According to the Insurance Information Group, over 230 million people use a cell phone today. One of the most popular places to make a call is from your car. It seems like the perfect time to take care of business, call your spouse or kids, catch up with an old friend, or send a short text. Unfortunately, the National Safety Council estimates that each year at least 23% of all traffic accidents (1.3 million) involve a cell phone. It’s impossible to know the exact number of car accidents caused by cell phones, but they distract us from paying attention to the road and the drivers around us.
Not only is texting illegal in many states (including California), but a simple text takes your attention off the road for at least five seconds. In five seconds, you can travel the length of a football field and not glance at the road once!
Drivers on cell phones are all around us. Even the most attentive motorist can be hit by a distracted driver making a text or call. What if you are the victim of their careless choices? What rights do you have? What should you do?
First, stay calm and seek medical attention. Second, if you believe the other driver was texting or making a call:
- Write down the time of the accident. Your attorney can look up cell phone records to see when calls were made from an individual phone.
- Ask the police officers to record the time of the accident
- Ask witnesses if they saw the other driver on their cell phone
- Ask the other driver if they were on their cell phone
- Ask the police officers to check the driver’s cell phone and the last calls made or ask the driver for their cell number
- Call a car accident attorney who can ask the court to attain the other driver’s cell phone records legally. This will help prove the other driver was negligent due to cell phone usage.
You must prove the other driver caused the accident because of their careless driving. The more information you can gather from the crash site, the more likely you can prove the other driver was negligent. If you are a victim of a negligent driver who used their cell phone before or during an accident, contact the Sacramento car accident lawyer at Eason & Tambornini, A Law Corporation, today.
