Nashville Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer
A Nashville distracted driving accident lawyer can help prove what the other driver was doing before impact, even when they deny texting, looking at a phone, using GPS, or otherwise taking their attention off the road. Grissim & Waterman preserves evidence such as phone records, app activity, dashcam footage, witness testimony, and crash data to show how distraction caused the collision. Contact us for a free initial consultation.
What Constitutes Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is the act of driving while engaged in activities that divert the driver’s attention from the road. There are three types of distracted driving, any of which could result in a serious accident.
- Visual Distractions: This involves taking one’s eyes off the road, such as looking at a screen or checking on car occupants. Common visual distractions include texting, checking notifications, using GPS, checking on children or pets in the back seat, or looking at things on the side of the road, such as billboards or police activity.
- Manual Distraction: Both hands should be on the steering wheel at all times. Taking one or both hands off the wheel is also a form of distracted driving. Holding a phone, adjusting music or other controls, eating or drinking, grooming, or reaching for objects are forms of manual distraction.
- Cognitive Distraction: This is when a driver is thinking about something other than driving. Common examples include talking to passengers, talking on the phone, planning dinner, taking voice notes, or thinking about work.
Tennessee’s Hands Free Law strictly prohibits holding electronic devices while driving (T.C.A. § 55-8-199). Texting while driving is considered one of the most dangerous forms of distraction because it involves simultaneous visual, manual, and cognitive distractions, impacting the driver’s ability to respond fast. In fact, texting while driving may be more dangerous than drunk driving.
While this Tennessee law can prevent many accidents, it may not address other common forms of this dangerous driving habit, like eating or talking to passengers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes that distracted driving claimed 3,208 lives in 2024, while it was likely a contributing factor in many other accidents. However, the danger is not uniform across all age groups.
Nationwide, 9% of drivers aged 15-20 were distracted at the time of a crash, a higher rate than for drivers aged 21 and older. Young adults and teenagers are more likely to engage in distracted driving due to a combination of inexperience, immaturity, and peer pressure, making them a high-risk group for causing accidents.
What Types of Car Crashes Do Distracted Drivers Cause in Nashville?
Per state data, a crash involving a distracted driver occurs approximately once every 43 minutes in Tennessee, and distracted driving is one of the most common causes of car accidents in Nashville.
Rear-end crashes are a common type of distracted driving accident. Drivers talking on their cell phones or looking at screens might not notice that the leading driver stopped, then fail to brake in time. These can cause severe injuries, especially at high speeds on the highway.
In other distracted driving cases, drivers fail to account for others at intersections or when turning. This can result in intersection crashes or left-turn crashes, potentially causing traumatic brain injuries or neck and spine injuries.
Negligent drivers may deviate from their lanes, leading to sideswipe crashes. Lane drift can be especially dangerous on the highway and result in wrongful death. They may also change lanes without signaling or checking their blind spots, which can cause sideswipe crashes.
Pedestrians and bicyclists are vulnerable to distracted drivers who don’t see them in blind spots or fail to stop for them in crosswalks. In some cases, the first driver’s distraction may trigger a chain reaction and lead to a multi-vehicle pileup.
Nashville’s most dangerous intersections and streets are partly due to driver behavior in these areas. Drivers may be navigating GPS, picking up rideshare passengers, or bored while dealing with congestion. In Nashville, distracted-driving crashes are especially common in congested areas where drivers are using GPS, rideshare apps, parking apps, or infotainment systems, including downtown corridors, Broadway, Midtown, Green Hills, school zones, parking lots, and interstate interchanges such as I-40, I-24, I-65, and Briley Parkway.
How Do You Prove the Other Driver Was Distracted?
Evidence we can use includes:
- Phone records, including text message timestamps and app activity
- Social media activity, including posts, likes, and comments
- Video evidence from dashcams, surveillance cameras, or traffic cameras, if available
- Vehicle infotainment data or GPS activities
- Police reports, including any driver admissions
- 911 call information, especially if others reported erratic driving
- Eyewitness testimony
- Rideshare app, delivery app, or employer records
- Evidence from the accident scene, like skid marks and vehicle positioning, to perform an accident reconstruction analysis.
To prove distracted driving, we must establish what the at-fault driver was doing at the time of impact. However, certain evidence is not automatically available upon request. Some evidence, especially detailed phone or app records, may require subpoenas or discovery after a lawsuit is filed.
