A Royston man could face up to 15 years in jail for his role in an April crash that killed two people and injured another. According to the Franklin County Citizen, James Thomas Dickson has been charged with two counts of felony first degree homicide by vehicle, one count of DUI, one count of serious injury by vehicle, one count of unlawful possession/purchase of a controlled substance, and one count of driving on the wrong side of the road. After being released from the hospital, Dickson...
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Atlanta police Officer Christopher J. Niezurawski has been placed on paid administrative leave after he allegedly drove drunk and on the wrong side of the highway, leading to a crash with a bus. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Niezurawski was spotted at around 4:45 a.m. driving north on the southbound lanes of Interstate 85 near Spaghetti Junction. Officers saw his car stopped going the wrong way, but the vehicle was hit by a Greyhound bus full of passengers before any preventative...
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A Franklin Springs man has been charged with multiple offenses after his involvement in a head-on collision that led to two deaths. According to the Franklin County Citizen, 43-year-old James Thomas Dickson has been charged with two counts of felony first degree homicide by vehicle, one count of driving under the influence (DUI), one count of serious injury by vehicle, one count of unlawful possession/purchase of a controlled substance, and one count of driving on the wrong side of the...
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A motorcyclist who lost his leg in an accident where the other driver was under the influence of drugs is speaking out about the unequal nature of DUI drug and DUI alcohol charges. According to NBC’s 11 Alive, John McLean almost died in a horrific motorcycle crash that eventually led to the amputation of his left leg. For the last two years after the accident, McLean has spoken out against the way Georgia handles DUI drug cases, arguing that they should be treated the same way as driving under...
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Charges have been filed against a girl and her mother for their roles in a crash that left a 40-year-old Sandtown Middle School teacher dead. Jim Price had just picked up his wife Kay Price and Shireen Haynes, both teachers at the school, when their car was hit by a vehicle driven by a teen driver. The impact caused their car to spin into the path of a tractor trailer, resulting in the death of math teacher Shireen Haynes. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Prices were taken...
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An accident earlier this month, in which a woman smashed into the back of a pulled-over police cruiser, illustrates the importance of Georgia’s Move Over Law. The Move Over Law has been adopted by most states around the country, requiring motorists to change lanes when certain vehicles, personnel, or incidents are present on the shoulder of a road. In this case, WSBTV reports that an Atlanta police officer had pulled onto the shoulder to aid a driver whose car...
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Off-duty Clayton County sheriff's deputy Amy Marie Kemper is in critical condition after her motorcycle was struck head-on by an SUV. It is alleged that the driver of the SUV, 26-year-old Christopher Lynn Brown, was drunk at the time of the accident. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Brown has been charged with driving under the influence (DUI), leaving the scene of an accident causing serious injury, reckless driving, and serious injury by vehicle.

Troopers report that...
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Walking in Cobb County has turned tragic over just a three-day period, with four accidents between vehicles and pedestrians leading to three fatalities. Four accidents occurred in the span of around 72 hours on Atlanta Road in Smyrna, Powder Springs Road in Marietta, Austell Road in Austell, and on the South Marietta Parkway in Marietta. According to CBS Atlanta, none of the drivers have been charged at this time.

The first accident saw 66-year-old former...
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A Greenville County, South Carolina bus accident has sent nine people to the hospital, including seven students and the drivers of both vehicles that collided, according to Fox Carolina. At around 8:22am on Wednesday, a school bus and a pickup truck crashed, leading to heavy frontal damage to at least the school bus and a bevy of injuries for the drivers and occupants. Although the crash was originally reported as a fatal crash, the Georgia Highway Patrol says that it...
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Twenty-two-year-old Chasity Nicole Jones has been criminally charged after an accident killed a veteran Atlanta Police Department (APD) officer, 46-year-old Gail Thomas. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Thomas had stopped to assist another officer at a one-car accident on the ramp from I-75 southbound at I-85 northbound when she was struck by Jones’ car. Thomas had not yet exited her car completely, and died at the scene. Jones consented to a breathalyzer test and blew a...
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Months after running over and killing a 23-year old woman while on the job, a San Francisco bus driver has been criminally charged for his role in the accident. On August 19th, 23-year-old Emily Dunn was walking across a crosswalk when she was struck by a Muni bus driven by operator Wallace Loggins. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Dunn had just moved for a job to San Francisco from her hometown of Atlanta, where both of her parents still live. They have filed a lawsuit with the...
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Georgia has passed new laws for golf carts, seeking to make them and their drivers safer when driven on the road. WDEF News reports that Georgia’s law specifically applies to "personal transportation vehicles", which must weigh less than 1,375 pounds and not top speeds of 20 mph. This new law requires that golf carts used off the course must be equipped with braking systems, a reverse warning device, tail lamps, a horn, and hip...
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In a rather bizarre series of events, a bicyclist has finally received closure after the driver that hit him was identified through DNA found on the suspect’s car. In July, 41-year-old Marco Garcia was riding his bicycle in Glen Burnie, Maryland when he was struck by a car that fled after the accident. According to ABC News, police were called to a Walmart parking lot to check on a vehicle that fit witness descriptions of the vehicle involved in the...
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Tragedy struck Atlanta on New Year’s Eve when Kathy Porter, wife of the head trainer of the Atlanta Braves, was struck and killed by a Georgia State Police (GSP) patrol car. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, veteran state trooper Donald Crozier was en route to a chase on I-20 involving a motorcyclist that had failed to yield for a traffic stop. As he reached the crest of a hill at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Capitol Avenue, he smashed into a Ford Expedition SUV...
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Two years after the “Super Speeder” law was passed in Georgia, the results are in. According to FOX 31, the mixed results show both a decrease in speeding fines and increased awareness, as well as quite a few unpaid tickets. The Super Speeder law, which fines drivers an extra $200 if they are found going 20mph or more over the speed limit, was enacted in July 2009. Atlanta’s 11Alive News reports that by the end of November 2010, 116,600 citations totaling $25,201,300 had been...
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The family of a man killed in a car accident a year ago is suing the Gwinnett Country restaurant that served alcohol to the two men who face charges in his death, according to The Republic. 

