A driver who looks down for one second can change your entire day. If you were hit by someone who was texting behind the wheel, you are probably facing medical bills, vehicle damage, and disruptions to your routine that were never your fault. Your texting and driving accident lawyer in Salt Lake City with Siegfried & Jensen has handled hundreds of these cases and knows how distracted driving cases unfold.
Your Salt Lake City car accident lawyer knows how quickly a rear-end crash or lane drift can lead to serious injuries. We have recovered over $1.2 billion in damages for people injured by careless drivers. If your crash involved texting or another distraction, we are here to review the details and help you take the next step.
What Happens When a Text Message Leads to a Crash
Looking down at a text while driving can be enough to miss a car slowing ahead or a light that just turned red. These crashes often involve full-speed impact with little or no braking. Unlike other distractions, texting is usually tied to a very specific moment that caused the wreck.
Your texting and driving accident attorney in Salt Lake City from Siegfried & Jensen can identify where that moment happened and use it to build a case for what the driver failed to see.
The Few Seconds That Change Everything
At 55 miles per hour, a five-second text takes a driver the length of a football field with no eyes on the road. In that time, they might blow through an intersection, miss a stop sign, or plow into someone slowing in front of them.
These collisions often cause whiplash, neck and back injuries, and trauma that keeps you out of work or in and out of appointments. All of it comes from a driver who chose to look at a screen instead of the road.
Why These Cases Often Involve Rear-End Collisions or Intersection Impacts
Texting drivers rarely brake on time. Most rear-end crashes involving texting happen at red lights, school crossings, or freeway ramps. In intersection crashes, drivers often admit they never saw the other car before hitting it.
Crash patterns usually speak for themselves. Your Salt Lake City personal injury lawyer will review damage points, impact angles, vehicle black box data, and statements to show how distraction caused the crash, even if there is no phone record to back it up.
For a free legal consultation with a texting and driving accident lawyer serving Salt Lake City, call (801) 266-0999
What Common Distractions Lead to Texting-Related Accidents
Texting is one of the most dangerous types of distractions behind the wheel, but it is not the only one. Drivers often try to downplay their behavior until something goes wrong and someone gets hurt. These cases usually involve more than just a single message. Here are some common examples of screen-based distractions that cause crashes:
- Typing out long messages while in motion
- Checking directions while driving
- Replying in group chats at red lights
- Scrolling through social media during stop-and-go traffic
- Switching music or podcasts on a phone
- Watching short videos while parked or idling
- Taking photos or videos while driving
- Reading long texts while approaching an intersection
- Using messaging apps to multitask during freeway traffic
- Searching contacts or recent calls while behind the wheel
- Looking through old messages during a commute
- Adjusting screen brightness or settings while driving
Any screen activity takes focus away from the road and delays a driver’s response time. Victims often do not know what the other driver was doing until police collect phone records, witness statements, or traffic footage. Your Salt Lake City catastrophic injury lawyer can use those details to build a case and hold the distracted driver accountable under Utah Code § 41-6a-1716.
Salt Lake City Texting and Driving Accident Lawyer Near Me (801) 266-0999
Utah Laws That Can Impact Your Texting and Driving Case
Utah treats texting while driving as a traffic violation, but in a crash that causes injuries, it can become a key part of your civil claim. Officers and insurance companies often look at phone records, time-stamped messages, and surveillance footage to understand what led to the crash.
Our team can use that evidence to prove the driver was distracted at the exact moment that mattered. Under Utah Code § 78B-5-818, you can still recover compensation even if you were partly at fault, as long as the other driver’s actions were more serious.
When Cell Phone Use Becomes Admissible Evidence
When a driver texts while driving, the digital record often supports what crash patterns already show. Timestamps, GPS data, and nearby surveillance footage can all be used to confirm that someone was not paying attention.
We do not need to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil claim, we only need to show that the distraction probably caused the crash. That standard makes a big difference in cases where no one witnessed the exact moment it happened.
How Shared Fault Works When the Driver Blames Someone Else
Utah’s comparative fault law lets you recover damages even if you were partly at fault for what happened. As long as the texting driver holds more responsibility than you do, the law still allows you to seek compensation.
If the other driver failed to brake, missed a stop sign, or hit you while looking at a screen, such actions often outweigh any minor error on your part. Courts treat phone-related distraction as serious negligence, especially when it leads to injuries.
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Meet With a Salt Lake City Texting and Driving Accident Lawyer Who Can Help
When a driver looks down at a phone and causes a crash, the impact can affect everything from your health to your income. Your Salt Lake City texting and driving accident attorney at Siegfried & Jensen has seen how quickly a distracted driver’s actions can lead to real consequences for the person they hit.
If you have questions about what happened or what you might be able to recover, contact us. We can review the crash, the injuries, and the details that point to distraction, and help you explore the options that are available to you.
Call or text (801) 266-0999 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
