Distracted Driving Accidents in Georgia & South Carolina
Distracted driving has become one of the leading causes of traffic injuries and deaths across the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that distracted driving claimed 3,308 lives in a single recent year, with an estimated 424,000 people injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies three main types of distraction: visual (taking eyes off the road), manual (taking hands off the wheel), and cognitive (taking your mind off driving). Texting involves all three, making it the most dangerous form of distracted driving.
Georgia and South Carolina Distracted Driving Laws
Georgia’s Hands-Free Act (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241.2), effective July 1, 2018, prohibits drivers from holding or supporting a phone or electronic device while operating a motor vehicle. Drivers may use hands-free technology (Bluetooth, dash-mounted devices), but cannot have any physical contact with the phone while driving. Violations result in fines and points on the driver’s license.
South Carolina’s distracted driving law (S.C. Code § 56-5-3890) prohibits texting while driving but is less comprehensive than Georgia’s hands-free law. Drivers may still hold their phones for calls, but composing, sending, or reading text messages while driving is illegal. Efforts to pass a broader hands-free law in South Carolina have been ongoing.
Proving Distracted Driving
Proving that the at-fault driver was distracted at the moment of the crash is critical to strengthening your case. Our attorneys use multiple evidence sources:
- Cell phone records: Subpoenaing the driver’s phone records to show calls, texts, or app usage at the time of the crash
- Infotainment and vehicle data: Modern vehicles record data that can show whether a driver was interacting with the touchscreen
- Witness testimony: Other drivers, passengers, or bystanders who observed the driver looking at their phone
- Police reports: Officers often note suspected distracted driving and may cite the driver
- Surveillance and dashcam footage: Cameras may capture the driver’s actions before the crash
Injuries Caused by Distracted Driving
Distracted driving crashes often occur at full speed because the distracted driver fails to brake or take evasive action before impact. This leads to particularly severe injuries including traumatic brain injuries and concussions, spinal cord injuries and paralysis, multiple fractures, internal organ damage, severe lacerations, and wrongful death. NHTSA data shows that sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for approximately 5 seconds — at 55 mph, that is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blindfolded.
Compensation for Distracted Driving Victims
Victims of distracted driving accidents are entitled to full compensation for all losses, including current and future medical expenses, rehabilitation and therapy, lost income and diminished earning capacity, pain, suffering, and emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. When a driver’s distraction is proven, it strengthens the case for significant non-economic damages and may support punitive damage claims in cases of particularly egregious conduct.
