Texting While Driving Car Accident
Beaumont Auto Collision Injury Attorney Representing Victims of Distracted Driving Crashes
In 2017, the Texas Legislature made it illegal to operate a motor vehicle in the State of Texas while reading, writing or sending a text message, punishable by a fine. Too, there are federal regulations preventing some commercial motor vehicle drivers from similar use of hand-held telephones. Despite these laws, thousands of drivers across the state continue to text, browse the internet, and otherwise use their phones while driving. Texting while driving puts everyone on the road at risk, leading to hundreds of deaths and thousands of hospitalizations every year statewide.
Beaumont personal injury lawyer Gilbert Adams pursues justice for victims of crashes caused by texting while driving. Our zealous distracted driving accident legal team fights for the compensation texting accident victims deserve, ensuring that the reckless drivers who devastated their lives are held to task for the harm they caused. If you’ve been the victim of a negligent or reckless driver, we’ll help you get the financial recovery you need to pay your medical bills, recover lost wages, and provide reasonable and fair compensation for physical and emotional pain and cover other damages arising from the collision.
Texting While Driving Is the Most Dangerous Driver Distraction
Federal safety officials and traffic safety experts agree that texting while driving is one of the biggest dangers on U.S. roads. Texting, surfing the internet, browsing social media, and other activities that take the driver’s focus off the road are nearly as dangerous as driving while impaired. Texting and driving is so dangerous because it combines three forms of distraction: cognitive, manual, and visual.
Cognitive distractions cover anything that takes a driver’s mind off of the task of driving. Manual distractions take the driver’s hands off of the wheel. Visual distractions take the driver’s eyes off of the road. Texting while driving simultaneously causes all three forms of distraction.: The driver is looking at their phone, thinking about the conversation or social media post, and using their hands to browse or respond.
Traffic safety experts estimate that it takes an average of five seconds to read and respond to a text message. Assuming the driver is traveling at 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of a football field with a blindfold on. The risk of a car crash during that time is exponentially greater than when a driver is not impaired by this distraction and is focused on the task at hand.
Distracted Driving is a Leading Cause of Car Crashes in Texas
According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), nearly 20 percent of all car crashes statewide were caused by distracted drivers. Distracted driving killed 431 people and seriously injured close to three thousand more in Texas in 2021. Distracted driving deaths increased by a full 17 percent from 2020 to 2021.
Damages Available After a Texting While Driving Accident
If you’ve been injured in a texting while driving accident, a compassionate Beaumont car crash lawyer at the Gilbert Adams Law Offices can help you get the compensation you are owed. We’ll fight to maximize your recovery, pursuing all available damages including:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost income
- Loss of future earning capacity or disability
- Physical impairment
- Property and loss of use damages
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress from loss of life enjoyment, disfigurement, pain, and other psychological harms
- Loss or impairment of the ability to provide household services
- Punitive damages
- Wrongful death
Call a Dedicated Personal Injury Attorney After a Texas Car Crash Caused by a Texting Driver
If you or someone you love has been injured or worse in a car crash caused by a Texas distracted driver, contact the Gilbert Adams Law Offices in Beaumont at 409-835-3000 for a free consultation with a zealous and accomplished Texas texting while driving accident attorney.