Allegedly, Soon Mo Kwon, 22, and Gho H. Lee, 23, were intoxicated when they left Café Todahmgol at 3 A.M. in separate vehicles. According to a police report, the Lexus that Kwon was driving sideswiped the Kia Forte driven by Lee on Steve Reynolds Boulevard. As...
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A 24-year-old from Brantley County, Georgia was charged with multiple offenses after an accident that killed two teenage pedestrians late last week. The pedestrians were correctly walking in the lane to face oncoming traffic, but were fatally struck by a vehicle very early on Friday morning. David Batten has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, and driving on the wrong side of the road. According to the Read More

Georgia state troopers have begun their participation in the annual holiday season “Click it or Ticket” campaign, which began on November 14th and ends on Sunday, November 27th, according to ABC's WJBF. The Click It or Ticket (CIOT) campaign is called by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the “most successful seat belt enforcement campaign ever, helping create the highest national seat belt usage rate of 85...
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Raquel Nelson will receive a second chance to be acquitted of charges against her in a jaywalking accident that led to the death of her son. Nelson was originally found guilty by a grand jury and sentenced to a year of probation and 40 hours of community service. She requested for the judge to drop all of the charges against her, but the judge denied her request. Instead, he dropped the charge of reckless conduct and gave her the option to go to a retrial on the charges of jaywalking and vehicular homicide. According to the Read More

