Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer

When you have been injured in a collision caused by an inattentive driver, understanding your legal options becomes crucial to your recovery. At The Law Offices of John M. McCabe, we represent victims of preventable crashes throughout Raleigh and the surrounding areas. Our distracted driving accident lawyers handle cases involving drivers who were texting, talking on cell phones, eating, adjusting navigation systems, or engaging in other activities that took their attention from the road.

Can I Sue if I Was Injured in a Distracted Driving Accident?

Yes, you can sue if you were injured in a distracted driving accident in North Carolina. When another driver's negligence causes your injuries, you have the legal right to pursue compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. This applies whether the driver was texting, talking on a cell phone, eating, adjusting their GPS, or engaging in any other distraction that prevented them from operating their vehicle safely. To have a valid claim, you must demonstrate that the other driver was distracted, that their distraction caused the accident, and that you suffered actual damages such as medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, or property damage.

The Law Offices of John M. McCabe can evaluate your case and determine the best path forward. In many situations, compensation can be secured through insurance claims without filing a lawsuit, but when insurance companies refuse fair settlement offers, taking your case to court may be necessary. North Carolina law gives you three years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit, though starting the process sooner helps preserve evidence and protect your rights. Contact our Raleigh office to discuss your specific situation and learn how we can help you pursue the compensation you deserve.

Financial Compensation You Can Pursue in a Distracted Driving Accident Claim

When a distracted driver causes your injuries, you may be entitled to various forms of financial compensation. At The Law Offices of John M. McCabe, our distracted driving accident lawyers work to recover every dollar you deserve.

Types of compensation available in your claim:

• Medical Expenses: This includes all costs for emergency room treatment, hospital stays, surgeries, doctor visits, physical therapy, prescription medications, and medical equipment needed because of the accident.
• Future Medical Care: When your injuries require ongoing treatment, rehabilitation, or additional surgeries, a car accident lawyer can pursue compensation for these anticipated future expenses.
• Lost Wages: You can recover income you missed while recovering from your injuries, including salary, hourly wages, commissions, bonuses, and other employment benefits.
• Loss of Earning Capacity: If your injuries prevent you from returning to your previous job or reduce your ability to earn income in the future, you deserve compensation for this diminished earning potential.
• Property Damage: This covers the cost to repair or replace your vehicle, as well as damage to personal belongings inside your car at the time of the collision.
• Pain and Suffering: A personal injury lawyer can pursue compensation for the physical pain, discomfort, and inconvenience you have endured and will continue to experience due to your injuries.
• Emotional Distress: Mental anguish, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and psychological trauma resulting from the accident qualify for compensation.
• Loss of Enjoyment of Life: When injuries prevent you from participating in activities, hobbies, and experiences you previously enjoyed, you can seek damages for this loss.
• Permanent Scarring or Disfigurement: Visible scars, burns, or permanent physical changes to your appearance warrant additional compensation.
• Loss of Consortium: Your spouse may be able to recover damages for the loss of companionship, affection, and intimate relations resulting from your injuries.

The total value of your distracted driving accident claim depends on the severity of your injuries, the impact on your life, and the available insurance coverage. Our firm conducts thorough evaluations of every case to ensure we pursue complete compensation for all damages you have suffered and will face in the future.

How a Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer Can Maximize Your Compensation

Navigating the legal process alone often results in lower settlements and missed opportunities for full recovery. A distracted driving accident lawyer at The Law Offices of John M. McCabe employs proven strategies to maximize the compensation you receive.

Ways our firm increases your settlement value:

• Thorough Investigation: Our distracted driving accident lawyers gather comprehensive evidence including phone records, witness statements, traffic camera footage, and accident reconstruction analysis to build the strongest possible case proving the other driver's distraction and fault.
• Accurate Damage Valuation: Our car accident lawyers work with medical professionals, economists, and vocational rehabilitation specialists to calculate the true cost of your injuries, including future medical needs and lost earning capacity that insurance companies often overlook.
• Proper Medical Documentation: Our distracted driving accident lawyers ensure all your injuries and treatments are thoroughly documented, connecting each medical expense and procedure directly to the distracted driving accident to prevent insurance companies from disputing your claims.
• Strategic Negotiation: Our personal injury lawyers understand insurance company tactics and negotiate aggressively to counter lowball offers, using evidence and legal precedent to demand fair compensation.
• Preventing Costly Mistakes: We protect you from making damaging statements to insurance adjusters, signing premature settlement agreements, or missing critical filing deadlines that could reduce or eliminate your recovery.
• Maximizing All Damage Categories: While insurance companies focus on medical bills, we pursue compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and other non-economic damages that significantly increase your total recovery.
• Identifying All Liable Parties: A distracted driving accident lawyer investigates whether multiple parties share responsibility, such as employers in commercial vehicle cases or establishments that overserved alcohol, expanding your potential sources of compensation.
• Litigation When Necessary: When insurance companies refuse reasonable settlements, we take cases to court, demonstrating our willingness to fight for full compensation rather than accepting inadequate offers.
• Handling Policy Limit Issues: We navigate complex insurance coverage questions, pursue underinsured motorist claims when applicable, and ensure you access all available policy limits.
• Calculating Future Damages: Our firm projects long-term costs of permanent injuries, ongoing care needs, and career impact to ensure settlements account for your entire future, not just current expenses.

