Southcarolina Magazine

San Diego – If you get involved in a car accident due to the other automobile driver’s fault who was texting while driving and you get injured, don’t just settle for less rather claim for a fair amount of settlement. Here is how you can do this.

The most dangerous distraction while driving is texting while you are driving.

About 6% of all the car drivers who had a serious road accident were distracted according to the National Highway Traffic-Safety-Administration. Therefore, when you’re injured, a car accident lawyer is best to help you. Many of the most severe injuries are causes by semi-trucks. Brad Nakase, is a semi truck accident lawyer who seen serious spinal cord injuries in 18 wheeler accidents. If a business is liable and sued for causing a truck accident, the company should retain a business litigation lawyer. 

Mostly the motorcycle drivers in the range of 15 to 29 years old use handheld mobile phones. Since 2012, the number of females is higher than the males who were involved in the accident due to distraction per year.

About 480000 people use mobile phones while driving each day which creates an immense risk for car accidents and fatalities on the road. 

Texting is dangerous while driving:

Most of the people don’t understand the risk in using cell phones or texting while driving while if they focus they will get to know that at a speed of 55 mph, one can travel a distance equal to the football ground in just 5 seconds while this is the time when then read one text message. 

Although it takes a few seconds to send or read a text message it takes the even lower number of seconds to take place a collision which can result in severe injuries, fatalities and other disturbing consequences not only for the motorcycle driver himself but also for the others moving on the road.

Here are the ways by which a commercial semi-truck driver can be distracted while driving if he/she uses a cell phone:

Manual Distraction: Car Driver can take his one or both hand off the steering for finding mobile phone, texting messages or dialing some number.

Cognitive Distraction: Even if you are using handsfree cell phone and talking to someone while looking straight on the road can cause and accidents because this is still enough to make to distracted and blind to see what is actually going on in front of you which can be fatal for not yourself only but also for someone else. 

Visual Distraction: While driving a motorcycle, taking eyes off the road for even a second can lead to a severe car accident because one second is enough to cover a considerable distance and crash the car into some other stopped vehicle of drift off your track into some incoming vehicle. A motorcycle accident lawyer can explain the many causes of accidents. 

Almost all of the states have restricted the handheld cell phone usage during car driving that includes texting. Also, young and inexperienced motorcycle drivers are not allowed to drive.

Who will Pay for Your Injuries:

The semi truck driver who caused the accident due to distraction caused by texting while driving, is legally responsible or liable to compensate for the damages incurred to victims. 

Every commercial truck driver has a duty of care while being on the road to act and behave responsibly to avoid accidents and damages to others. So everyone must take care of others including passengers, pedestrians and other car drivers. 

When someone causes an accident due to distraction by mobile phone or texting, they break this rule of duty of care. This act is termed as negligence and now he/she is liable for the damages incurred to others.

Here are the reasons why texting is not allowed while driving:

      • When someone is texting while driving, it puts others in danger. He can be failed to see some other on the road and cause a serious accident which is the violation of a duty of care.

      • When he/she violates the duty of care, he is termed as negligent.

      • And negligence leads to the fact that now he/she is responsible or liable to pay the compensation for the damages incurred to others.

      • The victims of the accident have the right to claim for the compensation of injuries and damages resulted from the accident

Damage Categories:

In an accident there are two types of damages are usually incurred to the victims which are given below:

Personal Damage: Any type of medical, mental or dental injury caused by the accident, wages lost due to accident, pain suffered due to accident all are considered as personal damage to the victim.

Property Damage: Any type of damage incurred to the car like the cost to fix the damages or even the whole value of the car if it is destroyed, any type of personal items lost or destroyed due to accident are included in property damage. 

Texting while driving can result in serious accidents which can be fatal for some others or even the car driver himself/herself.

There may be multiple sources which can be used for the compensation of your injuries and damages so before settling for less consult with a personal injury attorney to get the fair compensation.

No-Fault Insurance:

If you are living in some no-fault insurance city, you must ask your own insurance company for the payment of personal injuries. Med pay and Personal Injury Protection involve the payment required to cover all the expenses due to medical injuries, wages lost and out of pocket expense but the compensation for suffering and pain is not included.

In no-fault cities, you are permitted to claim for the compensation to the other motorcycle driver if you are severely injured or your PIP limit has been exceeded your expenses.

The traditional States of Liability:

In the regions outside the no-fault states, you can claim for the compensation of your injuries and damages to the insurance company of another commercial truck driver. This can be done by:

      • The victim car driver who was hit by the negligent truck accident driver

      • A passenger who got injured from either of the vehicles

      • Cyclists or pedestrians who got injured by a negligent car driver

      • The estate can claim if the person is killed in the accident

The attorney can also claim for the compensation in place of the victim.

Other Sources for Compensation:

Generally, the victim knows about the compensation claim that can be made with the insurance company and does not know about the other sources of compensation which can be helpful in case of severe injuries and even unjust fatality. For this one can seek help from an expert personal injury attorney who will find out each source where the compensation can be claimed.

It is not true that all the truck accident drivers who text while driving are teenagers rather there are adult auto drivers too who violate the duty of care in this way. The facts show that people with higher incomes are more often violate this rule.

If the car accident driver who caused the accident while texting is teen or a college/school student, he may have not direct insurance rather insured under the name of someone else at his/her home.

