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A distracted driver will almost never admit they were looking at their phone. Their phone records and their car’s data often say otherwise, and that is exactly the proof that wins these cases.
If a distracted driver hurts you in Bradenton, a distracted driving accident attorney in Bradenton at Legler, Murphy & Battaglia, PLLC can dig out that evidence and pursue full payment for your medical bills, lost income, and pain. We have represented injured people across Southwest Florida since 1989.
The driver was doing two things at once. Only one of them was driving. Let us make that the center of your case.
Not sure where your crash leaves you?
Call our office at 941-748-5599 for a free case evaluation.
How Do You Prove the Other Driver Was Distracted?
You prove it with records the driver cannot rewrite. Distraction leaves a trail, and the key to a strong claim is getting to that trail before it disappears.
The most useful sources are the driver’s phone records, which can show a call or text at the moment of impact, and the vehicle’s event data recorder, often called the black box, which can show braking, speed, and steering in the seconds before the crash. Add witness accounts, video from nearby businesses, and the police report, and a picture forms.
Some of this evidence has to be requested formally and quickly, because phone carriers and drivers do not hold onto it forever. Moving fast is one of the main reasons to bring in a lawyer early.
Worried the proof is slipping away? Call (941) 748-5599 today.
Is Texting While Driving Illegal in Florida, and Does It Help My Claim?
Yes on both counts. Texting while driving is against the law in Florida, and a driver who broke that law was, by definition, not driving safely.
The ban is Florida Statute 316.305, which prohibits typing or reading on a wireless device while driving and lets police stop a driver for it on its own. When we can show the at-fault driver was texting, that violation becomes strong evidence of negligence in your civil claim. Distraction is not only texting, though. Dialing, scrolling, watching a video, or setting a navigation app all pull a driver’s eyes and mind off the road, and all of them can support a claim.
What if the Driver Blames Me for the Crash?
You can still recover in most cases, as long as you were not mostly at fault. Florida uses modified comparative negligence, which lowers your recovery by your share of fault rather than wiping it out.
Under Florida Statute 768.81, you are only barred from recovery if you are found more than 50 percent responsible. A distracted driver who rear-ends you or drifts into your lane will often try to claim you stopped short or cut them off. That story tends to collapse once the phone and vehicle data come in. Do not accept a share of the blame on a phone call. Let the evidence decide it.
What Is a Distracted Driving Injury Claim Worth?
It depends on your injuries and losses, so anyone quoting a figure up front is guessing. What a fair claim measures is more predictable.
A well-built claim accounts for your medical bills now and in the future, income you lost while unable to work, any lasting limits on what your body can do, and the pain that came with it. Rear-end and lane-drift crashes, which distraction causes often, can produce neck, back, and head injuries that linger for months or years.
We do not settle until your doctors can describe your full recovery, because a rushed number leaves future costs on you. For the broader category these cases fall under, our Bradenton car accident attorneys handle vehicle crashes of every kind.
How Long Do I Have To File a Distracted Driving Claim in Florida?
In most cases, two years from the date of the crash. Florida Statute 95.11 sets a two-year deadline for negligence claims, and once it passes you generally cannot recover at all.
The deadline is only part of the timing problem. Phone records and vehicle data are the heart of a distracted driving case, and those can be lost or overwritten long before two years is up. The sooner we can send preservation requests, the stronger your case will be.
Filing deadlines can change and narrow exceptions exist. Confirm your date with an attorney.
Why Distracted Driving Is Such a Problem on Bradenton Roads
Distracted driving is one of the most common causes of crashes in Florida, and Bradenton’s daily traffic gives it plenty of room to happen. The risk shows up on the roads people use to commute, shop, and reach the beaches.
Stop-and-go traffic on 14th Street West (US-41), the run along Manatee Avenue (State Road 64) toward the coast, and the merges on and off Interstate 75 are exactly the settings where a glance at a phone turns into a rear-end collision.
Federal safety officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rank distracted driving among the deadliest habits on the road. Cases that do not settle are litigated in the 12th Judicial Circuit at the Manatee County Courthouse in downtown Bradenton, and we know how matters move there.
What a Bradenton Distracted Driving Lawyer Does for You
We find the proof of distraction, deal with the insurers, and press for a fair result, at trial if needed. From the start we treat your case as one a jury may decide, and we build it that way.
That means sending fast preservation letters for phone and vehicle data, gathering the video and witness accounts, coordinating with your doctors so the medical record is complete, and taking the insurer to court if the offer is not fair. Because a distracted driver and an impaired driver raise different proof questions, our Bradenton drunk driving accident attorneys handle DUI crashes, and our Bradenton pedestrian accident attorneys handle people struck by distracted drivers while on foot.
You pay nothing up front. You don’t pay until and unless we win your case.
Ready to prove what really happened? Call (941) 748-5599.
What Counts As Distracted Driving Besides Texting?
Texting gets the headlines, but Florida crashes come from three kinds of distraction, and all of them can support a claim. Safety experts sort them into visual, manual, and cognitive distraction.
Visual distraction takes a driver’s eyes off the road, like glancing at a screen or a billboard. Manual distraction takes a hand off the wheel, like eating or reaching into a bag. Cognitive distraction pulls the mind away from driving, like a heated phone call, even a hands-free one.
A single tap on a phone often involves all three at once, which is what makes it so dangerous. When any form of distraction caused your crash, the driver was negligent, whether or not a citation was ever written. We build the claim around what the driver was actually doing, not around whether an officer happened to see it.
What Injuries Do Distracted Driving Crashes Cause?
Distraction crashes often happen with no braking at all, so the injuries can be worse than the damage to the cars suggests. A driver who never looked up cannot slow down before impact.
Rear-end and lane-drift collisions commonly cause whiplash and other neck and back injuries, concussions and other head injuries, and shoulder and spine damage that can last for months. Several of these injuries are easy to shrug off in the first day or two, then get worse.
That delay is exactly why prompt medical care and a complete record matter to your claim. We wait until your doctors can describe your full recovery before valuing the case, so future treatment is not left on you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not on your own. Phone records usually require a formal legal request or a subpoena once a claim is underway, which is one reason to hire a lawyer early. We know how to request the right records from the carrier and the driver before they can be deleted, and how to line them up against the moment of the crash.
Often, yes. A citation helps, but its absence does not end your claim. We can prove distraction through phone data, vehicle data, and witnesses even when the officer did not observe it directly. Civil claims and traffic tickets run on different standards.
Call the police so there is a report, get medical care even if you feel fine, and photograph the scene, the vehicles, and any visible phone or device in the other car. Get witness contacts. Then call a lawyer before speaking with the other driver’s insurance company.
You may have an additional claim against their employer. If the driver was making deliveries, driving for work, or otherwise on the job when they were distracted, the employer’s insurance may also be responsible. That can matter a great deal when one policy is not enough to cover your injuries.
Talk to a Bradenton Distracted Driving Accident Attorney Today
A moment of someone else’s attention on a screen should not cost you your health and your income. Let us hold that driver accountable with the evidence. Legler, Murphy & Battaglia, LLP has stood up for injured people in Bradenton and across Southwest Florida since 1989, and your first case review is free.
All Injuries. All The Time.
Call 941-748-5599 now, or reach out online to get started.