South African Krige Schabort, a world-class wheelchair racer, was injured in a hit-and-run accident that was allegedly caused by a man driving under the influence. Schabort was traveling with a group of six cyclists (including his son) in Cedartown, Georgia when the back wheel of his wheelchair was struck by a driver, sending him into a ditch. According to the Cedartown Standard, Schabort received a...
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Different areas of Georgia are taking proactive steps to educate the public about new child safety seat requirements as well as enforce the new law. The new Georgia child safety seat law, effective on July 1st, requires children under 8 to be properly secured in an approved car seat or booster seat while riding in cars, vans, SUV’s, and pickup trucks. Around the state, organizations have taken opportunities to make sure the public is prepared to keep their children safe by organizing events including fundraising drives to provide child seats to needy families in Albany, a child...
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In light of National Teen Driver Safety Week, North Atlanta high school students are participating in a number of activities conducted to promote safe driving practices, according to the Atlanta Northside Family & Parenting Examiner. Courtesy of the University of Georgia, SADD and other organizations, students can join in hands-on safety exercises, including the use of “drunk goggles,” and “driving”...
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After striking a car in a Dawson County Kroger parking lot, the 20-year-old driver of a pickup truck reportedly tried to escape, only to barrel into a power pole. According to the Gainesville Times, the pole fell down, crushing the pickup and trapping a 13-year-old girl inside. Because the pickup was pushed against a pole with live wires, the girl was not able to be freed for almost two hours and had to be flown to Atlanta Egleston Children's Hospital. The girl remains in serious condition. Additionally,...
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An Atlanta lawyer has reportedly been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a drinking-related crash in 2006 that killed one woman and seriously injured two others. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, after attending a Falcons game, 40-year-old Antonio Tolliver got behind the wheel of his car and tried to drive home. At the intersection of Fort and Ellis streets in Atlanta, Tolliver reportedly ran a red light and smashed into a taxi, killing...
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A 48-year-old woman has been charged with a number of offenses after swerving into the emergency lane of the highway and fatally striking two teens on Thursday, according to My Fox Atlanta. Earlier this week Antonious Biship, 16, Octavious Sorrels, 17, and another friend were walking on the side of Highway 138 on a trip to buy tea when a car reportedly veered into the emergency lane and hit the teens, dragging them an estimated five hundred feet. Biship...
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In a highly debated move, the Atlanta Police Department is entering into agreements with private companies to use their surveillance cameras as a crime fighting tool. According to 11Alive, as a result of the city of Atlanta and the police department signing a MOU (memo of understanding) on the topic, law enforcement has been able to amass a considerable network of surveillance cameras around the city. These cameras have been used to identify crimes while they are being committed, catch...
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The tragic case of Raquel Nelson, who lost her 4-year-old son A.J. in an alcohol-related hit-and-run accident, illustrates the significant risks faced by pedestrians in Georgia. Nelson’s son was killed in April 2010 when she and her three children were crossing a busy street in Marietta, Georgia. The driver, Jerry Guy, left the scene of the accident, but was found and later admitted that he had been taking painkillers and drinking the night of the accident. The driver served six months in jail for the crime, but Raquel Nelson was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to a year...
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Despite being drowsy in an October 2010 crash that took the life of a student, a Carroll County school bus driver will not lose his license. The driver, Kenneth Herringdine, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but was taking cough medicine and was reported to be drowsy and inattentive the day of the crash. The Georgia State Patrol report on the incident stated that students expressed fear of driving with the bus driver, who was a driver trainee at the time. Herringdine, 59, was sentenced to...
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Effective July 1st, a new Georgia law requires motorists passing bicyclists to leave a minimum of three feet of clearance between their vehicle and the bicycle. Previously, Georgia traffic laws merely stated that automobile drivers had to keep a “safe distance” from cyclists. Georgia becomes the eighteenth state to adopt a law requiring vehicles to leave three feet between them and cyclists. Other changes in the “Better Bicycling Bill” include that cars must yield the...
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The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling in a 6-1 decision, stating that a Clinch County convenience store can be held liable for a fatal highway accident after selling a 12-pack of beer to the driver who caused the crash. The trial court and Georgia Court of Appeals previously awarded summary judgment to the store on grounds that the beer was not sold for consumption on premises and that a store could not determine a...
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Starting on Friday, July 1st, Georgia law will require children under 8 to be properly secured in an approved car seat or booster seat while riding in cars, vans, SUV’s and pickup trucks. In May, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed Senate Bill 88, which was pushed by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Safe Kids Georgia. The previous law required children under the age of 6 to be restrained in a child safety seat.

Exemptions in the new law are the same as those in the previous law. A child is exempt from this law if he or she: is at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall, has a...
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According to WBSTV Atlanta, texting may have been the cause of a deadly car crash in Cowetta County, Georgia on Friday night. The crash occurred when 16-year-old Taylor McKee ran a red light and crashed her car with two other teens into the driver’s side door of a car driven by 29-year-old Linda Leflore. Both McKee and Leflore died in the crash, and the two other teens in McKee’s car were injured.

Taylor McKee’s sister Hannah, who was in the car at the time, said that...
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One of the most important steps after an Atlanta auto accident is to find out who was at fault for or who caused the accident, which is called “liability.” To receive compensation for damages as a result of an auto accident in Atlanta, an individual must prove who was at fault for the accident. Fault is determined by showing that one or more drivers violated a law. According to common law, there are four kinds of fault:

-Negligence: Careless conduct that leads to damage or injury. 

-Recklessness or wanton conduct: Ignoring the possibility of an accident and...
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The United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) has recently released new bus safety measures, adding to other recent actions undertaken to prevent serious accidents. Under these new regulations, the U.S. DOT will begin more rigorous testing for commercial driver’s licenses, research and find new policies that will improve passenger carrier and driver compliance with federal safety regulations, allow passengers to check the safety records and...
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According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a 25-year-old pedestrian was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver on Sugarloaf Parkway late on Tuesday, May 17th 2011.  Debris recovered from the scene of the accident suggests that the vehicle was a late-model Dodge Ram, though authorities have not yet been able to discern the color.  The driver failed to stop after the collision and fled the scene.  Authorities are currently looking for leads as to the driver’s...
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Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of car accidents in Atlanta. While distracting phone calls, text messages and e-mails are a large part of the problem, several technology companies have put an effort into developing smart phone applications which will help motorists in Atlanta and across the county drive without distractions. In honor of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which was set for April, our Atlanta car accident lawyers are listing three free cell phone apps which can help prevent...
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