It will only take a full three seconds of you looking at a phone while driving for you to end up ramping to the length of a football field at highway speed. Being distracted while driving may cause your vehicle to drift into other lanes, run a red light, or even hit a parked car. When some of these or any similar cases happen, your life will surely change right away.
Every year, thousands of people in Houston are involved in accidents because they are not paying attention. Everyone is in danger when drivers text, check social media, eat, change their navigation systems, or do anything else that takes their attention away from the road. They should be held responsible if their carelessness hurts you.
Distracted driving cases require proving the other driver wasn’t focused on the road when the crash occurred. Phone records, witness statements, and crash reconstruction help establish negligence. Whether you’re dealing with a texting driver, impaired motorist, or any other distracted driver, our car accident legal team serving Houston has the resources to help you build compelling claims.
What to Do After a Distracted Driving Accident in Houston
The moments after a crash feel chaotic. Understanding what to do protects both your health and your legal rights.
- Call 911 immediately, even if injuries seem minor. Police reports document what happened and often include the other driver’s statements, which sometimes reveal distraction. Tell responding officers if you saw the other driver using a phone or engaging in other distracting activities before the crash.
- Seek medical attention right away. Adrenaline masks pain. Some injuries, like concussions, whiplash, and internal bleeding, don’t show symptoms for hours or days. A complete medical evaluation creates documentation that directly links your injuries to the crash.
- Preserve evidence at the scene. If possible, take photos of vehicle damage, skid marks, traffic signals, road conditions, other drivers’ vehicle interiors, or any visible phones on seats or in cup holders. Collect the contact information of witnesses who saw the crash or the other driver’s behavior before impact.
- Don’t discuss the accident extensively with the other driver. They may not admit distraction immediately, but might later claim you contributed to the crash. Exchange insurance information and let the investigation establish fault.
- Contact a legal team serving Houston before speaking with insurance adjuster Insurers often contact victims within hours, hoping to record statements or secure quick settlements before you understand your injuries’ full extent. Having legal representation protects you from these tactics.
- Don’t post about your accident on social media. Insurance companies monitor profiles looking for content they can use against you, photos suggesting you’re not as injured as claimed, posts about activities, or anything that undermines your case.
- Request phone records preservation. Texas law allows subpoenaing the at-fault driver’s cellphone records to prove they were texting, calling, or using apps at the time of the crash. This evidence is crucial, but must be preserved quickly before the records are deleted.
Taking immediate action after a distracted driving crash (seeking medical care, documenting evidence, and contacting legal representation) strengthens your claim and protects your right to fair compensation.
Understanding Distracted Driving Accidents in Houston
When driving along Houston’s highways and surface streets, you may experience constant traffic. Thus, one distracted driver creates danger for dozens of other motorists.
Common Causes of Distracted Driving Crashes
Distracted driving has taken 3,275 lives in 2023. With this, there are three main distraction categories that cause crashes:
- Visual distractions. Such distractions take your eyes off the road, such as looking at a phone screen, reading navigation, checking appearance in the mirror, or watching something outside the vehicle.
- Manual distractions. This will take your hands off the wheel, like texting, eating, drinking, adjusting controls, reaching for objects, or grooming.
- Cognitive distractions. If you’re not alert or attentive, you take your mind off driving, like daydreaming, conversing with passengers, thinking about work problems, or being emotionally distressed.
Other common distractions not mentioned above:
- Eating and drinking while driving.
- Adjusting the radio or climate controls.
- Using navigation systems.
- Applying makeup or reading something.
- Talking to passengers.
- Dealing with children or pets in the vehicle.
- Scrolling through playlists or social media.
Among the distractions mentioned is texting, which falls under manual distractions — it combines all three types of distraction, making it particularly dangerous. A driver reading or sending a text takes their eyes off the road for an average of five seconds, which is enough time to cause a devastating crash.
The Dangers of Texting While Driving
Distracted driving contributes to numerous crashes annually across the state. Texting drivers have significantly impaired reaction times; studies show texting while driving is as dangerous as drunk driving.
