Determining liability is crucial in car and truck accidents because court-determined negligence saves innocent people from paying for their injuries. However, the process of determining liability is not an easy one, especially in states, like Missouri, that adhere to pure comparative fault laws. Therefore, Missouri drivers should know what actions can impact their liability in truck accidents. Today, we will determine if using a hands-free device while driving in Missouri will impact liability and who to call for 18-wheeler accident representation in St. Louis.
Hands-Free Devices & Missouri’s Pure Comparative Fault Law
States that follow pure comparative fault laws look at every aspect of an accident to determine “fault percentages.” Fault percentages is essentially the number of blame courts assign to drivers involved in an accident. For example, if someone drives through a red light and T-bones another driver, the court will likely assign most of the accident’s fault percentage on the driver who ran the red light. However, fault percentages are affected by more than illegal actions.
Legal actions that can affect Missouri accident fault percentages include:
- Eating while driving;
- Talking to a passenger while driving;
- Driving drowsy; and
- Using a hands-free device while driving.
Why can using a hands-free device while driving impact Missouri fault percentages? You may be surprised to learn research performed by the national safety counsel shows that using voice-to-text features while driving is more distracting than typing texts by hand. Therefore, an experienced Missouri personal injury attorney can make the case that driving while using a hands-free device significantly impacts the driver’s concentration. As a result, a driver using a hands-free device at the time of a crash could have an increased fault percentage.
If you or a loved are injured by a Missouri truck driver using a hands-free device, you could qualify for just compensation. Call (314) 241-2929 now for a free consultation!
