Driving a car requires an intense amount of focus, and doing anything else other than that can get someone operating one into an accident when they least expect it. But while some car accidents caused by distracted driving only result in a fender bender, others end up with someone sustaining physical injuries. If you’ve been injured yourself in a car accident that was caused by distracted driving, you can take the following legal actions against the driver who had gotten you caught in it:
- File a compensation claim against the insurance provider of the distracted driver.
Once the police officer or officers who responded to the site of the car accident that you were injured have questioned the distracted driver who caused it, you should ask the cops to give you the contact details of the person’s insurance provider.
- The distracted driver’s insurance provider is then supposed to offer you an initial settlement amount that’s supposed to cover all the costs that you’ve incurred as a result of the car accident that their client is responsible for causing.
- In case you’re not satisfied with the initial settlement amount that the distracted driver’s insurance provider offered you, the next legal action should help you and them come up with an amount that both of you are amenable to receiving and giving, respectively.
- Settle out of court with the distracted driver and the attorney that they’ve hired to help defend them from your claim.
Most car accidents end up being settled out of court as lawsuits take almost forever to get heard by a judge who might decide in favor of the at-fault driver instead of the victim.
- Thus, you should be open to having either mediation or arbitration with the distracted driver who caused the car accident that you were in and their defense attorney.
- You’ll want to have a lawyer by your side during the entire out of court settlement process so that you can successfully negotiate the final compensation amount that you believe you should get.
- File a lawsuit against the distracted driver.
In case the distracted driver or their insurance provider isn’t willing to settle with you out of court, you can sue the former and make them compensate you for the injuries that you sustained as a result of their negligence while behind the wheel. However, you should lower your expectations once you’ve filed a lawsuit against the distracted driver who caused the car accident that you experienced and let your case undergo a full-scale trial. This can take years before a final verdict can be handed out.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had reported that in 2015 alone, more than 390,000 people had sustained injuries after getting caught in road crashes involving distracted drivers, some of them most likely driving cars. It may not be 2015 anymore, but injuries resulting from car accidents which involved distracted drivers are still somewhere close to the said statistic, most especially with more and more non-driving activities that those behind the wheel find themselves doing. If you recently were injured in a car accident caused by a distracted driving, you can take the above-listed legal actions with the help of an attorney who can earn you your rightful compensation that help you physically and financially recover faster.
