Making Our Community Safer.

There are a variety of distractions that can take a driver’s focus away from the road. These fall into 3 broad categories: visual, manual, and cognitive distractions. Visual distractions include anything that takes your eyes off the road, and manual distractions include things that take your hands off the wheel. Using a cell phone, eating a sandwich, putting on makeup, fiddling with A/C or radio controls, and reaching for a purse or wallet count as visual and manual distractions. On the other hand, cognitive distractions take your mind off of driving.

Types of cognitive distractions include:

• Having an argument with a passenger
• Daydreaming
• Thinking about work or family issues
• Using voice-to-text technology to send a text message

Even if your hands are on the wheel and your eyes are on the road, you may still be distracted by mental thoughts. This puts you at risk for a crash. While driving, it is important to maintain complete focus on the road, and to keep both hands on the wheel so you can help prevent an accident.

Distracted drivers are unable to recognize hazardous situations in time to avoid a wreck. For example, if you are looking at your phone or searching your purse for something, you may not notice that a light has turned red, or that someone has pulled into your lane. Drivers owe a duty of care to others on the road. This means they have the responsibility to choose not to drive while distracted. If you were injured by a distracted driver, our legal team will conduct an investigation and represent you throughout the process.

With years of experience in the personal injury field, Sanders.Law provides aggressive representation on behalf of clients. We use tailored legal strategies in each case. From start to finish, our Kansas City car accident lawyers will analyze your situation and discuss your options for pursuing a favorable outcome.

Call our office today at (816) 844-6938 to speak with one of our compassionate attorneys.

If you are involved in a preventable accident, remember these vital steps to ensure that you get all the information you need for your claim and to strengthen your case.

• Make sure everyone is ok. If anyone is injured, call 911 right away and get medical help. This is the single most important step after a car accident. Once you are certain that everyone is ok and anyone who needs help has been attended to, then you can move on to the next step.
• Move the vehicles out of traffic, if you’re able to safely do so. If you’re able to pull off to the side, do so. Don’t forget to turn on your hazard lights!
• Call the police. Filing an accident report will help with your injury claim. When the officer has finished taking their report, be sure you obtain the report number from them. It will take several days before the report is ready, but you and your insurance company will both want a copy of the report once it is finished.
• Exchange information with the other driver. Be sure to exchange the following: name, address, phone number, license plate number, driver’s license number and state, and insurance information. If there were any witnesses, ask for their contact information as well.
• Take pictures. Take pictures of everything at the scene of your accident: the damage to your car, the damage to the other party’s car, any visible injuries you may have sustained (cuts, bruises, etc.), the conditions of the road you are on, and any traffic control devices that may have been involved (stop signs, traffic signals, speed limit signs, etc.) All of these things could wind up being important later in the investigation, and having evidence to support your claims could make the difference between winning your case outright and sharing fault. It’s also a good idea to take pictures of the other driver’s license and insurance info in case anything was written down incorrectly.

Have more questions about what to do following your car accident? Check out our personal injury blog for timely tips and explanations including how to document the scene of an accident and what exactly goes into an accident investigation:

• Do I Need to Hire a Car Accident Attorney?
• Pregnancy and Seatbelts: Buckling Up Is Still the Best Option
• Auto Accident Investigations: Personal Injury Claims
• Documenting the Scene of a Car Accident

Don’t see an answer to your question? Reach out to us today! We’re always here to help.

Contact our office and ask about scheduling a free consultation. When our Kansas City personal injury lawyers meet with you, they listen and empathize with their situation. We want to fight for the end result that is in the client’s best interests, not our own.