People traveling on New Jersey’s roads expect to remain safe while driving. Some individuals, however, are guilty of texting behind the wheel, which puts everyone at risk.
Why is texting and driving a bad combination?
Texting and driving is a bad combination due to the three key types of distractions it involves: visual, cognitive and manual. Texting takes a person’s attention off the road. The individual’s mind is off the task of driving as he or she focuses on texting. Just to even pick up his or her cellphone, a person must take his or her hands off the steering wheel. A driver may even remove both hands from the wheel when composing a text. This is extremely dangerous and increases the risk of a serious accident occurring. Even if a person’s attention is diverted for five seconds while glancing at a text message, it can have deadly consequences.
What damages can victims recover if they suffered injuries in a texting and driving accident?
When a driver chooses to pick up his or her cellphone and text behind the wheel, the distraction can lead to a serious motor vehicle accident. Victims can suffer serious, often catastrophic, injuries that can adversely affect the rest of their lives. As a result, those injured parties have a right to file personal injury claims to recover compensation for their damages. In addition to being able to obtain compensation to cover the costs of their medical expenses and ongoing medical treatment, lost wages, and lost earning capacity, there are other, noneconomic damages they might be able to receive. For example, if the accident leaves a victim suffering from anxiety to the point where he or she no longer feels safe on the road, he or she could recover damages for mental anguish.
Depending on the circumstances of the case, a victim may even be able to receive punitive damages as part of his or her claim. Punitive damages are not a way to award victims. Instead, they are ordered to punish the defendant for particularly egregious behavior.
Injuries victims suffer in accidents with drivers who text behind the wheel are often disfiguring, disabling and permanent. If you have been in an accident caused by a driver who was texting, hold him or her accountable.