Distracted Truck Driver Runs Red Light Reaching for Ringing Cell Phone

The defendant driver was traveling at about 50 mph in his Ford F350 pickup truck. He was heading towards and intersection and the light was red. Our client never had a chance.

The truck driver’s cell phone was ringing and was caught between the arm rest and his truck door. He looked down to grab his cell phone and ran the red light slamming into the driver side front door of our client’s Chevrolet Camaro.

Both vehicles sustained major property damage and both the plaintiff and defendant were injured.

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Before continuing with our client’s story, we invite you to watch this special video entitled, “Just a Few Seconds” by End Distracted Driving…

At the collision scene, our client lost and then regained consciousness. She was transported by ambulance and admitted through the emergency department to a local hospital and treated for multiple trauma. Because of a drop in hemoglobin, she was given blood transfusions.

Our client was then moved to the Intensive Care Unit and after 10 days, was transferred to the Transitional Care Unit for another two weeks. After more than 3 weeks in the hospital, she was eventually discharged and transported by ambulance to her home.

A hospital bed, commode, walker, cane and tub bench were delivered to her residence and setup in her downstairs living room. The downstairs living room was our client’s primary living area for the next several months.

In summary, our client suffered severe and life threatening injuries which included a fractured clavicle at junction of the middle and distal thirds; fractured left 10th and 11th ribs; multiple pelvic fracture and sacral fracture- bilateral superior and inferior pubic rami fractures; left-sided sacral fracture that appeared to be impacted with extension into the first sacral foramen; cerebral concussion resulting in short and long-term memory loss; knee pain and discomfort in both right and left knees; abrasion in the frontal region; severe pain and residual tenderness over left chest wall, left rib cage and deformity, swelling and tenderness over left clavicle; shallow inspirations; lower abdomen pain and tenderness in pubic area; microscopic hematuria with 10-25 RBCs via foley catheter; pain, tenderness and bruising over left elbow and lower extremities; lung- left side pleural effusion and left-sided infiltrate; bladder elevated by hematoma in pelvis bilaterally; and migraines.

The defendants’ insurance company failed to make any settlement offers before trial. They played hardball and forced us to litigate and get the case ready for trial. A year of time passed.

Eventually, the court ordered a non-binding pre-trial arbitration which resulted in a substantial award to our client which for several procedural reasons, became a final judgment.

Thoughts

This entire incident wouldn’t have happened had the defendant truck driver paid attention. The light controlling his direction of travel was red and the defendant should have come to a safe stop.

Instead, he ran the red light, collided with our client’s vehicle, and changed her life forever. Despite a number years passing since the date of this collision, our client continues to experience pain and discomfort from her injuries.

As indicated in this very good distracted driving post, too many people are injured and killed each year because of distracted driving. We urge each and every one of you (adults and teenage drivers) to pay attention to driving and avoid doing any of the following things (some or technically legal and others are not) while operating a vehicle. All are dangerous.

In summary and as a reminder, please do not using a cell phone (or any phone while driving for that matter), texting, eating, drinking, smoking, interacting with passengers, grooming, reading, using maps and GPS, watching video, adjusting a radio or sound system using CDs or MP3s, adjusting temperature controls, checking vehicle diagnostics via buttons on your steering wheel or any other type of activity taking your attention away from driving your vehicle.