Distracted driving is often at the heart of car crashes. If the other driver jeopardized your health and safety by checking their cell phone or fiddling with the radio instead of focusing on the road, we can use that as the basis for your injury claim – but we need proof.
In many distracted driving accidents, proof of distracted driving will come from your testimony and other witness testimony. So-called “hard evidence” that someone was looking away from the road is difficult to come by, for reasons explained below. However, we might not even need this proof if we can provide other proof of distractions or other dangerous driving acts.
For a free review of your injury case, call our Arkansas car accident attorneys today at (479) 316-0438.
Elements of a Distracted Driving Claim
In order to win a car accident case on the claim that the other driver was driving distracted, you need to show four elements of a standard “negligence” claim:
- The defendant owed you a legal duty.
- The defendant breached that duty.
- The breach caused your crash.
- The crash resulted in injuries and damages.
Negligence Per Se
Often, the duty comes from a traffic law, such as the duty to avoid speeding or drunk driving. This is called negligence per se.
Arkansas has a distracted driving law – Paul’s Law – making it illegal to use a phone while driving.
Reasonableness
If there was no specific traffic violation, then we can point to a duty to drive reasonably. A breach of that duty usually involves unreasonable actions, such as reading, eating, or otherwise doing complex, distracting tasks while driving.
What Evidence Do I Need to Prove Distracted Driving
Some forms of evidence are surprisingly strong, even if they sound like “circumstantial evidence.” However, it is hard to get firm evidence that proves something like texting while driving.
Circumstantial Evidence
People often treat the term “circumstantial evidence” to mean “weak evidence,” but this is not the case. Instead, evidence being “circumstantial” means it proves the circumstances, not the specific acts or intent.
For example, if you go inside, then go out and the ground is wet, that is circumstantial evidence it rained. Combined with grey clouds and people carrying umbrellas, that is strong circumstantial evidence that it rained.
With distracted driving, much of the evidence is circumstantial rather than direct. For example:
- No skid marks means the driver did not hit the brakes, potentially because they were too distracted to do so.
- Distracting items in the driver’s hand or within reach help show they were being used, e.g., an open map, book, or texting app.
- Swerving or leaving their lane before the accident means the driver was potentially not paying attention to their lane position and driving.
Direct Evidence
Direct evidence is evidence that actually proves the driver was doing something distracting. The best evidence here comes from your testimony and other witness testimony. If you actually saw the driver texting or looking away, you can say so and use that as proof they were distracted.
Other evidence might also be available, such as dash cam footage of the car’s interior, but that is not particularly common.
Phone Evidence
You might think that cell phone records are great evidence of the driver texting and driving at the time of the accident, but that might not be the case.
Our Arkansas car accident lawyers can potentially seek texting logs or other phone records from the defendant’s phone, but these might not be as strong as you hope. Texts are frequently sent with legal, hands-free or voice-activated services, meaning they would not violate the texting while driving statute.
Additionally, we need proof that the phone was in the driver’s hand. If they had a passenger in the car, they might claim the passenger sent the text instead, so we need actual eyewitness testimony to combat a claim like that.
While sent messages have timestamps, phone records have no hard proof that the driver was reading something on their phone at any particular time.
Other Possible Proof
If you cannot pin down evidence that the driver actually had their phone in their hand, sending or reading a text when the crash happened, you might be able to base the claim on different grounds anyway.
For example, drivers who are texting while driving often do other things that are unreasonable at the same time:
- Leaving their lane without signaling
- Speeding
- Running red lights/stop signs
- Failing to signal
- Failing to yield.
Car accidents based on these violations also qualify as negligence or unreasonable driving. Additional evidence of distractions can help bolster your case that their actions were unreasonable, even if you cannot pin down proof of distracted driving.
FAQs for Distracted Driving Claims in Arkansas
Is Distracted Driving Grounds for a Car Accident Case?
Yes, distracted driving qualifies as unreasonable driving and can be the basis of a car accident claim. If there was a specific violation of the texting and driving statute, that will be strong evidence. Otherwise, distracted driving can be a breach of duty even without a specific violation.
What is the Burden of Proof?
In an injury case, the victim (plaintiff) has to prove “by a preponderance of the evidence” that the other driver breached a legal duty and caused their injury. This standard is around a “more likely than not” or “over 50%” standard.
This means you do not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the other driver was distracted; you just need to provide enough proof for the jury to think it was more likely than not.
Can I Get Punitive Damages?
Distracted driving is a serious driving offense, and it may convince a jury to award you additional damages. If the defendant’s conduct is dangerous enough, these “punitive damages” can increase your award.
Does Car Insurance Cover Distracted Driving?
Accidents caused by distracted driving should still be covered under insurance. This means whether you are using first-party benefits like PIP or suing the other driver/filing a claim against their insurance, you should be able to get payment.
Insurance usually doesn’t cut off coverage unless the conduct was intentional, and distracted driving typically counts as negligent or reckless.
Call Our Arkansas Car Accident Attorneys Today
For help with your car accident claim, call our Bella Vista, AR car accident lawyers at (479) 316-0438 right away.