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What a complete tragedy! In a
Cumming, Georgia car wreck, a 67-year-old man named Edward Kivlin died at the scene of an accident.
The accident took place on northbound Ga. 400, above (north) of Haynes
Bridge Road.

The police have not identified the person who hit Kivlin. They have said
that Kivlin was driving a maroon Nissan Pathfinder, and that the person
who hit him was driving a red Honda Civic. The two were apparently traveling
next to each other, in adjacent lanes, when the first car wreck occurred.

The Nissan Pathfinder and the Honda Civic collided, and the drivers of
both vehicles lost control. Both the car and the SUV slid into a grassy
median near the Haynes Bridge road exit. Kivlin’s Nissan got the
worst of the deal, though, because, as it was sliding across the road,
it was pushed into the path of a white Dodge minivan that was coming down
the ramp to enter northbound Ga. 400. The Nissan was in a second collision
with the Dodge Minivan, and the Nissan wound up overturning and sliding
down an embankment.

For Kivlin, the double car accident was catastrophic. He died at the scene
of the car wreck.

The person driving the Honda Civic was also injured, and was taken to North
Fulton Hospital. Fortunately, the driver of the white Dodge minivan was
not hurt – at least not physically.

As a Cumming, Georgia car accident lawyer, I have been looking at some
of the tragedies reported in the news, and explaining how Georgia civil
(as opposed to criminal) law would apply to what happened.

The Nissan Pathfinder and the Honda Civic reportedly were traveling right
next to each other, and yet collided. According to the article in the
AJC, the Honda Civic moved into the lane in which Kivlin was driving his
Nissan Pathfinder.

O.C.G.A. § 40-6-48 says that “[w]henever any roadway has been divided into two or more
clearly marked lanes for traffic”, “[a] vehicle shall be driven
as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be
moved from such lane until the driver has first ascertained that such
movement can be made with safety.” In other words, a driver is supposed
to stay in his or her lane of traffic, or as we often think of it, a driver
is to “maintain his lane.” If a driver moves into another
driver’s lane, even if they are driving in the same direction, the
impact is likely to cause the drivers to lose control. The problem is
even greater if the cars are traveling at a high rate of speed, as vehicles
do (and are allowed to do) on Ga. 400.

According to the initial investigation, the driver of the red Honda Civic
caused the wreck. The driver of the Civic was also hurt in the Alpharetta
car accident, since the newspaper article reports that the driver was
taken to North Fulton Hospital. The Alpharetta Department of Public Safety
has not finished its investigation, and perhaps may adjust its findings
as it learns more about what happened.

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