When drivers focus on their phones instead of the road, they drift between lanes and fail to notice traffic signals, vehicles stopping ahead, and pedestrians in crosswalks. Aside from that, they may cause rear-end collisions, sideswipes, and intersection crashes.
Young drivers face particular risk. Despite understanding the dangers, many continue texting while driving due to perceived urgency to respond to messages or check notifications.
How Distracted Driving Laws Work in Texas
Texas law prohibits certain forms of distracted driving, but enforcement and penalties vary.
Overview of Texas Texting and Driving Laws
Texas prohibits all drivers from reading, writing, or sending electronic messages while operating a vehicle. This includes texting, emailing, and using social media while driving or operating any vehicle.
School zone restrictions are stricter, where drivers are prohibited from using handheld devices in school zones when children are present, even for calls.
Novice drivers under 18 with learner’s permits or provisional licenses are prohibited in using wireless communication devices at all while driving, including hands-free devices.
Despite these laws, enforcement remains challenging. Officers must observe drivers in the act of texting, which isn’t always possible. Many distracted driving crashes occur without witnesses to the actual phone use.
Penalties and Liability for Distracted Drivers
First-time texting while driving offenses carry fines up to $99. Repeat offenses may result in fines up to $200. If distracted driving causes serious injury or death, criminal charges, including vehicular assault or manslaughter, may apply.
Civil liability extends beyond criminal penalties. When distracted drivers cause crashes that injure others, they’re liable for all resulting damages, including medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more. Their insurance companies must compensate victims, and in severe cases involving gross negligence, punitive damages may apply.
How Distracted Driving Can Affect Your Accident Claim in Houston
Proving the other driver was distracted strengthens your case significantly and often increases settlement values.
Why Distraction Matters in Negligence Claims
Distracted driving demonstrates clear negligence. The driver failed to exercise reasonable care by engaging in activities that were incompatible with safe vehicle operation. This breach of duty directly caused the crash and your injuries.
Insurance companies know distracted driving cases generate jury sympathy. Jurors understand the dangers of using a phone while driving because they encounter distracted drivers daily.
They’re more likely to award substantial compensation when evidence shows a driver prioritized texting over paying attention to the road.
Proving distraction also defeats common insurance company defenses. They can’t credibly argue that the crash was unavoidable or that road conditions contributed when evidence shows the driver was looking at their phone instead of watching traffic.
Impact on Comparative Negligence
Texas follows modified comparative negligence rules. You can recover damages as long as you’re less than 51% at fault. Your compensation may be reduced depending on your percentage of fault.
Proving the other driver was distracted helps establish that they bear primary responsibility for the crash. Even if you were slightly speeding or made a minor mistake, a distraction typically assigns greater fault to the other driver because they weren’t paying attention at all.
Proving Negligence in a Distracted Driving Accident Claim
Distracted driving cases require evidence showing the other driver wasn’t focused on the road when the crash occurred.
Gathering Phone Records and Evidence
Cellphone records prove distraction. Records show calls made, texts sent, and apps used with timestamps. When records show that there was an activity at the time of the crash, they provide powerful evidence that the driver was distracted.
Our legal team serving Houston subpoenas phone records as legal evidence, especially if there is proof that the driver is using a phone while driving. We also request data from the driver’s vehicle if it has event data recorders that capture speed, braking, and other information.
Social media can also provide evidence. Drivers sometimes post about crashes immediately after they occur, and their post histories may reveal patterns of texting while driving.
Role of Eyewitnesses and Police Reports
Witnesses who saw the driver using a phone, eating, or engaging in other distracting activities before the crash provide crucial testimony. We interview all witnesses and document their observations.
Police reports sometimes note distraction if officers observed phones in vehicles, drivers admitted to using their phones, or witnesses reported distraction at the scene. Officers may also issue citations for texting while driving, which helps establish negligence.
Crash reconstruction specialists analyze vehicle damage, skid marks, impact angles, and road conditions to determine how the crash occurred. Their findings often support conclusions that distraction caused the collision.
For instance, when there’s no evidence of braking before impact, it suggests the driver never saw the hazard.
