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"PickupI write this blog for my
car accident law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2008, the Georgia Department of Transportation (“GA DOT”)
published a comprehensive report,
Crash Analysis, Statistics and Information Notebook 2008 that analyzes Georgia car crashes between 2000 to 2006.

The GA DOT report,
2008 GA DOT report.pdf, breaks the car accidents down by various categories, and it had some
very interesting things to say about Georgia pickup truck wrecks, motorcycle
wrecks in Georgia, and Georgia tractor-trailer accidents.

Georgia Pickup Truck Wrecks. The GA DOT report had some bad news for pickup truck drivers. Pickup crashes
were more likely to be fatal. In fact, a person involved in a Georgia
car accident involving a pickup truck was almost twice as likely to die
as a person who was in an automobile. Very surprisingly, 1 of 3 fatalities
in car wrecks in Georgia happened in a crash involving a pickup truck.

The report suggests a couple of reasons why pickup truck crashes are more
likely to cause deaths. First, a large number of these pickup truck wrecks
occur on rural roads. In fact, 60% of the rollover crashes involving pickup
trucks occur on these rural Georgia roadways. The report explains that
rollover crashes are more dangerous in general, as are crashes on rural,
two-lane roads without a median or barrier. Second, the adult occupants
of the pickup trucks are less likely to wear their seat belts than the
adult occupants of passenger cars and sport utility vehicles (“SUVs).
Fatal crashes in pickup trucks are increasing, too. The number of truck
accidents increased by 17% from 2000 to 2006, and by 5.7% even after the
figures are adjusted to take into account an increase in the number of
vehicles registered in Georgia.

Georgia Tractor-Trailers and Large Truck Accidents. When a large truck, such as a tractor-trailer or 18-wheeler has a collision
with an automobile, SUV or even pickup trucks, it is no surprise which
one comes out the biggest loser. 270 people died in crashes involving
at least one large tractor-trailer or semi-truck, and 86.3% of those were
in the smaller vehicle.

Georgia Motorcycle Wrecks. Motorcycle crashes were twelve times more likely to be fatal than wrecks
involving passenger cars. While 16% of people in crashes in passenger
cars either received personal injuries or were killed, a tragic 72% of
motorcyclists were either personally injured or killed in wrecks. Almost
1/3 of these motorcycle accidents occurred in rural counties. Unfortunately,
fatalities in motorcycle crashes appear to be on the rise. The Georgia
motorcycle fatal crash rate was up 60.8% during the period from 2000 to
2006. Oddly, fatalities in motorcycle wrecks have increased by much more
for middle age and older drivers. While the death rate for motorcyclists
under 40 increased by 117.1%, the death rate for motorcycle drivers who
were over age 39 increased by 254.6%.

Georgia Fatalities in Car Wrecks. On average, 5 people die in car accidents on Georgia roads every day.
Whereas fatalities were in the range of 1500 a year in the 1990’s,
that number increased to more than 1700 in 2005 and 2006.

I have written several entries on what the GA DOT has found. Their findings
are of interest to all Georgia drivers, and even more particularly to
drivers actually in accidents, be they drivers seriously injured in tractor-trailer
accidents in McDonough along I-75, or motorcyclists thrown from their
motorcycles.

For an overview of the findings by the Georgia DOT in its report, see my
entry from October 10, 2011,
The Sad, Sad Truth: Car Wrecks in Georgia, By the (Very Depressing) Numbers.

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Lee’s peers have named her a Georgia SuperLawyer every year for two decades.