Fairfax Car Accidents Involving Cellphones
In Fairfax, a person is not supposed to be operating their cell phone while driving. Virginia does not have the same type of hands-free law as they do in Maryland and DC, so there are some exceptions that would allow people to legally be on their cell phone more often in Virginia than in other places. However, Virginia does have laws that prevent texting while driving, which is a point of emphasis for law enforcement.
Due to these laws, if you have been in an accident involving someone using their cellphone in Fairfax, a Fairfax car accident attorney may be able to seek compensation for your damages suffered.
Novice Drivers
A novice driver refers to someone who is not overly experienced in the skill of driving, and could potentially be more prone to cell phone use or distracted driving. They may be young, new to this country, or new to driving in general.
Many people that live in Fairfax and nearby regions like DC may be novice drivers by virtue of being new to this country or new to this region, along with older individuals who relied on public transportation in a city, who may be getting their license later on in life, making them a novice driver.
It is common for all people to notice a wide variety of different types of drivers that use their cellphones when they should not, and novice drivers would fall into that category.
Truck Accidents
If a person seeks to prove that a truck driver in Fairfax was operating a cell phone and was negligent in their duties to be safe as a result of it, it is important to try to obtain the driver’s cell phone log. To do this, a party must issue a subpoena to the trucking company and find out when the person was using their phone.
Contributory Negligence
If a person is on the phone during the time of the accident in Fairfax, the insurance company may count on that as evidence of distraction, forming the basis for a contributory negligence defense.
If both parties are on their cellphones, then it would not be uncommon that both insurance companies would deny fault on the grounds of contributory negligence. Virginia is not a comparative negligence state so a person’s ability to recover is not deducted percentage-wise by the amount that they are at fault.
Contributory negligence means that if a person has at all contributed to their own accident, they may be completely barred from recovery. In a case in which both parties may be distracted, it is not uncommon that both insurance companies would deny coverage.
Access to Phones
An individual does not need to grant anyone access to their phone, and they have the right to refuse. An insurance company, through their defense counsel, may have the ability to subpoena a person’s phone records at a later point, but a person is not obligated to hand them over. These are all questions that a person should ask an accident attorney if they are involved in an accident that may involve a cellphone in Fairfax.