Williamsport Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer

OUR DISTRACTED DRIVING LAWYERS CAN HELP YOU GET COMPENSATION

If you or a loved one was injured or someone has died in a crash caused by a distracted, negligent driver, you may be entitled to compensation through insurance or a personal injury lawsuit. However, Pennsylvania injury laws are complicated, and insurance companies will try to get you to settle for the lowest amount possible, so your case must be handled correctly or you may never collect the compensation you deserve. Fortunately, help is available from the experienced injury attorneys at Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters.

Why Choose a Distracted Driving Lawyer on Our Team

Our attorneys have helped hundreds of people file successful injury lawsuits, including in distracted driving accidents. With decades of experience with many types of auto crashes and an excellent reputation in the legal community, we are well-positioned to handle even the most difficult distracted driving cases.

Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic of negligence on America’s roadways that can result in catastrophic injuries and death. Texting, talking on mobile phones, and technologies and devices, including those that are part of the car, compete for our attention and make the potential for being distracted terrifyingly high.

How Our Distracted Driving Attorneys Can Help

Drivers must be responsible while they operate a vehicle or they can be found negligent and liable for your damages.

Anyone who gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle is required to drive responsibly and practice safe driving habits. When drivers are distracted and devote their attention to anything other than the road, they must be held responsible for any injuries they cause.

Pennsylvania Distracted Driving Laws

Title 75 of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code prohibits any driver in Pennsylvania from using “an interactive wireless communication device to send, read, or write a text-based communication while the car is in motion.” An “interactive wireless communication device” includes a wireless phone, personal digital assistant, smartphone, portable or mobile computer, and any similar device. Also, drivers in Pennsylvania are prohibited from wearing headphones and earphones.

This is a primary law, which means that a police officer has the right to pull someone over and give them a ticket for texting while driving without having to witness another moving violation. If caught, the penalty for using an interactive wireless communication device while driving is a $50 fine, plus court costs and other fees.

Even if a driver has not violated Pennsylvania driving laws, they could still be subject to a suit for damages due to their negligence for engaging in other distractions, such as fiddling with controls or eating while driving.

To win your case, our distracted driving accident lawyers would have to show the following elements:

• The driver owed you a duty of care to drive responsibly to prevent harm.
• The driver breached this duty by driving while distracted.
• This breach caused your injury.
• You suffered actual damages as a result.

To prove the driver was distracted, our Rieders Travis legal team would gather evidence by:

• Interviewing witnesses and first responders
• Acquiring photos and videos from surveillance or traffic cameras
• Examining medical, ambulance, and police records.

In addition, our Williamsport distracted driving lawyer can work with experts to reconstruct the accident, hire medical experts to testify how the injuries have negatively impacted your life and the costs of care you will need in the future, and vocational experts to show what you would have expected to earn over your lifetime if you had not been injured.

Damage Awards We May Recover if You Were Hit by a Distracted Driver

In a successful case, our distracted driving accident attorneys may win an award for the damages you received as a result of the crash.

In Pennsylvania, compensation falls into two categories: economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic damages – expenses which can be objectively calculated, such as medical, therapy, and rehabilitation costs, costs of equipment such as wheelchairs, lost income, property damage, and funeral and burial costs if a death is involved.

Non-economic damages – for losses which do not have a specific dollar value, such as mental and physical pain and suffering, the loss of enjoyment of life, and the loss of a marital relationship (consortium).

Amounts of Compensation in a Distracted Driving Case

There is a wide range of compensation you may be awarded depending on the facts of your case and the extent of your injuries. Our Rieders Travis distracted driving attorneys will evaluate your case and consider factors such as the type of injuries you have sustained, the type of treatment you received, whether you’ll make a full recovery, your age, family situation, and earning ability, and the expenses related to the accident, to get a realistic idea of what your case is worth. Severe brain injuries or spinal cord injuries can require years of costly treatment, so it’s important to have an experienced lawyer on your side to ensure you get the compensation you deserve in your distracted driving case.

Our Williamsport Distracted Driver Lawyers Cite Common Distractions

Distracted driving is any non-driving activity that has the potential to distract the driver from the primary task of driving and increases the risk of crashing. Distractions can be visual (taking eyes off the road), manual (taking hands off the wheel), or cognitive (taking mind off what you are doing). Since texting involves all three, it is particularly dangerous.

It is estimated that engaging in activities associated with the use of a hand-held phone or other portable device, like reaching for a phone, dialing and texting, increase the risk of getting into a crash by three times.

The most common activities that pull a person’s attention away from driving include:

• Adjusting temperature controls
• Changing music or radio stations
• Checking phone messages or email
• Eating or drinking
• Interacting with passengers
• Personal grooming, such as applying makeup or shaving
• Reaching for an object
• Reading (even maps)
• Smoking
• Texting
• Using a cell phone
• Using a navigation systems (GPS)
• Using Bluetooth
• Watching videos.

Injured in a Distracted Driving Accident? Get a Free Consultation.

If you suspect your accident and subsequent injuries were caused by a driver who was talking on their cell phone, was texting, or was otherwise distracted, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible. Prompt legal consultation can ensure the collection of relevant facts and the preservation of evidence.

If you or your loved one has been injured in a distracted driving accident, contact Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters by calling (570) 277-5611 for a free consultation.

Attorney Cliff Rieders

Cliff Rieders is a Nationally Board Certified Trial Lawyer practicing personal injury law. A large part of his practice involves multi-district litigation, including cases related to pharmaceuticals, vitamin supplements and medical devices. He is admitted in several state and federal courts, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Rieders is the past regional president of the Federal Bar Association and is a life member of the distinguished American Law Institute, which promulgates proposed rules adopted by many state courts. He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. As a founder of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, he served on the Board for 15 years.

Not only has Rieders held many highly esteemed, leadership positions, he authored legislation related to the Patient Safety Authority and the Mcare Act, which governs medical and hospital liability actions in Pennsylvania. He authored texts upon which both practitioners and judges rely, including Pennsylvania Malpractice Laws and Forms, and Financial Responsibility Law Issues in Pennsylvania, the latter governing auto and truck collisions in Pennsylvania. In addition, he wrote several books on the practice of law in Pennsylvania regarding wrongful death and survivor actions, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice claims and worker rights, among others. Rieders also serves as a resource to practitioners as a regular speaker for Celesq, an arm of the world’s largest legal publisher, Thomson Reuters West Publishing.

As recognition of his wide range of contribution to his profession and of his dedication to protecting the rights of his clients, he received numerous awards, among them the George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award, the Milton D. Rosenberg Award, the B’nai B’rith Justice Award, and awards of recognition from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers. [ Attorney Bio ]