Data published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) details how an estimated 30% of all car accidents are attributable to drunk driving. Over 10,000 individuals die in drunk driving crashes yearly in the United States. There were at least 170 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2019 here in Mississippi. Countless others likely suffered varying degrees of injuries in other alcohol-involved crashes.

Drunk driving accidents are often described as preventable crashes. They wouldn’t have occurred had it not been for a motorist negligently getting behind the wheel of a car, putting others’ lives at risk. When sharing the road with others, there are a few telltale signs that a drunk driver is near that you can be on the lookout for to potentially avoid becoming entangled in a crash.

Distracted driving is one of the most under-reported causes of car accidents—making it a hidden hazard that threatens the lives of motorists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists. To help drivers in our state better understand their rights and duties on the road, we’ve put together a quick guide to Mississippi distracted driving laws.

If you were involved in an auto collision caused by driver negligence, contact the car accident attorneys of Pittman Roberts & Welsh, PLLC with questions. Our legal team has an in-depth understanding of state laws all drivers must follow. If the motorist who caused your injuries violated a Mississippi distracted driving law, we can help you take legal action.

Most of us drive alongside large trucks on a daily basis, no matter whether we only navigate city streets here in Jackson or highways and major interstates. While sharing the road with truckers makes some of us uncomfortable for various reasons, one danger you may not often consider is the prospect of a truck having a defective hitch.

A collision with a large truck is a life-altering experience. A fully loaded tractor-trailer unit can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds and around 35,000 pounds when empty. The average midsize motor vehicle only weighs 3,300 pounds, making your car no match for a commercial truck.

If you are in an accident with another driver and their insurance company denies liability, you may be wondering what your next steps are. You have a few options, and it is important to understand them all before deciding how to proceed in your case.

In personal injury cases, “pre-existing condition” can be a heavy term. A pre-existing condition is, in short, a health condition the injured party already had prior to the accident that caused their most recent injury. A pre-existing condition is also one of the most common reasons insurance companies cite when denying or undervaluing a personal injury claim.

So how do pre-existing conditions affect personal injury claims? A falsehood many insurance companies lead injured victims to believe is that most people have a completely clean bill of health before an accident. That’s simply not true. Almost everyone who is involved in a personal injury accident—whether a car accident, slip and fall, or medical malpractice incident—has some kind of underlying health condition.

Land comes at a cost, especially in densely populated or highly trafficked areas, such as downtown Jackson, MS. Price is one of the main factors that motivate property owners to construct parking garages or decks alongside their structures, including office buildings, shopping centers, sports facilities, universities, or apartment complexes. Parking decks have a small footprint yet afford hundreds if not thousands of motorists the ability to easily access an establishment.

Parking garages allow property owners to offer customers, employees, residents, or whoever else may use their premises a place to leave their vehicle while going about their activities. While most people see parking garages as a convenience, they can also be a big liability for crashes.

Being struck by another motorist is a terrifying event under any circumstances. After a collision, you may be left to deal with medical bills for your injuries and repair bills for your vehicle. When the accident was caused by the other driver, you need to know that you can recover compensation for the expenses their actions caused.

Every car accident is unique. Most are highly complex events with multiple contributing factors. It’s not always easy to figure out how to obtain compensation on your own. Things can become even more complicated when you discover the other motorist was driving a rented car, not their own vehicle. How do you recover compensation if the motorist who struck you was driving a rental car?

As the weather turns warm and kids are off school for the summer, families are often eager to escape their homes and visit somewhere new. The summer holiday vacation is practically a rite of passage in America. In 2021, 82% of Americans traveled over the summer. Of those, 73% went on a road trip. 

The lawyers at Pittman Roberts & Welsh, PLLC know that road trips can create memories that last a lifetime, but they also know that they can be dangerous. We want everyone in Mississippi to stay safe this summer, so we’ve compiled our top five summer driving safety tips. 

By now, most—if not all—drivers in Mississippi should know how dangerous it is to physically manipulate your phone while driving. Whether tapping out a text, scrolling through your latest social media feed, or trying to take a video from behind the wheel, driving while holding a phone is never safe.

For a problem created by technology, technology might also have a solution. Hands-free devices and settings are advertised as alternatives to traditional phone use behind the wheel, allowing drivers to keep their hands and eyes on the road. How often, in reality, do these devices and settings work to stop accidents from occurring? Have accident rates declined since these devices were made mainstream? Below, we’ll attempt to answer these important questions and more.