Young and teen drivers who caused such accident and their parents are divorced are considered as the residents of both addresses. So in such a case, compensation can be claimed from both parents insurance policies.

The commercial trucking driver who caused an accident may be under umbrella policy which is designed for the payment of large liabilities’ claim.

The evidence necessary for strong Claim:

It is not enough to just prove that accident is caused due to negligence of the semi truck driver rather you also have to prove that your injuries are due to the accident. So, you have to gather pieces of evidence for both of these claims. Most of the pieces of evidence are obtained from the accident scene.

Protection of claim:

Call 911: The first thing you should do when get involved in a car accident and you think that the motorcycle driver who crashed into you was texting is to call at 911 to ask for help by telling your location to the dispatcher, informing the injuries occurred due to accident and also report that you may think that the driver in the other car was texting while driving.

If your physical condition is good enough or there is someone with you who is physically good enough, you should try to gather all the important pieces of evidence from the scene of the accident.

Videos or Photos: If you are involved in any such accident, try to take pictures of the accident site by your cell phone or any other camera device to record and present the photographic proof against the driver. You cannot take too many photos but try to gather enough evidence.  

You can also record the video at the spot with the sound that may include the behavior of other semi-truck driver or his companions which can prove your claim that he/she was texting while driving.

Statement of Witnesses: It may be possible that the witnesses may not have enough time to appear in front of investigating officer on his call for the interviews. And it is a fact that witness statement can play a very important role in your claim process so in such a case, request the witnesses to give their statement in written form what they heard and saw at the accident site. 

It will be a tremendous point in your favor if some witnesses saw the other driving using a cell phone while driving or after the accident, heard from the other car driver some statement which proves that he was on a mobile phone while driving.

Police report: When the police arrive at the scene in case of an accident, they talk to both the parties to record their statement and survey the sight and call for the ambulance or medical care if required. Keep in mind to inform the police that you saw the other driver was using a mobile phone when the accident took place. 

The police officer investigating the accident prepares an official document about the accident that is called police accident report. Information about the witnesses and driver, statements of drivers and diagrams of the accident site will be included in the report along with the professional opinion of the investigator about the accident that who was at fault. The copy of this report can be purchased for a nominal fee.

Continue gathering Important Proof:

Medical Bill and record: Medical record have nothing to do with the proving negligence of the driver but it will prove that the injuries incurred to you are solely due to the accident. So take the copies of your medical reports and bills along with the record of the provider. Also, count the out of pocket expenses and keep a record of your mileage spent on the medical visits. 

These medical bills will be of great help in the calculation of injury compensation amount.

Lost Wages: Request the employer to provide you a statement of lost wages and along with the vacations required to get fully recovered from injuries.

Journaling: Take notes of everything that you remember about the accident. How you get to know that the other driver was using a phone at the time of the accident. Also make notes about your pain levels, injuries and physical disabilities you had to face due to your injuries. 

Records of Mobile Phone: The negligence of the driver can be easily proved by the phone records if the driver was using a mobile phone when the crash happened.  

But it is not easy to obtain the phone record of the commercial truck driver because he will never hand over his phone records to support the claim against himself while the mobile phone network companies do not release the records of any other person voluntarily. So you have to take some legal actions to get those record in support of your claim. 

It is important to discover the actual owner of the phone. Mostly the accidents due to using a mobile phone while driving involve drivers under thirties and some teens and students involve in such accidents usually have a mobile phone of their parents so a subpoena is required to be sent to the network company to get the phone records.

In case that the police officer declares the other motorcycle driver at fault or f the ticket issued to the car driver is for breaking the traffic laws, then you don’t have to arrange for the phone records of the motorcycle driver to prove his negligence.

If the insurance company refuses to pay the full amount of compensation claim, you should request the personal injury attorney to consult how to proceed further.

Maximization of Compensation: 

The amount of total compensation claim will be dependent on your injuries types, the limit of insurance available and case complexity.

There are generally two classifications of injuries while claiming for compensation.

Soft Tissue injuries that are recovered in just a few weeks and involve bumps, small cuts, and bruises, etc.

Hard Injuries are more complex and expensive to be treated. Traumatic brain injuries, damages to the spinal cord or any broken bone is considered a hard injury. Hard injuries can lead to fatality or disability.

In case you have been recovered from soft tissue injuries, you can settle with the insurance company on your own without seeking help from an attorney.

A fair amount of compensation can be calculated by adding all the expenses cost for medical treatment, lost wages and out of pocket costs. For pain and suffering, one or two times the total amount can be added.

Send the letter of demand with the attached copies of medical bills, lost wages statement and other costs. 

Hard injury involves a high amount of complex claims. If you are injured seriously, you can have an attorney who will get the available amount of compensation for you. It will be the duty of the attorney to find out all sources of compensation to get the maximum amount.

      • Verification of the insurance policy of the other driver

      • Defend the comparative faults allegation

      • Pursue coverage from your insurance company for the underinsured motorist.

      • Discover further insurance amount e.g. policy of divorced parent.

It is very expensive to deal with the legal experts of insurance companies by yourself so find an attorney who can do the job for you with no cost.

Media Contact
Company Name: Nakase Law Firm, Inc
Contact Person: Public Relations
Email: Send Email
Phone: 619-550-1321
Address:2221 Camino Del Rio S Suite 300
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Website: https://nakaselawfirm.com