Imagine you are driving home from picking up some fast food with your young son in the backseat and you hear the chime that lets you know you have received a text message. You glance down and see that it is from your 15-year-old daughter. You know that, in Georgia, you cannot pick up that phone and respond to her text since you are driving. You are starving since you were not able to eat lunch, so you reach over to the passenger seat, grab the bag of food, and take out a burger. As soon as you take a bite of your burger, your son begins screaming and you glance in your mirror and see that he has spilled his soda all over himself, so you reach for some napkins beside you with one hand and reach behind you to put napkins on his lap. He is still crying, so you turn on the radio and find a station that he likes in hopes that will settle him down. Suddenly, you feel a big jolt and realize that you have just crashed into the back of the car in front of you. What can you be charged with for this car accident? It is likely that you will be charged with following too closely, but did you know that you can also be charged with distracted driving?
Georgia law states that distracted driving is any activity that distracts the driver from the safe operation of a vehicle. In the situation above, you made the right decision to not respond to the text but glancing to see who the text was from would be considered distracted driving. Also, eating the hamburger, looking to see what your son was crying about, reaching to get napkins, reaching behind you with the napkins, as well as changing the radio station are all examples of distracted driving.
All of these actions are considered distracted driving because they either take the driver’s eyes off the road, take the driver’s hands off the wheel, or cause the driver to be unable to concentrate on the road and road conditions.
But what if someone hits you and you suspect that they were driving while distracted? For example, if you see evidence of food and food wrappers in the vehicle that hit you, you should be sure to let the police officer know and take photos if it is safe to do so. The driver that hit you may tell you that they were fighting with their significant other or that they were looking at their navigation system because they were lost. Both situations can be considered distracted driving, and that is significant to any claim you may have for bodily injuries caused by an auto accident.
While it can be difficult to prove the driver who hit you was distracted at the time of the accident, there are ways for an attorney to gather evidence to support your claim. If you were hit by someone who was driving while distracted, you should contact a car accident attorney at The Eichholz Law Firm. Call us today at 855-551-1019.