Meridian Texting While Driving Accidents

Have you been hurt in a car wreck due to someone negligently using their cell phone while driving? If so, the Meridian car accident attorneys of Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz may be able to help you recover for the injuries you have sustained. At any given moment throughout the day, over 660,000 drivers are using electronic devices on the road across the United States. Texting while driving is an epidemic of epic proportions. Sending, reading, or writing a text message has been found to increase the risk of being involved in an accident by 23 times the normal rate. Moreover, according to the Mississippi Department of Education, texting while driving can cause drivers to miss up to 50% of the driving environment.

Texting while driving is illegal in Mississippi. Specifically, Mississippi law states that it is against the law to write, send or read a text message from a moving motor vehicle. This law was enacted largely because of the dangers linked to texting while driving and the recent surge of distracted drivers on the road. One of the most commonly-referenced texting while driving statistics shows that at 55 miles per hour, a driver will travel the length of a football field during the average time it takes to read or send a text message. If you have been involved in an accident, and you can prove the other driver was texting while driving, the other driver could be held liable for the damages you have sustained.

In Mississippi, an injured party generally has three years from the date of the accident to settle their claim or properly file a lawsuit in court. However, if the at-fault party is a government entity or a municipality, that statute of limitations is reduced to one year. Failure to satisfy your claim within the allotted time period will result in complete forfeiture of your claim. Our car accident lawyers can help Meridian residents abide by requirements set forth by law, including the applicable statute of limitations.

To recover compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, vehicle repairs, and other losses sustained in the accident, you will have to prove the driver who struck you acted negligently. To do this, you will have to prove the following elements:

1. Duty: All drivers have a duty to drive safely in Mississippi and abide by laws regarding texting while driving.
2. Breach of duty: Here, you must prove the at-fault party breached their duty to drive in a safe manner. This could be shown by proving the driver was texting at the time the accident happened or was otherwise distracted by someone or something else.
3. Causation: This element requires you to show a causal link between the other driver’s conduct and the resulting accident and your harms.
4. Damages: You must show you suffered actual damages as a result of the accident, which can include physical pain, medical bills, loss of income, pain and suffering, or emotional distress.

To illustrate a texting while driving accident in Meridian, consider the following example. Let’s say you are leaving an appointment at City Hall, located at 601 23rd Avenue, Meridian, MS 39302. On your way home, you turn onto 6th Street. Meanwhile, another driver, traveling on 25th Avenue, approaches 6th Street. He is looking down at his phone while typing a text message, so he fails to notice the stop sign. As a result, he proceeds into the intersection and strikes your vehicle. In this situation, you can show the other driver acted carelessly behind the wheel by looking away from the road, texting, and running the stop sign.

Texting while driving accidents often result in severe and catastrophic injures to those involved. Many times injured parties are unable to return to work, leaving them without the ability to afford their medical bills and support their family. At Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz, our attorneys serve those injured by distracted drivers throughout Mississippi. We fight for the rights of people injured in Lauderdale County and surrounding areas, including Collinsville, Middleton, Stonewall, Newton, and Marion. Contact our office by calling 800-529-4004 or by completing our online form to set up a free appointment with a motor vehicle crash attorney. Let us explain to you why NST is the way to go.