Wilkes-Barre Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer

If you or a loved one has been injured in a distracted driving accident in Wilkes-Barre, your first step is to hire a Wilkes-Barre distracted driving accident lawyer. You’re likely facing physical pain, emotional trauma, mounting medical bills, lost wages from missed work, and drastic changes to your daily routine. In the most heartbreaking cases, you may have even lost a family member. During this challenging time, the last thing you need is the added stress of battling with insurance companies and navigating a complex legal system to secure the financial resources necessary for your recovery.

An experienced Wilkes-Barre car accident lawyer at Munley Law can review and manage your car accident case and fight to ensure you receive what is due. Contact us for your free consultation — we do not collect a fee for our services unless we win your case.

A Definition of Distracted Driving in Wilkes-Barre, PA

The Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) regards anything that takes your attention away while driving to be a distraction. Any distraction can jeopardize you, your passengers, or fellow drivers with whom you share the road. Common distractions are:

• Talking on a cell phone
• Using a navigation system
• Eating while driving
• Talking to passengers in the car
• Adjusting the radio or temperature (choose to do so at a complete stop)

According to the National Safety Council‘s analysis, the number of drivers using hand-held electronic devices has increased by 127%, from 1.5% in 2012 to 3.4% in 2021. Texting, tweeting, or checking messages creates a crash risk 23 times higher than driving while not distracted. Cell phone use is a prominent repeat offense when driving.

Why Does Distracted Driving Cause Accidents?

Visual, manual, and cognitive attention is used when driving. If a driver’s brain is overloaded with exterior information other than what relates to the task of driving, their ability to process information can become compromised. This, in turn, makes them more susceptible to failing to respond quickly to unforeseen hazards and ending up in a crash.

• Visual attention — Keep your eyes on the road
• Manual attention — Keep both hands on your wheel
• Cognitive attention — Keep your mind on the road

The way a driver reacts to unexpected dangers, like the behavior of other drivers, weather changes, construction areas, animals, or objects on the road, can often determine whether they have a near-miss or a collision.

The Most Common Type of Distracted Driving in Wilkes-Barre

Texting while driving distracts the driver in multiple ways: visually, manually, and cognitively. The driver’s eyes are removed from the road to either read or send a text (visually), and their cognitive ability to drive safely becomes impaired. Reading and typing require cognitive processing, and deciding what to type also requires mental decision-making; when a driver’s mental focus is diverted to a text, they are far less capable of making smart driving decisions during that moment (cognitive). Finally, texting while driving often requires manual distraction, as the driver takes their hand off the wheel to type a text (manual).

Due to the increased distracted driving incidents, Pennsylvania now considers it a crime for any driver to use a portable electronic device such as a cell phone or wearable technology to manually send, write, or read any type of written communication while a vehicle is in motion.

In 2016, Pennsylvania adopted Daniel’s Law, which was named after Daniel Gallatin, a volunteer firefighter and military veteran who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2013 while texting while driving. The law states that a driver found guilty of causing serious bodily injury while texting will face a 2-year jail sentence, and a driver found guilty of causing fatal injuries while texting will face five years.

How a Distracted Driving Lawyer in Wilkes-Barre Can Help

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a car accident caused by a driver who was texting, you deserve experienced legal representation from a firm that understands the challenges you face because of your injuries – a firm that is committed to protecting your rights and obtaining the compensation you deserve. The Wilkes-Barre distracted driving accident lawyers at Munley Law will help to show specific elements to recover damages from the defendant successfully:

• Duty — Display that the defendant owed you a duty of care as a fellow driver
• Breach of duty — Prove that the defendant breached this duty through negligent behavior.
• Causation — Validate that this breach resulted in a crash that caused your injuries
• Damages — Prove that you suffered economic and non-economic damages from your injuries

Why Choose a Car Accident Attorney From Munley Law?

The Wilkes-Barre car accident attorneys at Munley Law have decades of experience representing car accident injury victims and have won numerous multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts. Our attorneys have earned the industry’s highest ratings from Martindale-Hubbell, and have been named to the Best Lawyers in America. Contact a Wilkes-Barre accident lawyer at Munley Law today for a free consultation; we collect no fees until we win your case and get you the compensation you deserve.

Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys

1170 PA-315
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
(570) 399-0406