At The Law Offices of John M. McCabe, our distracted driving accident lawyers handle every aspect of your case to secure maximum compensation. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we recover money for you, allowing us to focus entirely on maximizing your settlement without any financial risk to you.

Injuries Associated with Distracted Driving Accidents

Distracted driving collisions often result in serious injuries because inattentive drivers fail to brake or take evasive action before impact. At The Law Offices of John M. McCabe, our distracted driving accident lawyers represent victims suffering from a wide range of injuries caused by negligent drivers.

Common injuries in distracted driving crashes:

• Traumatic Brain Injuries: Concussions, contusions, and more severe brain trauma occur when the head strikes objects or experiences rapid acceleration and deceleration during impact. These injuries can cause cognitive impairment, memory loss, and personality changes that affect victims for years.
• Whiplash and Neck Injuries: The sudden force of a collision causes the head and neck to snap forward and backward violently, damaging muscles, ligaments, tendons, and vertebrae. Symptoms may not appear immediately but can lead to chronic pain and limited mobility.
• Spinal Cord Injuries: Damage to the spinal cord can result in partial or complete paralysis, loss of sensation, and permanent disability requiring lifelong medical care and assistance with daily activities.
• Broken Bones and Fractures: The impact of a distracted driving accident commonly causes fractures to arms, legs, ribs, hips, and facial bones that require surgery, immobilization, and extensive rehabilitation.
• Internal Organ Damage: Blunt force trauma can injure the liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, and other internal organs, often requiring emergency surgery and creating life-threatening complications.
• Lacerations and Scarring: Broken glass, twisted metal, and deployed airbags can cause deep cuts and permanent scarring that may require reconstructive surgery and cause lasting emotional distress.
• Soft Tissue Injuries: Damage to muscles, tendons, and ligaments throughout the body causes pain, swelling, and reduced range of motion that can persist long after the accident.
• Chest and Torso Injuries: Seatbelt compression and steering wheel impact can cause bruised or broken ribs, internal bleeding, and damage to the heart and lungs.
• Psychological Trauma: Many victims experience post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and fear of driving following a distracted driving collision caused by another's negligence.
• Facial Injuries: Impact with the steering wheel, dashboard, or airbag can cause broken jaws, dental damage, eye injuries, and facial fractures requiring reconstructive procedures.
• Burn Injuries: When distracted driving accidents cause fires or expose victims to hot fluids and surfaces, burn injuries of varying degrees can result in permanent scarring and disfigurement.
• Amputation and Limb Loss: Severe crashes may crush limbs beyond repair, requiring amputation and prosthetic devices that fundamentally change a victim's life and independence.

The severity of injuries in distracted driving accidents varies based on collision speed, vehicle size, point of impact, and whether occupants were properly restrained. A personal injury lawyer at our firm works with medical professionals to document the full extent of your injuries and their long-term impact on your health, quality of life, and financial situation. Our car accident lawyers pursue maximum compensation to cover all your injury-related expenses and losses, ensuring you have the resources needed for complete recovery and adaptation to any permanent limitations.

Most Common Forms of Distracted Driving

Distracted driving takes many forms, each diverting a driver's attention from the safe operation of their vehicle. Understanding these common distractions helps our distracted driving accident lawyers prove negligence and hold careless drivers accountable.

