Las Vegas is a city of a thousand unique and interesting sights. Unfortunately, its attractions can make it quite dangerous. Shook & Stone Injury Lawyers understands the risk that distracted drivers pose to everyone on the road, which is why our distracted driving accident lawyers in Las Vegas strive to help victims in need.
Shook & Stone are aggressive car accident lawyers in Las Vegas who fight for your right to compensation after being injured by a distracted driver. With over 150 years of combined experience, our knowledgeable team of attorneys is here to help you and your family during this difficult time.
You and your loved ones can start working with our legal team today to hold distracted drivers liable for serious accidents. Your case consultation with us comes free of charge and puts you in control of your recovery. Contact Shook & Stone Injury Lawyers today.
Are Distracted Drivers Dangerous?
Distracted drivers pose an active risk to everyone that they share the road with, whether or not they are intentionally engaging with the distractions around them. In fact, distracted driving can take on a wide range of forms, from mental distraction to manual distraction.
Mental distractions, particularly in Las Vegas, can include getting distracted by looking at the scenery or engaging in conversation with passengers. Physical and manual distractions can include using your phone to navigate the Strip or pick up rideshare passengers.
Our Las Vegas personal injury lawyers know that even changing the radio station or eating a snack can be a dangerous distraction on the road. Drivers in Clark County have to take active steps to engage with the roadway around them if they want to avoid accusations of reckless driving or unreasonable distraction.
How Dangerous Are Tourist Drivers?
Tourists do not know their way around Las Vegas and can rely on GPS devices to navigate from Point A to Point B. Unfortunately, that lack of familiarity with the area paired with tourists’ distraction can lead to devastating collisions.
How Dangerous Are Rideshare Drivers?
Rideshare drivers do tend to have hands-free setups that make it easier for them to use rideshare apps and navigational devices while working. However, they also have to navigate congested roadways with passengers in their car while using those mandatory apps.
This means that rideshare drivers can easily fall victim to the kinds of distractions that tend to lead to dangerous accidents. Our Las Vegas rideshare accident lawyers can help if a rideshare driver caused your accident because they were distracted while behind the wheel.
What Can Las Vegas Distracted Driving Lawyers Do for You?
If you’re involved in an accident with a distracted driver, don’t panic. There’s legal recourse available to you. You can contact our legal team and connect with a distracted driving attorney in Las Vegas almost immediately. In doing so, you can protect your right to ask for damages via an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit.
Our legal team can work with you to gather the evidence you need to move forward with a claim. We can then organize that evidence and use it to name a specific party liable for your losses. We can also value your losses, accounting for all of the expenses that insurance adjusters might want to ignore.
We can then represent you in negotiations with an insurance company. If the need arises, we can even take your fight for support to the civil court system, where we can continue negotiations or present your request for damages to a civil judge. We do this on contingency, meaning you don’t pay a dime for our services up front.
Distracted Driving and Nevada Law
According to NRS 484B.165, Las Vegas drivers and those throughout Clark County are strictly prohibited from using handheld devices while behind the wheel of a car. Drivers must have a hands-free setup in place if they want to avoid violating this law.
Anyone caught using a handheld device while behind the wheel of a car can face a range of penalties, including a $50 fine for the first charge, a $100 fine and four points on your license for the second, and a $250 fine along with another four points for a third.
If you have too many points on your license, you risk having your license suspended. Moreover, these points can prove negligence in civil cases and negotiations with insurers. In other words, if you face a fine for breaching Nevada’s handheld device ban, you may have to assume liability for any accidents your distraction caused.
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Statistics and Costs of a Distracted Driving Accident Injury in Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas is one of the most dangerous cities for drivers in Nevada. Data from Clark County revealed that while the city sees 20,000 crashes per year on average, 10.3% of those crashes result from distracted driving.
