01
Texting
Reading or sending a message can divert visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the road at the same time.
Dallas–Fort Worth Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer
A few seconds of distraction
can change a life.
Texting, phone use, navigation, social media, eating, reaching for objects, and other distractions can take a driver's eyes, hands, or attention away from the road.
The Piri Law Firm represents people throughout Dallas–Fort Worth who suffer serious injuries in crashes caused by distracted drivers.
PhonePreserve evidence
CrashReconstruct events
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LossDocument damages
DFWNorth Texas representation
Direct Answer
Can I recover compensation after a distracted-driving crash in Texas?
Potentially. When a driver's distraction causes a collision, an injured person may pursue compensation from responsible parties for losses such as medical expenses, lost income, pain, impairment, and other accident-related damages. Evidence showing what the driver was doing immediately before the crash can become especially important.
Driver Distraction
Distraction is not limited to texting.
Anything that diverts a driver's visual attention, hands, or mental focus from driving can reduce reaction time and interfere with the ability to recognize changing traffic conditions.
02
Phone Calls
Handling a phone, dialing, searching contacts, or focusing on a conversation can interfere with safe driving.
03
Navigation & Apps
Entering destinations, checking maps, changing music, and interacting with applications can pull attention away from traffic.
04
Eating & Drinking
Food, beverages, spills, packaging, and reaching for items can take a driver's hands and eyes away from driving.
05
Passengers
Conversations, arguments, children, pets, and other activity inside the vehicle can create significant cognitive and visual distraction.
06
In-Vehicle Controls
Infotainment systems, climate controls, displays, and other vehicle technology can become distracting when used while moving.
Digital Evidence
The driver's phone may help tell the story.
A distracted-driving case may involve evidence beyond what is visible at the crash scene. Phone records, application activity, photographs, video, vehicle data, surveillance footage, witness testimony, and other evidence may help establish what happened immediately before impact.
Phone and communication records
Crash-scene photographs and video
Vehicle and electronic data
Witness and surveillance evidence
Building The Case
Four questions help uncover a distracted-driving crash.
What was the driver doing?
The investigation may examine phone use, texting, applications, navigation, passengers, food, vehicle controls, or other distractions.
What happened immediately before impact?
Lane position, braking, speed, traffic signals, witness observations, video, and vehicle data may reveal delayed or absent reactions.
What evidence can be preserved?
Digital records can disappear and surveillance video may be overwritten, making timely preservation important.
What injuries and losses resulted?
Medical records, employment information, treatment history, prognosis, and daily-life evidence help document the consequences of the collision.
Crash Evidence
Proving distraction may require combining several sources of evidence.
A driver may not admit to looking at a phone or being distracted. The strongest cases often develop the sequence of events through physical, electronic, documentary, and witness evidence.
Phone Records
Available records may help establish communications or other phone activity near the time of the collision.
Vehicle Data
Electronic vehicle information may provide evidence about speed, braking, steering, and other actions before impact.
Video Evidence
Dashcams, traffic cameras, businesses, residences, and other sources may have captured the crash or the vehicles immediately beforehand.
Witnesses
Drivers, passengers, pedestrians, first responders, and others may have observed phone use, lane drifting, delayed braking, or other behavior.
Serious Consequences
The distraction may last seconds. The injuries may last a lifetime.
Distracted-driving collisions can cause traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, fractures, internal injuries, permanent impairment, scarring, chronic pain, and death. A complete injury claim should address both immediate medical needs and the long-term effect of the crash on work, independence, family, and daily life.
Related Personal Injury Services
Distracted driving can cause many different serious crashes.
Related pages provide additional information about motor-vehicle collisions and catastrophic injuries that may result from driver distraction.
Car Accidents
Serious passenger-vehicle collisions can involve disputed fault, insurance issues, and substantial injuries.
Explore →Truck Accidents
Distraction involving commercial drivers can lead to high-force collisions involving large trucks.
Explore →Pedestrian Accidents
A distracted driver may fail to see a pedestrian in a crosswalk, intersection, parking area, or roadway.
Explore →Bicycle Accidents
Cyclists are especially vulnerable when drivers fail to watch the roadway or surrounding traffic.
Explore →Motorcycle Accidents
Driver inattention can cause devastating crashes involving motorcyclists who have little physical protection.
Explore →Traumatic Brain Injury
High-force crashes can produce lasting cognitive, neurological, behavioral, and functional changes.
Explore →Catastrophic Injuries
Permanent injuries may require extensive medical care and substantially change independence and quality of life.
Explore →Wrongful Death
Fatal distracted-driving collisions can leave families facing profound personal and financial losses.
Explore →Frequently Asked Questions
Distracted driving accident questions.
How can you prove a driver was texting before a crash?
Evidence may include available phone records, witness statements, admissions, photographs, video, vehicle data, application activity, and other information. The evidence available depends on the circumstances of the collision.
Is distracted driving limited to cell phone use?
No. Driver distraction can involve texting, calls, navigation, entertainment systems, eating, drinking, passengers, pets, objects inside the vehicle, or other activities that divert attention from driving.
What if the distracted driver denies using a phone?
A denial does not necessarily end the investigation. Electronic records, witnesses, video, physical evidence, vehicle data, and the driver's actions immediately before impact may provide additional evidence.
Why should digital evidence be preserved quickly?
Some electronic information may not remain available indefinitely, and surveillance recordings can be overwritten. Prompt preservation efforts may help protect evidence relevant to the crash.
How long do I have to file a distracted-driving injury claim in Texas?
Texas generally applies a two-year limitations period to personal injury claims, although exceptions can apply. Important crash and electronic evidence may disappear much sooner.
Confidential Consultation
What Are You Facing?
Tell us how the collision occurred, why you believe the other driver was distracted, whether there were witnesses or cameras, what injuries you suffered, and what medical treatment you have required.
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