Sometimes laws, advertising campaigns, and common sense are not enough to deter drivers from texting behind the wheel. Your texting accident injuries are the result. At Bader Law Injury Lawyers, we are sorry this happened to you. Even though warnings did not stop the negligent party, you can still seek justice through a personal injury claim to pursue compensation.
A Stonecrest texting while driving accident lawyer from our team can help teach a texting driver the consequences of not heeding the law. Call our office today for a free consultation: (404) 888-8888.
More Than Just a Glance
Some drivers rationalize texting while driving by telling themselves that it’s just a peek or a few quickly typed characters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) debunks this with a comparison, though. They note that even just reading a text while going 55 miles per hour is equivalent to driving across a football field with your eyes closed. Texting, even while trying to look at the road, draws the texter’s attention from what should be their primary concern—operating their vehicle safely.
CDC highlights that distractions can be:
- Visual: Drawing your eyes away from the road
- Manual: Requiring your hands to perform an action
- Cognitive: Taking your attention away from driving
Texting involves all three of the above senses. Lack of visual attention causes drivers to miss lights, signs, and pedestrians. Lack of manual control reduces a driver’s ability to avoid an obstacle, turn properly, or signal. Lack of cognitive concentration prevents a driver from hitting the brakes, noticing road conditions, or heeding speed limits. Any of those failures can lead to accidents and may have even led to yours.
Texting While Driving Is More Than Careless
In 2018, over 2,800 lives were lost due to distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). To combat the problem on a state level, Georgia passed a hands-free law. Once in effect in July 2018, texting while driving became a criminal behavior as well as a negligent one.
The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety stresses the importance of not touching any part of the body with a phone while driving. Interacting with the following is prohibited:
- Texts
- Emails
- Social media content
- Internet data
Your texting while driving case may involve more than just literal text messages. Typing up a post or work email can result in a driver facing legal consequences—in both criminal and civil arenas.
Texting While Driving Is More Than a Broken Law
The Georgia Department of Public Safety has stated that distracted driving crashes are likely underreported. You may have suffered an injury from a texting driver without that driver facing the consequences under the hands-free law. Legal action through the civil court can provide another avenue for legal consequences through a personal injury claim.
Your civil case is separate from any criminal ones. Not only can you pursue a driver already facing fines or points on their license for the accident, but you can also pursue a driver facing no other legal issues whatsoever.
Your personal injury claim is your opportunity to argue that:
- The other driver should have behaved with care on the road
- The other driver texted while driving and therefore did not behave with care
- Texting distraction caused a crash
- You were injured in that crash
- You are entitled to damages
Those steps are how you demonstrate negligence, the crux of any personal injury claim. While a driver receiving a fine or other punishment can provide a piece of evidence for your civil case, you can pursue them without it. Your Stonecrest texting while driving accident lawyer can do the work of gathering evidence to support every step of proving negligence.
Call Bader Law Injury Lawyers to learn more by dialing (404) 888-8888.
For a free legal consultation with a texting while driving accidents lawyer serving Stonecrest, call (404) 888-8888
Who Texting Accidents Affects
The collateral damage of a texting while driving collision can extend beyond just the driver of each vehicle. Sometimes, there is only one motor vehicle involved and the injured party was riding a motorcycle, pedaling a bike, or traveling on foot. Moreover, accidents impact the lives of those close to the victims.
Thus, your crash may have involved:
- Other vehicles
- Passengers
- Pedestrians
- Bicyclists
- Loved ones
The Party in the Other Vehicle
A texting while driving crash between two or more motor vehicles can cause injuries ranging from strains, bruises, and cuts to crushed limbs, shattered bones, and soft tissue damage. These injuries could be caused by broken glass, airbags, seatbelts, or vehicle debris.
These injuries contribute to costs that can be included in your personal injury claim as both evidence of your injuries and proof of what your claim is worth. Expenses can include:
- Ambulance rides
- Emergency expenses
- Diagnostic imaging
- Surgery
- Medical equipment
- Prescription medication
- Rehabilitative care
Texting drivers leave a mark not only on people’s bodies but also on their wallets. Your injury suit may erase the latter so you can heal the former.
Pedestrians and Bicyclists
While cars can cause damage to their occupants, they also provide a modicum of protection. Pedestrians and bicyclists have no such protection when struck by a distracted driver.
The resulting injuries can therefore be more severe:
- Broken bones
- Bruises
- Road rash
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spine injuries
- Death
Not only will the financial cost potentially be higher in a pedestrian or bike accident, but the recovery may be longer. Reach out for legal help if this happened to you.
Victims’ Loved Ones
You may have lost a family member in a texting while driving accident. A wrongful death lawsuit can provide compensation for medical and funeral expenses as well as the loss of companionship, support, and income the loss of your deceased loved one created. The statute of limitations for wrongful death and personal injury is generally two to four years after the incident per O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33.
Stonecrest Texting While Driving Accident Lawyer Near Me (404) 888-8888
We Can Help You Confront Texting Drivers
That negligent driver assumed the worst consequence of texting while driving was a fine or points on their driver’s license and figured it was worth the risk. With the help of a Stonecrest texting while driving accident lawyer from Bader Law Injury Lawyers, you can demonstrate that their careless behavior had other consequences: your injuries and their liability—hold them accountable.
Call our office today for a free consultation by dialing (404) 888-8888.
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