Here are some distracted driving statistics in Las Vegas from 2013, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):
- 23% of all fatal accidents involved distracted drivers
- 66% of all distraction-related accidents occurred in urban areas
- At any given daylight moment across America, an average of 8 people are dying in distracted driving-related accidents
- 43% of all fatal distracted driver accidents involve cell phones
- Each day, approximately nine people die as a result of distracted drivers
- 13% of all traffic fatalities are due to distracted driving
- 19% of all crashes are caused by distracted drivers
- It is 10% more likely that a driver will get into an accident while using a cell phone behind the wheel
National Statistics Behind Distracted Driving Accidents
Accident data from the United States government has shown that drivers who engage in distracted driving are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than non-distracted drivers. While texting and driving statistics have been thoroughly documented, other forms of distracted driving can also lead to serious motor vehicle accidents.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted an observational study of driver behavior in 2009 and found that 20 percent of all drivers engaged in some form of distracted driving. The NHTSA report also indicated that:
- Nearly one out of every five crashes involved a distracted driver.
- Approximately three out of every four teen drivers were distracted at the time of a crash.
The study also found that:
- Talking on a cell phone increased the risk by approximately three times.
- Texting was associated with a 23 percent higher risk of an accident.
Our distracted driving collision attorneys in Las Vegas recognize that drivers who were distracted and involved in crashes were more than twice as likely to be injured in the crash as compared to non-distracted drivers.
Distracted Driving and Car Accident Injury
The NHTSA report also estimated that approximately six percent of all car accidents each year were directly caused by distracted driving, making this a contributing factor in nearly 600,000 motor vehicle crashes every year. Distracted driving can be caused by any number of factors, including:
- Texting on cell phones
- Talking on cell phones
- Using a computer or other digital devices while driving.
- Adjusting or using GPS in the car
- In-car dashboards that distract the driver
Some states, including California, have outlawed the use of mobile communications devices for all drivers within certain age ranges. In 2012, California revamped its laws to restrict drivers from texting and using handheld cellphones under the age of 21.
Our distracted driving accident lawyers in Las Vegas, NV, know that other less obvious forms of distracted driving, such as shopping with online price comparisons or talking to passengers in the vehicle, also increase a driver’s chance of being involved in an accident.
The Dangers of Distracted Driving and Teen Drivers
One out of every four teen drivers will be involved in an accident before they reach age 20. Since teens have faster reaction times than adults, they are more likely to be involved in a crash, regardless of the cause.
However, distracted driving accidents also increase the risk that teen drivers will be injured or killed simply by taking their attention away from the road.
Distracted driving accident injury victims can suffer significant short-term and long-term consequences. In addition to lost wages and potential medical bills, victims may also experience:
- Emotional trauma from a car accident caused by a distracted driver
- Long-term emotional or psychological issues.
Common Distracted Driving Accident Injuries
Victims who have been involved in a distracted driving accident may sustain both physical and emotional injuries. In the aftermath of a car crash caused by a distracted driver, it is not uncommon for victims to:
- Suffer whiplash or other upper body injuries
- Have internal organ damage
- Break bones in their feet, legs, arms, or hands
- Brain Damage (TBI)
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Lacerations, Cuts, Bruises and
- Serious Catastrophic Injuries
- Wrongful Death
Victims of distracted drivers can sustain brain damage from the physical force associated with a car accident, such as the sudden stop involved in a rear-end collision.
In addition to broken bones or whiplash, victims may also have traumatic brain injury or suffer some type of emotional trauma following an injury caused by distracted driving. If you have been involved in an accident, it is important to seek medical attention immediately. Victims of distracted driving in Las Vegas should also contact an experienced lawyer to protect their legal rights.
Common Types of Compensation in Personal Injury Cases
Victims of distracted driving accidents may experience pain, suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and other negative consequences that can put a financial strain on their lives. If you have been injured in a distracted driving accident, it is important to contact an experienced Las Vegas car crash attorney right away.
