St. Petersburg Distracted Driving Attorney

In today’s world, people’s phones are attached to their hands — even when they’re driving. Whether using it as a GPS for directions, listening to music playlists, or scrolling through social media at stoplights, it’s become a part of everyday life. In addition, overly busy people sometimes have meals or apply their makeup while driving. Then there are billboards, kids arguing in the backseat, or worrying thoughts about pressing problems. It’s all a recipe for disaster — which is exactly what happens when you get into a car accident because you were distracted.

In a best-case scenario, you could be pulled over for violating Florida Statute 316.305. This is the law that prohibits using your mobile device while driving (aka the Texting While Driving Law). In a worst-case scenario, you could be on the hook for a negligence lawsuit for causing an accident — or even criminal charges if it results in someone’s death. In any of these scenarios, you could be facing:

• Civil fines
• Points on your driving record
• Extensive litigation
• Criminal charges
• Prison time (in the event of manslaughter)

We Can Represent You in a Distracted Driving Case

An experienced car accident attorney can look at all of the relevant facts to determine whether you were completely at fault for an accident. This is crucial because Florida is a comparative negligence jurisdiction — meaning that if someone else was also partially at fault for the crash, your liability would be diminished. For example, if the other party was also distracted and fault can be apportioned, you wouldn’t have to cover the full costs of their injuries. By the same token, if your vehicle had a mechanical failure that didn’t allow you to brake properly, we’d look at whether a car manufacturer or mechanic may share a portion of the responsibility.

On the other hand, if you were the victim of a distracted driver, we can also take into account all of the circumstances to give you a clear picture regarding the possible liability of all involved parties. And, regardless of the circumstances, we can depose witnesses, subpoena records, request surveillance videos from homes or businesses near the scene of the accident, and speak with accident reconstruction experts. We can piece together the entire puzzle to figure out the best course of action.