Georgia Injury Lawyer Holding Distracted Drivers Accountable for Their Negligence

Distracted driver car crashes continue to be a major cause of serious and fatal injury on Atlanta roadways. Whether you use a mobile device for work, getting in touch with friends or keeping track of the kids, smartphones can be both a blessing and a curse. The consequence of using a phone or other device while driving can be deadly for the driver, pedestrians and others on the road.

Being the victim of a distracted driving accident can leave a person feeling confused and reeling from the realization that someone jeopardized their very life in order to check their phone, text or focus on something other than the responsibility of driving.

Distracted driving accidents have happened ever since the first car was invented, long before the creation of smartphones. Distraction has always been a major factor in road crashes, stretching back to the first drivers at the turn of the 20^th century. But the rate of serious and fatal distracted driving crashes has risen substantially in recent decades due, in large part, to the rise of cell phones, smartphones and social media.

These handheld devices put the world at our fingertips. Status updates or Facebook messages, texts from friends, work emails, push notifications – all of it can stream to your phone, dozens of times per minute. And it’s human nature to want to look at something new. But drivers must resist the urge to check their phones, lest they strike and kill a child playing in the road, or a biker out for a ride, or an elderly driver out for a Sunday drive.

Gwinnett county auto injury lawyers at Scholle Law have represented distracted driving victims and their families for decades. When a driver fails to pay attention to driving, serious and fatal injuries can result. If you have been injured by a distracted driver, talk to an attorney who has both the tenacity and the reputation to secure the best possible outcome for you and your family. Talk to Scholle Law.

Charles Scholle and his team of experienced auto injury lawyers have an excellent reputation due to their hard work and the level of compassion shown to every client. Countless local individuals and families in Duluth, Atlanta, Lawrenceville and elsewhere in Georgia know that when they are injured by a distracted driver, they can rely on Scholle Law to provide the legal expertise needed to begin the slow and often difficult process of recovery.

Because the problem of distracted driving is so prevalent in this area, Atlanta accident victims should rest easy knowing that Scholle Law provides the full legal support needed to recover both medically and financially.

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, there are 3 main distraction types:

1. Cognitive. When you allow your mind or attention to drift from the task of driving.
2. Manual. When you physically remove your hands from the steering wheel.
3. Visual. When you take your eyes off the road.

Any activity that takes your mind, hands or eyes away from driving can be defined as a distraction. Fiddling with your car’s navigation, adjusting the radio station and eating/drinking behind the wheel are common examples of behavior that can endanger the lives of others on the road.

One reason why texting is so dangerous and often talked about is that it combines all 3 types of distractions outlined above.

When traveling at 55 mph, reading a text for 5 seconds while driving means you’ve taken your eyes from the road long enough to travel across a football field blindfolded.

However, even so, it’s rarely a simple or easy process.

For starters, Georgia is an “at-fault” state, meaning that all drivers are liable for their share of injuries, property damage and other costs resulting from a car accident. Typically, the money owed comes from each driver’s insurance company. For this reason, determining fault in a Georgia car accident is extremely important, yet often complex and highly contested. As a victim, you must be able to prove that the other driver was responsible for the accident and your injuries.

Even if the other driver was texting behind the wheel, the judge or jury may find that you were partially responsible by not avoiding the collision — and therefore reduce your final compensation in proportion to your degree of fault.