Personal injury cases involving car accidents caused by distracted drivers are typically complex and often challenging to win. Most insurance companies will deny compensation to victims of a distracted driving accident.
In order to secure compensation for your pain and suffering or loss of income, it is important that you choose an experienced Las Vegas distracted driving collision attorney who can help you pursue every avenue for recovery in your lawsuit. Some of the types of compensation that you may be able to pursue include:
- Lost Wages
- Medical Expenses
- Pain and Suffering
- Emotional distress (if applicable)
Punitive Damages and Your Distracted Driving Accident Case
In addition to pursuing compensation for your injuries, you may also be able to seek punitive damages in cases involving a distracted driver. Punitive damages are awarded by a jury or court of law in order to punish the guilty party who caused injury or death.
In some instances, it may be possible to seek punitive damages from a distracted driver in an amount of over $1 million.
You cannot request punitive damages in negotiations with an insurance adjuster, nor in the initial claim that you file with Las Vegas’s civil courts. It is up to a judge to determine whether the severity of your accident merits punitive damages and what the value of those damages should be.
Nevada Statute on Personal Injury Cases
It is important to act quickly following an injury caused by a distracted driver. Not only should you contact emergency responders if necessary, but you should also pursue legal action within the statute of limitations in your state by working with an experienced attorney.
Nevada has a statute of limitations for personal injury cases of two years (Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190.4(e)). If you wait longer than that to contact a distracted driving crash attorney in Las Vegas, you may not be able to pursue compensation for your injuries.
Frequently Asked Questions
A distracted driving crash can leave you with a lot of uncertainty. To help bridge that knowledge gap, we’ve compiled answers to some of the most common questions we see from people in these situations.
Is Texting While Driving Negligence Per Se in Nevada?
The term “negligence per se” describes an act that is, itself, inherently negligent. Texting while driving in Nevada is negligence per se, as the act of texting and driving requires someone to deliberately violate roadway safety laws while taking their eyes and attention off the road.
Anyone who texts and drives needs to assume civil liability for an accident that their inattention causes. Our texting while driving accident lawyers in Las Vegas can help you pursue compensation from the distracted driver.
How Do I Prove Distracted Driving in Nevada?
Proving distracted driving in Nevada requires you to bring forward evidence indicating that someone breached the duty of care that they owed you. Shook & Stone Injury Lawyers can connect you with professional investigators who can keep you up to date throughout the evidence collection process.
They can utilize evidence like the following when pursuing civil litigation or an insurance claim on your behalf:
- Electronic data from cell phones
- Cell phone usage records
- Surveillance footage from security cameras, roadway cameras, dashboard cameras, and other sources
- Photos from before, during, and after your accident
- Witness statements
- Police reports
- Medical records going into detail about the severity of your injuries
- Expert testimony
What Damages Can I Recover After a Las Vegas Distracted Driving Accident?
The damages you stand to recover after an accident with a distracted driver will depend on the severity of your losses and the nature of the other driver’s negligence. So long as you have a paper trail tying your post-accident expenses to someone else’s negligence, you should have the right to include those expenses in your request for support.
Common losses to appear in distracted driving accident claims can include:
- Property damage
- Mechanics’ fees
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Reduced quality of life
- Ambulance fees
- Emergency room expenses and other medical bills
- Lost wages
- Lost workplace benefits
If a distracted driving accident results in vehicular manslaughter charges or the wrongful death of someone you love, you can work with our team to outline your right to wrongful death damages.
Get in Touch with a Las Vegas Distracted Driving Car Accident Lawyer
Insurance companies are notorious for denying liability and delaying the negotiation process so that they can avoid paying compensation to victims who have been injured in an accident involving a distracted driver. It is important to choose an attorney who can guide you through the complex legal system and protect your rights.
If you have any questions after being injured in a crash involving a distracted driver, contact a Las Vegas distracted driving car accident lawyer at our firm.
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