Far too many people suffer serious injuries or get killed in distracting driving accidents. For victims who live through this horrific kind of accident in Tennessee, filing a lawsuit with the help of a personal injury lawyer in Tennessee may help them recover compensation.

According to the CDC, over 1,000 people are injured and nine people die every day across the country because someone was distracted during a crash. Although texting and driving receive the most publicity, distracted driving accidents can also include talking to someone else in the vehicle, adjusting the radio, or even trying to use the GPS.

As a distracted driving accident lawyer in Tennessee could tell a victim, accidents caused by lost focus are completely preventable. Texting is one of the worst culprits because it involves manual, visual, and cognitive distraction.

Distracted Driving Laws

As more people have begun to suffer the consequences of distracted driving, state legislatures have responded by attempting to curb the behavior. Texting and driving have been illegal in Tennessee since 2009 per Tennessee Code Section 55-8-199, but accidents caused by distracted driving have actually increased in number since that law was implemented.

Tennessee has even reported the highest number of fatal crashes involving phones all over the country.

Injuries in Distracted Driving Crashes

Even looking away from the road for just a few seconds could have deadly consequences. Most people who use their phones or are otherwise distracted inside the car assume that a few minutes won’t hurt. However, research studies have shown that looking down for even five seconds traveling at 55 miles per hour means that a person could travel the length of a football field without having an eye on the road.

This means that people hurt in distracted driving crashes often have substantial injuries. With little to no opportunity to avoid the accident altogether, a crash victim could have catastrophic injuries post-accident from which they might never recover.

Common injuries in distracted driving wrecks include broken bones, fractures, TBIs, spinal cord injuries, internal bleeding, and bruising. As the medical bills begin to pile up for treating these injuries, an accident victim might need to turn to a distracted driving accident lawyer in Tennessee to get help for recovery of compensation.

Filing a Distracted Driving Lawsuit

Personal injury law protects those people who were seriously hurt in an accident caused by another person’s negligence, such as a distracted driving accident. The victim must be able to show that the other driver owed a duty of care and that, in breaching it with distracted driving behavior, caused injury or property damage.

For a victim who has already been through a serious accident and might not be able to live their life normally or to get back to work, it becomes difficult to know what to do next. Anyone seriously injured must be prepared to talk with an experienced lawyer as soon as possible about how to file a lawsuit and what is required of an accident victim.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.