Ontario Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer
Motorists in California have a responsibility to drive their vehicles with due care and attention. Unfortunately, it is common for drivers to ignore safe driving practices and endanger the lives of others with dangerous acts, such as distracted driving. A driver who isn’t paying enough attention to the road can cause a serious car accident.
The Ontario car accident attorneys at Rose, Klein & Marias, LLP can help you seek justice and financial compensation for a distracted driving accident by holding the driver accountable for a car crash in Ontario, California. Contact our car accident lawyers today to start with a free consultation.
Why Choose Us?
- Our team of personal injury lawyers has served accident victims in Ontario and throughout California since 1936. We are committed to the success of our clients.
- We have recovered over $5 billion in settlements and jury verdicts for our clients, including many successful car accident and distracted driving accident case results.
- We take distracted driving accident cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you won’t pay us anything for our services unless we secure financial compensation for your losses.
How an Ontario Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer Can Help
Recovering from a distracted driving car accident requires dealing with car insurance companies. Without an attorney by your side, an insurer may take advantage of you, resulting in an unfair settlement or no compensation at all. The right personal injury attorney in Ontario can protect you and your family during the car accident claims process.
Your car accident lawyer will make sure that your case is handled correctly from start to finish, helping you avoid common mistakes such as trusting an insurance company adjuster or accepting the very first settlement offer. A law firm will have connections to investigators, experts and legal resources to strengthen your claim and improve the odds of a positive outcome.
What Is Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving refers to the operation of a car, truck, SUV, motorcycle or another motor vehicle when part or all of the driver’s attention is focused on something other than the driving task. It is a dangerous state of inattention that can make it easy for a motorist to miss the signs of a changing roadway situation, such as a changing traffic light or a stopped vehicle, and cause an accident. Distracted driving significantly increases the risk of automobile accidents in Ontario.
What Are the Dangers of Distracted Driving?
Drivers need to pay attention to the road so that they can obey traffic signs and signals, notice hazards, and react in time to prevent collisions. If something takes a driver’s attention away from the road or the task of driving, this can result in delayed reaction times that lead to motor vehicle accidents.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 3,308 people were killed in distracted driving accidents in 2022. This accounted for 8 percent of all fatal traffic accidents in 2022. From 2013 to 2022, more than 32,000 individuals lost their lives due to distracted driving in the U.S.
Types of Driver Distractions in Ontario
Many different things can distract a driver enough to cause an automobile accident. If a driver is not vigilant, he or she could succumb to various distractions located inside and outside of the cab. If anything detracts a driver’s attention from driving, it could cause an accident.
Examples of driver distractions include:
- Cell phone use
- Texting and driving
- Making phone calls
- Taking pictures or videos
- Fiddling with the radio
- Looking at a map or GPS device
- Eating or drinking
- Personal grooming
- Talking to passengers
- Dealing with children or pets in the backseat
- Daydreaming or thinking about other things
- Rubbernecking car accidents
- Reading a billboard
The three categories of distraction are manual, visual and cognitive. It is critical for a driver to avoid anything that takes his or her hands from the wheel, eyes away from the road and/or mind off of the driving task.
Common Distracted Driving Accident Injuries
An accident caused by distracted driving, such as a rear-end collision or intersection accident, can inflict soft-tissue injuries due to the motion of the vehicle occupant’s body being pulled rapidly backward and forward. This can result in injuries such as whiplash and back or spine injuries.
Victims may also sustain injuries from the seat belt or airbag. If a distracted driving accident occurs at high speed, it can cause severe injuries, such as broken bones, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and internal injuries. In catastrophic cases, a car accident can result in permanent disability.
California Distracted Driving Laws
Cell phones present the most dangerous and most common form of driver distraction. Cell phones require a driver’s hands, eyes and brain to operate. The NHTSA states that looking at a cell phone for the amount of time it takes to read one text message (five seconds) while traveling at 55 miles per hour is the equivalent of driving across a football field blindfolded.
For this reason, California and most other states have passed cell phone laws. These laws prohibit drivers from certain forms of handheld device manipulation while driving. Under California law, any driver under the age of 18 is prohibited from using his cell phone for any reason. Drivers over the age of 18 can make a phone call but cannot text and drive.
Who Is Responsible for a Distracted Driving Accident in Ontario?
The State of California operates under a fault-based car insurance system. Under this rule, the person or party at fault for an automobile accident must pay for the damage caused using his or her car insurance. If a driver is guilty of distracted driving, evidence that proves this can make that driver responsible for paying for a victim’s medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and more.
You or your personal injury attorney must prove that the other driver was distracted at the time of your crash to receive coverage from his or her insurance provider. This may require evidence such as the driver’s cell phone records, photos of food wrappers or other signs of distraction in the cab of his or her vehicle, statements from eyewitnesses, and confessions from the driver. An attorney can help you collect evidence, file your claim and prove fault.
Contact an Ontario Distracted Driving Accident Attorney Today
If you or a loved one was recently involved in a collision with a distracted driver, contact the car accident attorneys at Rose, Klein & Marias, LLP for a free case review. We will listen to your accident story and give you personalized advice about your legal rights.
If we agree to take your case, we can investigate your auto accident, search for signs of fault and evidence of driver distraction, and fight to help you secure maximum financial compensation. Call us at (866) 679-7512 today to schedule your free case evaluation with a distracted driving accident lawyer in Ontario.