How Can You Prove Distracted Driving Caused Your Accident?

With the right evidence and an experienced car accident lawyer, you can take steps to hold a reckless driver accountable and prove that they were distracted when they hit you. In Oklahoma, proving distracted driving caused your accident involves looking for non-physical evidence, talking to eyewitnesses, and seeking out video footage.

With an experienced and aggressive car accident attorney, you can fight for fair compensation after a distracted driving crash. Call Cunningham & Mears today to discuss your next steps and your options for recovery.

What counts as distracted driving under Oklahoma law?

Distracted driving is a major issue in Oklahoma, and Oklahoma Highway Safety urges drivers to give their full attention to the road. In practice, anything that takes a driver’s attention from the road may be considered a distraction when it causes unsafe driving or a crash. Cell phones are an obvious culprit, but they aren’t the only distraction. Other examples include eating or drinking, talking to passengers, changing the radio station, or even being too deep in thought. Distractions can be visual, which means they take your eyes off the road. They can also be manual, meaning that they take one or both hands off the wheel. And they may also be cognitive, which means that your mental attention is elsewhere.

Why proving distracted driving is so difficult

While distracted driving is a growing problem across the United States, it is frustratingly difficult to actually prove a driver was distracted when they crashed. Any driver with an ounce of sense isn’t going to tell the other driver or the police that they were on their phone, chugging coffee, or turning around to fix their baby’s car seat. They’re going to say that the other car came out of nowhere or that they simply didn’t react in time.

And physical evidence is limited. You might be lucky enough to find a nearby road camera or doorbell camera that may have captured the crash, and some people have their own dashcam footage that can prove their case. Beyond that, these cases often come down to what each party claims to have seen and experienced.

Evidence used to prove distracted driving after an accident

Although getting evidence for a distracted driving accident is difficult, it definitely isn’t impossible. One tool that lawyers use is cell phone usage data. Cell phone companies don’t give this out willingly, so you’ll likely need a court subpoena or discovery request. Voluntary records may be available in certain circumstances. But if you get phone records, they can show calls and texts at the time of the crash, and in some cases may support inferences about device activity.

Without early legal action from the crash victim, these records may be difficult to recover.

Police accident reports also play a big role in these accidents. Police officers rarely actually witness accidents, but they’ve seen the aftermath of enough collisions to make their own observations. The other party may have told them directly that they were on their phone or they may have noticed devices in the vehicle when they reported to the scene. They may also note whether or not it looks like the other party did anything to evade the crash, since no attempt to mitigate a collision may be a sign of inattention.

Camera footage is an excellent piece of evidence if you can find it. We can look for footage from a variety of sources:

• Both drivers’ dashcams
• Dashcam footage from witnesses who stopped at the scene to help
• Traffic or intersection camera footage (where available)
• Doorbell cameras from nearby homes and businesses

How Oklahoma negligence laws affect distracted driving claims

Oklahoma is a modified comparative negligence state. This means that if you are 50% or less at fault for an accident, you can still recover compensation. If your share of liability is greater than 50%, you cannot recover damages.

This can be challenging in a distracted driving claim, because you may see insurance companies try to shift blame to you to protect their bottom line. This is especially true if you just have a suspicion that the driver was distracted, not actual proof. They can chip away at your statements little by little until you can barely recover anything – if you can recover anything at all.

Can you prove distracted driving without phone records?

Yes, you can prove distracted driving without phone records. We can use a combined body of evidence to substantiate your claims and demand fair compensation from the other party.

This is one question we often get, because phone records aren’t always obtainable. While having phone records can definitely make your case stronger and make it harder for the insurance company to deny distracted driving allegations, your case isn’t lost without phone records. We may use witness testimony, video footage, crash reconstruction testimony, driver statements, the police report, and circumstantial facts that show inattention on the driver’s part.

Can I file a claim if the other driver wasn’t ticketed?

Yes, you can still seek compensation even if the other driver was not ticketed. A citation may be beneficial to your case, but tickets and criminal charges are separate from civil liability. The police may not have had enough evidence to ticket the other driver for distracted driving, or they may not have even asked. But if you have the evidence needed to show that they were distracted, you can pursue compensation.

Take the first step in your car accident claim with Cunningham & Mears

The team at Cunningham & Mears is focused on helping victims like you fight for the justice and compensation they deserve. Find out how we can help you with your distracted driving claim now by contacting us online or calling us now.