Distracted driving can cause serious accidents. If you were the victim of one, a Pflugerville car accident lawyer can assist with your claim.
Since 2018, The Texas Law Dog has been fighting for injury victims in Texas. If you were injured in a crash with a distracted driver, a Pflugerville distracted driving lawyer can take on your case and help you pursue compensation for your injuries and other losses.
The Role of a Pflugerville Distracted Driving Attorney
After a car crash, the other driver’s insurer may question how the accident happened, minimize your injuries, or claim that you share responsibility for the crash.
A Pflugerville personal injury lawyer can step in and help by:
- Gathering evidence: A lawyer can gather police reports, photographs, surveillance footage, witness statements, vehicle data, and other evidence to prove what happened.
- Calculating your losses: A lawyer can evaluate your medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and other losses and determine the value of your claim.
- Negotiating with insurers: A lawyer can communicate with insurers on your behalf and work to negotiate a fair settlement.
- Pursuing a lawsuit: If the insurance company refuses to offer a reasonable settlement, a lawyer can file a lawsuit and represent you in court.
What Types of Damages Can You Recover?
If another driver’s negligence caused your injuries, you can pursue compensation for both economic and non-economic losses, such as:
- Medical bills: You can seek compensation for emergency treatment, hospital stays, surgery, medication, rehabilitation, physical therapy, and other reasonable medical costs.
- Future medical care: If your injuries require ongoing treatment, additional procedures, medical equipment, or long-term care, you may be entitled to additional compensation.
- Lost wages: You can recover income you lost because your injuries prevented you from working after the accident.
- Reduced earning capacity: If your injuries affect your future career prospects, you can seek compensation for diminished future earning capacity.
- Property damage: You can pursue compensation for the cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle and other personal property damaged in the collision.
- Pain and suffering: You may be able to recover damages for the physical pain and discomfort caused by the accident and your injuries.
- Loss of enjoyment of life: You can pursue additional damages if your injuries prevent you from participating in hobbies, activities, and everyday experiences you enjoyed before the crash.
- Punitive damages: If the other driver is guilty of gross negligence, malice, or fraud, you may be entitled to additional compensation.
Pflugerville Distracted Driver Car Accident Lawyer Near Me (817) 775-5364
What Is the Statute of Limitations for a Car Accident Claim in Texas?
According to Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003, you generally have two years from the date of a car accident to file a personal injury lawsuit in Texas. If the crash is fatal, you typically have two years from the date of a family member’s death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Missing the applicable deadline will jeopardize your ability to pursue damages.
Special rules often apply in cases involving injured minors, incapacitated victims, or government entities. A distracted driving lawyer in Pflugerville can help determine how much time you have left to file a claim.
How Do You Prove Distracted Driving?
One of the biggest challenges in a distracted driving case is establishing what the other driver was doing immediately before the collision.
Types of evidence that may help you prove distracted driving include:
- Cell phone records: Phone records may establish whether calls, texts, or data activity occurred around the time of the crash.
- Witness statements: Passengers, pedestrians, other motorists, and nearby witnesses may have seen the driver looking at their phone or engaging in another distracting activity.
- Traffic and surveillance cameras: Businesses, intersections, or residences may have cameras that captured the moments before the collision.
- Accident reports: Police officers may document statements made by drivers and witnesses, physical evidence, and other observations made during their investigation.
- Vehicle data: Certain vehicles may contain information that helps establish what occurred immediately before or during a collision.
- Admissions by the driver: Statements the other driver makes after the accident may provide evidence that they were distracted.
- Accident reconstruction evidence: In some cases, the position of the vehicles, skid marks, impact damage, and other physical evidence can help establish how the collision occurred.
What Causes Distracted Driving Crashes in Pflugerville?
Distracted driving accidents can happen for many different reasons. Common causes include:
- Texting and messaging: Reading or sending a text requires a driver to look away from traffic for several seconds.
- Cell phone use: Talking on a handheld phone, browsing social media, checking email, or using an app can interfere with safe driving.
- Eating and drinking: Drivers may take their hands off the wheel or look away from the road while handling food or beverages.
- Adjusting vehicle controls: Changing the radio, climate controls, navigation system, or other settings can divert a driver’s attention from traffic.
- Passengers: Conversations, arguments, or interactions with passengers can cause a driver to lose focus.
- Grooming: Applying makeup, shaving, brushing hair, or engaging in similar activities can be dangerous.
- Looking for objects: Searching for a phone, wallet, food, or another item inside a vehicle can take a driver’s attention away from the roadway.
- Using navigation: Programming or adjusting a navigation device while driving can be distracting.
Steps to Take After a Distracted Driving Accident
The steps you take after a car crash matter. It’s critical to:
- Call the police: Report the collision and request emergency medical assistance if anyone is injured.
- Exchange information: Get the other driver’s name, insurance information, driver’s license information, and vehicle details.
- Document the scene: If it is safe to do so, photograph the vehicles, roadway, traffic signals, and your injuries.
- Talk to witnesses: Exchange contact information with people who saw the collision.
- Seek medical attention: Get evaluated by a doctor right away, even if you do not believe your injuries are serious.
- Preserve evidence: Keep photographs, medical records, bills, repair estimates, correspondence, and other documents connected to the accident.
- Avoid discussing fault: Do not speculate about what caused the collision or make statements that could later be interpreted as you accepting responsibility.
- Talk to an attorney: A distracted driving attorney in Pflugerville can help with every aspect of your claim.
Contact a Distracted Driving Lawyer in Pflugerville
If you were injured in a collision with a distracted driver, you have the right to take legal action. A Pflugerville distracted driving attorney from The Texas Law Dog can investigate the crash, collect evidence for your claim, and fight for the compensation you deserve.
Book a free case evaluation to find out how you can hold the driver who hit you accountable.
