Cell phone use while driving has become one of the most dangerous behaviors on American roadways, including right here in Houa, Terrebonne Parish, and the rest of Louisiana. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), each year distracted driving results in almost 3,300 traffic fatalities and nearly 325,000 traffic injuries. The most common distraction is cell phone use while driving, which accounts for roughly 1.6 million traffic accidents and 14% of all fatal crashes. Research shows that drivers who text while operating a vehicle are 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident than those who do not. Despite these troubling statistics, our Houma car accident lawyer for cell phone car accidents knows that distracted driving accidents continue to result in preventable personal injuries and wrongful deaths in Louisiana.
Here at the Patrick Yancey Law Firm, our compassionate and skilled legal team can help you or a loved one after a cell phone car accident. We offer free case evaluations where you can ask questions and get accurate legal answers relating to your case. If you hire our law firm and if we accept your case, our Houma car accident lawyer also does not get paid until you get paid in a settlement, verdict or another type of award – meaning there is a no win, no fee guarantee. That also means there is no upfront cost or financial risk to explore your legal rights and have us protect them from overreaching insurance adjusters or defense lawyers who protect dangerous drivers and won’t fairly pay you. Schedule your free consultation today by calling our personal injury lawyer Patrick Yancey, Esq.
Louisiana takes distracted driving seriously and has recently enacted comprehensive legislation to address the dangers of cell phone use behind the wheel. This is for good reason too, as state statistics are generally worse than national trends. Indeed, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, roughly 22% of all traffic fatalities in the state are attributed to driver inattention or distraction, and 32% of serious injuries resulted from distracted or inattentive driving.
Under the newly enacted legislation, Louisiana Revised Statute 32:59 makes it illegal for any driver to operate a motor vehicle on any public road or highway while using a wireless telecommunications device to write, send, or read text-based communications. This prohibition extends beyond traditional text messages to include instant messages, emails, and accessing or posting on social media platforms. Importantly, these restrictions apply at all times when a vehicle is in operation, whether it is moving, idling at a traffic signal, or stopped in traffic congestion.
In addition to the state law, commercial truck drivers face even more stringent federal regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) prohibits all interstate truck and bus drivers from using handheld mobile phones while operating their vehicles. These regulations apply to all commercial vehicle drivers, whether they are from Louisiana or just driving through our state.
Cell phone car accident claims in Louisiana are based on the legal concept of negligence. Drivers are negligent when they fail to exercise reasonable care under the circumstance in the use or operation of a motor vehicle. Said differently, drivers must operate the vehicles in a reasonable manner consistent with what other drivers would do. Thus, when a driver uses a cell phone while operating a vehicle and causes an accident, they have breached their duty of care to other motorists, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists.
If the plaintiff can demonstrate that the defendant was texting, scrolling through social media, or otherwise engaged with their phone when the crash occurred, this evidence strongly supports a finding of negligence. There are several ways to prove this, including through investigations by the police or by your Houma car accident lawyer during discovery in a lawsuit.
Moreover, if the at-fault driver received a citation for violating Louisiana’s distracted driving statutes, this creates what is known as “negligence per se,” meaning the defendant is presumed to have been negligent, and the burden shifts to them to prove they did not cause the accident. However, Louisiana does not directly follow the negligence per se rule that other states typically use, therefore requiring victims and their families to prove additional elements and still prove causation. This means that it is imperative for victims and their families to hire a skilled Houma car accident lawyer for cell phone accidents because these cases are more difficult than in other states.
Cell phone car accidents often result in serious and life-altering injuries due to the nature of distracted driving collisions. When a driver is looking at their phone instead of the road, they typically fail to brake or take evasive action before impact, resulting in higher-speed collisions with greater force – often akin to an unguided missile or battering ram. The injuries sustained in these crashes can require extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation, and ongoing care, and may permanently affect a victim’s ability to work and enjoy their daily life. In some of the most catastrophic cases, innocent people may be wrongfully killed in a cell phone car accident.
Some of the common injuries that Houma car accident lawyer Patrick Yancey, Esq. can handle for you and your family include the following:
If you or a loved one have been injured in a car accident caused by a driver who was using a cell phone, you deserve experienced legal representation to protect your rights and pursue the compensation you need to recover. Our Houma car accident lawyer has extensive experience handling distracted driving cases and understands how to gather the evidence necessary to prove liability and maximize your potential recovery. We will thoroughly investigate your accident, work with experts to reconstruct the crash, obtain cell phone records and other critical evidence, and aggressively negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf. If a fair settlement cannot be reached, we are fully prepared to take your case to trial to protect your rights to compensation under Louisiana law.
To learn more about how the Patrick Yancey Law Firm can help you protect those rights, call to schedule your free consultation by dialing (985) 313-9791 or by submitting a message through our contact form available on our website. We are happy to meet with you at our law office, your home, the hospital, virtually, or anywhere else where you feel comfortable. Since Louisiana has strict time limits on seeking compensation, do not wait too long to get started on your cell phone car accident claim.
(985) 313-9791
