving.

With enforcement nearly non-existent, teens are likely to continue to use their cellphones while driving. If you have been injured due to a driver who was distracted by cellphone use, you may be entitled to recover damages. Contact our North Carolina accident and injury lawyers today for more information.