As an Atlanta car wreck lawyer, I keep my eye on the wrecks that occur
throughout our city. In a number of recent blog entries, I have been talking
about the data about car accidents here in Atlanta, with the goal of being
able to synthesize that information to give us and idea of what we can
do better in order to prevent deaths and personal injuries in Atlanta’s
car wrecks.
The data I am using is from
FARS, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System maintained by the National Highway
and Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”). The data only
includes fatal accidents; even accidents that result in terrible personal
injuries, paralyzed limbs, head injuries and broken bones are not entered
into the system unless one of the people involved in the collision died.
(Of course, when a person is killed in an accident, other people involved
in the accident are often very seriously injured.) Even with that limitation,
it can be very useful in helping us pinpoint patterns about just how Atlanta
car accidents are occurring.
In 2008, Atlanta had 54 fatal car accidents, and a total of 59 people died
from those car crashes.
In May 2008, two people, one a pedestrian, were killed in Atlanta car wrecks.
On the 6th of that month, a driver hit and killed a pedestrian at the
intersection of Marietta Boulevard and Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. The
accident occurred at 11:15 a.m., and yet surprisingly, Atlanta police
said it involved a DUI driver who had been drinking and driving.
At the end of the month, on May 30th, a driver was killed in a single-vehicle
accident here in Atlanta where Joseph E Boone Blvd / Simpson St. crosses
Anderson Ave. The accident occurred after dark, at 9:45 p.m.
June 2008 had many more fatal car accidents than May 2008. In June, six
people were killed in Atlanta auto collisions in the month of June. One
of the six was a pedestrian.
On June 2, one person died in a one-car wreck on Bolton Rd. at the interchange
with I-285. Atlanta went more than two weeks without having a fatal crash,
but starting on June 20th, the numbers shot up dramatically. On June 20,
2008, a pedestrian crossing the intersection of Custer Avenue and Funtston
St. was killed by a car. The accident happened at 6:58 in the morning.
The June fatal car accidents came quickly after that. On June 23, one person
died in a three-car collision on I-85 in East Point. The next day, one
person died during the morning rush hour on I-285 between the Martin Luther
King Dr. and Cascade Rd. exits.
On June 27, 2008, one person died in a two-car crash along I-20, between
Fulton Industrial Blvd. and I-285. That Atlanta accident occurred at 6:58 at night.
Two days later, on June 29th, a driver died when he lost control of his
vehicle on Bolton Rd. near its intersection with Forrest Place NW and
Hollywood Rd NW. That accident occurred at 10:32 p.m.