Atlanta Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer
The distracted driving attorneys at Cruz & Associates want our potential future clients in the Atlanta area to know what to expect from a texting and driving lawsuit. Consider the following information and reach out to our firm for details about the legal services we offer. Since cell phones entered the mainstream market, texting and driving has been a serious concern in the United States. Distracted driving is incredibly dangerous, and texting is one of the most distracting actions a driver can take behind the wheel.
Why Is Texting and Driving Dangerous?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines distracted driving with three main types of distractions:
- Visual distractions are anything that draws a driver’s eyes away from the road ahead.
- Manual distractions are things that require a driver to use his or her hands for things other than operating the vehicle.
- Cognitive distractions are things that occupy a driver’s mind when he or she should be focusing on driving.
Any of these types of distraction can lead to serious or even fatal accidents, especially at higher speeds. Texting and driving is particularly dangerous because it encompasses all three of these types of distraction. A texting driver is paying attention to the text conversation instead of the road, using his or her eyes to read texts and hands to type responses. Diverting one’s attention to a phone instead of the road for even a few seconds can have disastrous consequences.
Suing for a Distracted Driving Accident
If you suffer injuries and other damages after an accident with a driver who was texting while driving, it’s important to connect with a distracted driving attorney as soon as possible after handling the aftermath of the accident and your medical care. Your absolute first priority after any accident should be to seek medical attention. Even if you feel like you only sustained minor injuries, the adrenaline from the experience can dull pain sensations and make it more difficult to discern injuries.
Additionally, any delay in seeking medical care will cast doubt on your future lawsuit. The jury will likely assume if you didn’t seek medical attention right away your injuries may not be as serious as you claim.
Suing for texting and driving will fall under the purview of Georgia personal injury law, so your lawsuit’s success will hinge on your ability to prove the defendant’s negligence. While it may be difficult in some cases to prove another driver was texting at the time of the accident, subpoenaed phone records from cell service carriers, eyewitness statements, and traffic camera footage all help to prove your case.
Proving Negligence in Your Atlanta Distracted Driving Case
Proving negligence requires showing the court four basic facts about the situation in question:
- The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care at the time of the incident in question.
- The defendant breached this duty of care by texting behind the wheel while his or her vehicle was in motion.
- This breach of duty directly led to the plaintiff’s damages.
- The plaintiff’s damages were not the results of some other cause.
Winning Your Distracted Driving Accident Case
When you sue for a texting and driving injury, you can potentially recover compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost income due to your injuries, and property damage to your vehicle and other personal property damaged or destroyed in the crash. A jury may also decide to award punitive damages based on the defendant’s behavior and financial situation. One of the most important assets you can have on your side in any type of personal injury case is an experienced and reliable attorney.
Cruz & Associates has more than 25 years of experience handling car accident claims for our clients in the Atlanta area, so let us put that experience to work for your case. Contact our team today to schedule a free case evaluation with one of our trial-tested attorneys. We’ll review the details of your texting and driving accident and let you know what to expect from filing a lawsuit.