Were you involved in an accident where someone was texting and driving? Check out this short video to learn more about this serious problem.

Hey everyone Barry with the LawFull channel. I’m also President of the Chicago Legal Group – if you want to check me out you can go to our website at https://www.chicagolegalgroup.com

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Smartphones have changed the way we live. In 2018 which is the most recent year I could find stats for, over 2,800 Americans lost their lives and approximately 400,000 other people suffered injuries in distracted driving accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 400 of these folks who died were pedestrians walking on the street and 77 of them were bicyclists.

The bottom line is, distracted driving is negligence and if you get in an accident in part because you were texting you’re going to have some serious problems.

24 states have banned holding your cell phone while driving. And 48 states have banned texting while driving. The only state that doesn’t ban texting while driving is Montana. And Missouri only bans people 21 and under from texting. So if you are texting and driving in any other state it is illegal.

What happens if you get caught? Well, check the laws in your state but in Illinois if you get caught it’s a ‘moving violation’ – which means it is going on your record and your insurance rates may go up and you’re going to be fined.

If you get in an accident with a distracted driver, you may be wondering how do you prove it? I’ve been involved in a couple cases where the driver who caused the accident admitted that they were texting. But that’s not the norm. Normally people won’t admit it so what do you do?

Most of the evidence so to speak is going to be your testimony that you saw the other driver looking down just before the accident occurred. Ideally you’ll find a neutral third party who witnessed what the driver was doing before the accident. That aside it’s a little tougher to prove.

One thing you can do, you could if you wanted to after filing a lawsuit subpoena the driver’s phone records and prove by the records they sent a text at the time of the accident theoretically.

Another thing you can do is look around the accident scene to see if there are any video cameras in stores or on peoples’ decks. You never know what kind of evidence you might have to use.

We’ve done a lot of videos on this channel about auto accidents. If you want more information check out these informative videos:

✔ What to do after a hit and run accident:    • What to do After a Hit and Run Accident  
✔ How long does it take a case to settle:    • How Long Does it Take to Settle a Car...  
✔What to do when an insurance company denies your claim:    • What to do When an Insurance Company ...  
✔ Top 5 things to do after an auto accident:    • Top 5 Things to do After an Auto Acci...  

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And if you have any questions, reach out to me at [email protected].

Disclaimer: read the disclaimer in the video. This does not constitute legal advice and communication between LawFull/Chicago Legal Group and commenters does not create an attorney-client relationship.