Types of distracted driving behaviors:

• Texting While Driving: Reading, composing, or sending text messages requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention, making it one of the most dangerous forms of distraction. Even a brief glance at a phone to check a message can result in a devastating collision.
• Talking on Cell Phones: Conversations on handheld or hands-free devices create cognitive distraction that impairs a driver's reaction time and awareness of road conditions. Studies show that phone conversations significantly increase crash risk even when drivers keep their hands on the wheel.
• Using Social Media: Scrolling through feeds, posting updates, checking notifications, and viewing videos on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok diverts attention from driving for extended periods.
• GPS and Navigation Systems: Programming destinations, adjusting routes, and reading maps on navigation devices causes drivers to take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel at critical moments.
• Eating and Drinking: Consuming food or beverages while driving requires manual dexterity and visual attention to prevent spills, forcing drivers to divide their focus between eating and operating the vehicle.
• Personal Grooming: Applying makeup, shaving, combing hair, and other grooming activities require drivers to use mirrors and take their attention away from traffic conditions.
• Adjusting Vehicle Controls: Changing radio stations, adjusting climate controls, modifying seat positions, and operating other vehicle systems distracts drivers from monitoring their surroundings.
• Reading: Looking at documents, books, newspapers, billboards, or other reading material takes a driver's eyes off the road for dangerous lengths of time.
• Reaching for Objects: Retrieving items from the floor, glove compartment, back seat, or other areas of the vehicle causes drivers to look away and remove hands from the steering wheel.
• Interacting with Passengers: Turning to talk with passengers, attending to children, disciplining unruly riders, or engaging in animated conversations reduces a driver's focus on the roadway.
• Dealing with Pets: Unrestrained animals in vehicles can climb on drivers, obstruct their view, or demand attention, creating serious distractions that lead to collisions.
• Daydreaming and Mental Distraction: Lost in thought, emotional distress, fatigue, and mental preoccupation prevent drivers from processing critical information about traffic patterns and hazards.

Any of these distracted driving behaviors can cause serious accidents resulting in significant injuries. When a personal injury lawyer at The Law Offices of John M. McCabe investigates your case, we examine all possible forms of distraction to establish the at-fault driver's negligence. Our car accident lawyers use phone records, witness testimony, surveillance footage, and other evidence to prove that distraction caused your collision and justify your claim for full compensation.

Distracted Driving Laws in North Carolina

North Carolina has enacted specific laws to reduce distracted driving and protect motorists on our roads. Understanding these regulations helps our distracted driving accident lawyers demonstrate when a driver violated state law and establish liability for your injuries.

Key North Carolina distracted driving statutes:

• Texting While Driving Ban: North Carolina law prohibits all drivers from manually entering letters or text, reading text messages, or sending text-based communications while operating a vehicle on public roads. This ban applies regardless of the driver's age and includes emails, instant messages, and other text-based communications.
• Cell Phone Restrictions for Young Drivers: Drivers under age 18 are prohibited from using any mobile phone or technology associated with a mobile phone while driving, including hands-free devices, except during emergencies. This complete ban recognizes that inexperienced drivers face greater risks from any phone-related distraction.
• School Bus Driver Prohibitions: School bus operators cannot use mobile phones while the vehicle is in motion or while loading or unloading passengers, ensuring the safety of children in their care.
• Emergency Exception: North Carolina law allows drivers to use mobile phones when reporting emergencies, including calling 911, contacting law enforcement, fire departments, or medical providers during urgent situations.
• Traffic Violations and Penalties: Violating North Carolina's texting ban results in a fine and court costs, with the violation counting against the driver's insurance record. Repeat offenses and violations by commercial drivers carry enhanced penalties.
• No Hands-Free Requirement for Adults: While texting is banned, North Carolina currently does not require drivers over 18 to use hands-free devices for phone calls, though such conversations still create cognitive distraction that can lead to accidents.
• Local Ordinances: Some North Carolina municipalities have enacted additional restrictions on cell phone use while driving that may be stricter than state law. Drivers must comply with both state and local regulations.
• Liability in Civil Cases: When a driver violates distracted driving laws and causes an accident, this violation serves as evidence of negligence in personal injury claims, strengthening your case for compensation.
• Enhanced Penalties in Injury Accidents: Drivers who cause crashes while texting or otherwise distracted may face additional criminal charges beyond the basic traffic violation, including careless and reckless driving charges.

When another driver's violation of distracted driving laws causes your injuries, a car accident lawyer at The Law Offices of John M. McCabe uses these statutes to build your case. Our personal injury lawyers demonstrate how the at-fault driver's illegal behavior directly led to your collision and resulting damages. Even when no citation was issued at the scene, our distracted driving accident lawyers can gather evidence proving the driver violated North Carolina law and should be held financially responsible for your injuries.

Contact Our Raleigh Distracted Driving Accident Lawyers Today

If you or a loved one has been injured by a distracted driver, you deserve legal representation that will fight for your rights and pursue maximum compensation. The Law Offices of John M. McCabe offers consultations to discuss your case and explain your options at no cost to you. Contact our personal injury lawyers today to get started on your path to recovery and justice.