It is speculated that the United States has the world’s worst problem with distracted driving. The past few years have shown a major increase in distracted driving accidents, with approximately 3,300 fatalities each year. The biggest distraction is texting while driving, which results in 500,000 injuries or deaths per year. As a result, personal injury lawsuits are on a rise. For example, a wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed in California after an Uber driver who was on the phone hit a mother and her daughter while they were crossing the street.
About 69 percent of drivers between ages 18 and 64 say they have used their phones while driving in the past month. These numbers do not include other distractions, such as surfing radio stations or talking to a passenger. While talking on the phone is dangerous, texting while driving has an estimated 23 percent times more chance of causing an accident. These numbers are a leading factor in laws being made to ban cellphone use while driving. Police already have the power to obtain phone records of people in wrecks, and plaintiff lawyers could take these, prior ticket reports, witness statements, and even traffic cameras as evidence to get compensation for their injured client. But even if there is no exact law that states that the driver at fault was not engaged in any illegal activity, these items can still be entered as evidence. Alternatively, an injured driver in a crash could lose compensation if they were proven to be on the phone, which under law is contributory negligence.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a distracted driver, contact one of the experienced attorneys at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner for a free consultation by calling (713) 222-7211 or toll free at 713-222-7211.