Comparative Negligence in Texas Car Accidents
Our driver negligence legal team serving Houston addresses comparative negligence arguments from insurance companies trying to blame you partially for the crash. We gather evidence showing you were operating your vehicle properly while the other driver was distracted.
Even if you contributed slightly to the crash, proving the other driver’s distraction typically assigns them the majority fault. This protects your right to substantial compensation.
Compensation Available for Victims of Distracted Drivers
Distracted driving crashes cause injuries ranging from minor to catastrophic. Compensation should reflect the full scope of harm you’ve suffered.
Medical Expenses and Lost Income
Claims seek compensation for all medical treatment, including emergency care, hospitalization, surgeries, specialist consultations, medications, physical therapy, and future care needs. Some distracted driving crashes cause permanent disabilities requiring lifelong medical monitoring and treatment.
Lost income includes wages lost during recovery, plus future earning capacity if injuries prevent returning to your previous occupation. Someone with a traumatic brain injury from a distracted driving crash may never work again.
Someone with severe orthopedic injuries may be unable to perform physically demanding jobs.
Pain, Suffering, and Emotional Distress
Compensation addresses physical pain from injuries and treatment, plus emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and reduced quality of life. Serious injuries affect every aspect of daily living, from basic self-care to relationships and activities you once enjoyed.
The preventable nature of distracted driving crashes often increases non-economic damages. Jurors understand these crashes didn’t need to happen; a simple choice to put the phone down would have prevented your injuries.
Wrongful Death Damages for Fatal Crashes
When distracted drivers cause fatal crashes, surviving family members can pursue wrongful death claims seeking compensation for funeral and burial expenses, loss of the deceased’s financial support and benefits, loss of companionship and guidance, and the deceased’s pain and suffering before death.
Distracted driving factors contribute significantly to motor vehicle crash deaths. These preventable tragedies devastate families who must rebuild their lives after losing loved ones to someone else’s negligence.
How the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm Helps Victims of Distracted Driving Accidents
Distracted driving cases require thorough investigation, technical evidence, and aggressive advocacy.
Investigating Driver Negligence
We immediately begin gathering evidence before it disappears.
- Subpoenaing phone records.
- Interviewing witnesses
- Obtaining police reports and citations.
- Reviewing surveillance footage from nearby businesses or traffic cameras.
- Examining social media accounts for evidence of distraction patterns
- Working with accident reconstruction specialists.
Our auto accident legal team serving Houston understands how to prove distraction even when drivers deny using their phones while driving. Records don’t lie, and forensic analysis often reveals the truth.
Building Strong Evidence for Maximum Compensation
We work with medical professionals who document your injuries and explain how the crash caused them, economists who calculate lost earning capacity and future financial losses, and psychological professionals who evaluate emotional trauma and mental health impacts.
This comprehensive approach builds cases that demand full compensation. Insurance companies offer more when they know we’ve prepared thoroughly and are ready to present compelling evidence to juries if necessary.
We operate on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless we recover compensation.* Our personal injury legal team serving Houston handles cases throughout Harris County and surrounding areas, fighting for families injured by preventable negligence.
Schedule a Free Consultation With a Distracted Driving Accident Legal Team Serving Houston
You were paying attention; the other driver wasn’t. That difference shouldn’t cost you everything.
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm offers free consultations to discuss your distracted driving accident, evaluate your case, and explain your legal options.
Time matters. Evidence disappears, memories fade, and Texas gives you only two years from the accident date to file a lawsuit. The sooner you contact us, the better we can preserve evidence and protect your rights.
Call (469) 461-4605 today to schedule your free consultation. Let us fight for the justice and compensation you deserve after a distracted driver changed your life.
*Disclaimer: Prior case outcomes are not indicative of future results, as the outcome of every legal matter is determined by its individual facts and merits. The material presented here is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended to be legal advice. Contingent attorneys’ fees refer only to those fees charged by attorneys for their legal services. Such fees are not permitted in all types of cases. Court costs and other additional expenses of legal action usually must be paid by the client.
