A texting driver accident in Texas often starts with a driver looking down for a second too long. Texas law treats texting at the wheel as an offense, and commercial drivers face stricter federal rules. Here is what those laws say and how phone use comes out in a claim.
LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC wrote this article for Automobile Accident Lawyers Houston, its website for vehicle crash claims, and the cases it describes are handled at the firm’s Houston office on Memorial Drive. The attorney with responsibility for the site is Jonathan Harris, Board Certified, Personal Injury Trial Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Nothing here is legal advice about a particular crash.
What Texas law says about texting at the wheel
Under Transportation Code 545.4251, it is an offense to read, write or send a message on a portable wireless device while the vehicle is moving. The statute is about the message, not only about holding the phone: typing a text, reading one that just arrived or sending a reply all fall within it.
A traffic offense and an injury claim are different things. A citation, or the lack of one, does not decide who pays for your injuries. What the statute gives an injury claim is a clear rule of the road the other driver was expected to follow, and that helps explain to an insurer, or a jury, why the crash happened.
Stricter rules for commercial drivers
If a texting driver accident in Texas involves a commercial vehicle, federal safety rules apply as well, and Texas adopts its commercial vehicle rules to be consistent with them (Transportation Code 644.051). Two of those rules deal with phones:
- 49 CFR 392.80 bars texting while driving a commercial motor vehicle.
- 49 CFR 392.82 bars using a hand-held mobile phone while driving one.
- Both rules bind the motor carrier as well as the driver.
That last point can bring the trucking or delivery company into the claim directly. The federal text is on eCFR. For crashes with work trucks, vans and buses, see our page on a commercial vehicle accident lawyer Houston clients call.
How phone use is shown in a claim
Drivers rarely admit to texting, so in a texting driver accident in Texas, phone use usually comes out through ordinary evidence gathered early, and the sooner it is collected, the more of it there is.
Witnesses
Another driver, a passenger or someone on the sidewalk may have seen the phone in the other driver’s hand or the driver’s head bent down just before impact. Get names and phone numbers at the scene if you can. Memories fade within weeks, so a witness reached in the first days is worth more than one reached months later.
The crash report
An officer who investigates a crash with injury, death or apparent damage of $1,000 or more files a Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report with TxDOT within 10 days (Transportation Code 550.062). Read the officer’s account closely once the report is out. The people involved and their representatives can buy a copy from TxDOT for a small fee (550.065).
Evidence kept early
Your own photos of the scene, the vehicles and the damage; any dash camera footage from your car or a witness’s; video from nearby businesses, if any was recorded; and your own written notes of what you saw. Save all of it and make copies. For a commercial vehicle, a letter asking the company to preserve its records should go out early. Our attorneys decide what other records to ask for once they review the file.
Think the other driver was on a phone? Call our Houston office and tell us what you saw.
Fault still decides the recovery
Texas uses a comparative fault rule. A claimant may not recover if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001), and any recovery is reduced by the claimant’s own share (33.012). So even in a texting driver accident in Texas, the insurer may argue you were speeding, braked late or changed lanes without looking. Evidence of the phone use helps answer that argument; it does not end it.
Our attorneys know that move because they used to make it. Jonathan Harris spent more than a decade as a senior trial attorney for a major automobile insurance company, and Howard Hill spent over 20 years with two of the nation’s largest auto and commercial insurance carriers. They build the fault case with the other side’s arguments in mind.
The clock on a texting driver claim
An injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years after the day the claim accrues (CPRC 16.003). In a texting driver accident in Texas, though, the evidence of phone use can disappear in days. That gap is the main reason to call early rather than wait for the insurer to make the first move.
If the other driver also had no insurance, read our article on an uninsured driver accident in Houston. To see how a full claim is built, read about our vehicle accident lawyer Houston work.
What you pay
No Fees or Costs Unless We Win, so you take on no expense to start: we pay the costs as your case moves, and if it ends with no money recovered for you, there is no fee and nothing to reimburse. The consultation is free.
Questions people ask
Is it illegal to read a text at a red light in Texas?
Transportation Code 545.4251 covers reading, writing or sending a message while the vehicle is moving. Whether a particular stop counts depends on the facts, so ask us about your crash.
The officer did not give the other driver a ticket. Can I still claim?
Yes. A citation is not required for an injury claim. Fault is decided on all the evidence.
What if a truck driver was on a hand-held phone?
Federal rule 49 CFR 392.82 bars hand-held phone use while driving a commercial vehicle, and it binds the carrier as well as the driver.