Whenever someone gets behind the wheels of their car, they assume a duty of care to protect everyone else they encounter on the roads. Motorists must understand the impact their actions have on people around them. When a driver acts carelessly or recklessly, they put other people at risk of injury or even death.
One of the most common causes of serious motor vehicle collisions is when drivers are distracted by their phones. If you or a loved one experienced harm in a texting-while-driving car accident in Cleveland, you deserve the opportunity to fight for justice. A dedicated accident attorney could help you pursue compensation for your losses from a reckless texting driver.
Motorists must always keep their attention on the road and operating their vehicles. To lower the risk of causing accidents, drivers should avoid manual, visual, and cognitive distractions.
Distractions are manual because they make a driver take one or both hands off the wheel. With both hands strategically placed on the wheel, motorists have the best chance of being able to react quickly to an emergency. Eating a sandwich, holding a coffee, or brushing one’s hair are examples of manual distractions.
Having your eye on the road ahead, as well as nearby pedestrians and bicyclists, can often be challenging. When motorists look away, even for a few seconds, they could easily miss the sight of an approaching car, cyclist, or pedestrian. Looking down at the control panel to change the radio station or turning around to look at a child in the backseat are both examples of visual distractions that take a motorist’s eyes off the road.
Drivers need to pay attention to what they are doing. With a cognitive distraction, something makes their minds wander. Talking to a passenger can become a cognitive distraction.
Texting in a car produces the most dangerous results because it involves manual, visual, and cognitive distractions all at once. Manually, a driver removes at least one hand from the wheel to type out a text. Visually, a driver takes their eyes off the road to read and reply. Cognitively, a driver’s mind can wander as they think about what to say in their reply.
Seasoned Cleveland attorneys understand how serious of an issue texting while driving is and how many accidents this behavior causes. Our lawyers could work diligently to ensure that an irresponsible driver pays for their mistakes.
Proving a driver was texting at the time of a crash is not easy. Our dedicated legal team could use our resources to find the evidence needed to prove liability on an injured party’s behalf.
An experienced attorney could visit the crash scene to look for signs of texting. If there is no evidence of skid marks indicating that the driver applied their brakes prior to the crash, it could mean the driver was too distracted to react to an emergency. A lawyer could also review the police report to look for any mention of distracted driving.
Experienced attorneys could interview eyewitnesses to learn what they observed–people might have seen the driver turning their head or looking down, which could indicate they were looking at their cell phone. Our Cleveland attorneys could also follow the correct procedural protocols to obtain legal copies of the driver’s cell phone records to see if they were texting when the car crash occurred.
Texting-while-driving car accidents in Cleveland can result in life-altering injuries and fatalities. If a negligent driver hurts you, you should work with a legal team you trust to stand up for your rights. Contact Smith Hulsey Law for help recovering what you have lost.
Smith Hulsey Law
Tap Here For Free Case consult 