According to lehighvalleylive.com an article published on June 12, 2017 entitled, ‘Texting while driving? State Police Have Launched a Crackdown’, detailed how Pennsylvania State Police are in search for texting drivers and those operating handheld cell phones or using hearing impairment devices. It was reported that distracted driving is one of the leading causes of crashes in Pennsylvania and is second to speeding. The article further stated that distracted driving was a factor in 14805 crashes in the state in 2015 and resulted in 61 fatalities. National statistics for 2014 show did that 3719 people were killed and 431000 were injured as a result of accidents resulting from distracted drivers. Generally when deciding fault in a traffic accident it is determined by who was careless or negligent and in the case of distracted driving, texting while driving is negligence on the part of the driver. This article will discuss negligence, the duty of care and when more than one person is at fault for an accident. Comments were provided by an attorney and spokesperson from Kaplan Marx attorneys.

According to Cornell Law School - Legal Information Institute the term negligence is defined as “a failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the circumstances. The behavior usually consists of actions but can also consist of omissions when there is some duty to act.” Therefore, it is understood that driving while distracted is a form of negligence as an ordinary prudent person would not drive while distracted.

Duty of care

The duty of care is whether the person or other driver owed the injured person any duty of care or legal duty to protect that person from the injuries sustained as a result of the accident. The attorney stated that “every driver has the duty to drive the vehicle as carefully as possible ensuring that the vehicle is under control at all times. Therefore, where a driver is driving a vehicle while distracted he or she is failing at their duty of care to other drivers and to other road users”. 

In car accident cases the state of Pennsylvania is a no fault state therefore, after a car accident an injured person’s own insurance company will provide coverage of medical expenses and loss of income despite who was at fault for the accident. An injured person can only hold the at fault driver liable for their injuries if the injured person’s injuries meet the serious injury threshold. Where the serious injury threshold is met Pennsylvania follows the ‘modified comparative negligence rule’. This means that the amount of compensation an injured person is entitled to receive is reduced by an amount equal to that person’s percentage of fault in the accident. However, if the injured person has more than 50% of the legal blame for the accident then he or she cannot collect anything from the at fault parties. The percentage of fault is determined by the jury.


If you have been involved in a car accident and would like to know whether or not you meet the serious injury threshold click here for a free case evaluation.

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