What Injuries Are Common in Distracted Driving Car Accidents?
Injuries from car accidents can lead to complications such as concussions, internal bleeding, and blood clots, which may not present immediate symptoms but can result in severe consequences. This makes it crucial to seek medical attention as soon as possible, because you may not realize how badly you were injured.
Common injuries our Nashville office sees in distracted driving accidents include:
- Concussions and traumatic brain injuries
- Whiplash, neck, and back injuries
- Spinal injuries
- Broken bones
- Facial, dental, and eye injuries
- Chest and internal injuries
- Soft-tissue injuries
- Burns and airbag injuries
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Psychological trauma
- Fatal car accident injuries
Victims of distracted driving accidents may experience residual effects after their injuries, including reduced mobility, brain damage, and loss of eyesight.
Who Can Be Liable for a Distracted Driving Accident?
Potential at-fault parties in accidents involving distracted drivers can include:
- The distracted driver
- Employers like trucking companies, if the driver was working
- Vehicle owners who allowed unsafe use
- Rideshare or delivery companies, depending on insurance policies
- Another driver who contributed to the crash
What Should You Do After a Distracted Driving Accident in Nashville?
Prompt action is critical after an accident. Follow these steps as soon as possible.
- Call 911 and report injuries.
- Seek immediate care from medical professionals.
- Tell the responding officer if you saw the driver looking away from the road.
- Ask witnesses if they saw signs of distraction.
- Photograph vehicles, road conditions, traffic signals, and visible injuries.
- Preserve dashcam footage.
- Don’t argue with the distracted driver or their family members.
- Do not give a recorded statement without seeking legal advice.
- Call a Nashville car accident lawyer so we can preserve evidence like phone records, video, or vehicle data.
Book a Free Consultation With Grissim & Waterman
A Nashville personal injury lawyer from Grissim & Waterman can help you pursue compensation by:
- Preserving video and vehicle data, including dashcam footage, surveillance footage, traffic-camera footage, and event data recorder information.
- Identifying phone and app evidence, including calls, texts, GPS use, rideshare activity, delivery app records, or other data that may show distraction.
- Interviewing witnesses who saw the driver looking down, drifting, failing to brake, using a phone, or reacting late.
- Gather evidence, including police reports, vehicle damage, skid marks, impact location, road conditions, and crash-scene photos.
- Working with reconstruction experts when the crash pattern suggests the driver was not watching the road or reacting in time.
- Responding to comparative fault arguments if the insurer tries to blame you for the crash or reduce your compensation.
- Calculating damages, including medical bills, lost income, reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, long-term impairment, and wrongful death losses.
- Negotiating with insurers or filing claims before Tennessee’s one-year deadline if the insurance company refuses to resolve the claim fairly.
We work on a contingency fee basis and offer free case reviews. To schedule a meeting, call our law office at 615-255-9999 or contact us online.
FAQs
What Damages Can You Recover After a Nashville Distracted Driving Accident?
Potential Tennessee car accident damages can include:
- Medical bills
- Hospital bills
- Future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Loss of potential future earnings
- Emotional distress
- Personal property damage, including vehicles
- Funeral and burial expenses in wrongful death claims
Additional compensation for serious injuries may include punitive damages, which are not available in every case.
What if the Distracted Driver Denies Being on Their Phone?
Drivers often deny negligent behavior like texting while driving. Police reports also may not include this detail, as the police may not have checked phone activity at the crash scene. However, this does not mean the end of your personal injury claim. We can use other evidence, and potentially phone records, to establish that the driver was using their phone.
Witness statements may mention the driver looking down or away from the front windshield, while dashcam, surveillance, or vehicle data may contradict this argument. Crash patterns, such as no braking before impact, also suggest the driver wasn’t paying attention to the road.
We may also be able to use the legal system to secure phone records. These can show calls, texts, app activity, or data use.
Can You Recover Compensation if You Were Partly at Fault?
Yes, you can still recover compensation if you were partly at fault, according to the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling McIntyre v. Balentine. You must be considered no more than 50% liable for the accident, but you will not receive maximum compensation. Your damages will be reduced by your percentage of blame.
How Long Do You Have to File a Distracted Driving Accident Lawsuit in Tennessee?
Tennessee’s car accident statute of limitations is one year in most cases, making it crucial to act quickly if you would like to seek compensation(Tennessee Code § 28-3-104).
