A driver looking at a phone is not really driving. Distraction is behind a large share of Florida crashes, and the proof that a driver was not paying attention can change the entire shape of a case, both on fault and on value.
Distraction is a safety-law violation
Florida prohibits texting while driving under Fla. Stat. 316.305 and bars handheld device use in school and work zones under Fla. Stat. 316.306. A driver who was texting and caused a crash has violated a safety law, which can amount to negligence per se and strengthens the case and undercuts any attempt to spread fault under Florida’s comparative negligence rule. Distraction is not limited to phones; anything that pulls a driver’s eyes, hands, or attention off the road counts.
Distraction cases are won or lost on evidence that starts disappearing the moment the crash is over, and I move to lock it down right away. I send the demands that preserve the phone data, the vehicle’s recorder, and the records that show where the other driver’s attention really was, because an adjuster will never volunteer proof that their driver was texting. I represent injured people, not insurance companies, and I build the case from the evidence rather than from whatever story the other side settles on first.
Proving a driver was distracted is an evidence problem, and taking evidence apart is the work I built my career on. I am an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist who spent years defending DUI cases, so I know how the speeds and forces of a crash, the data a vehicle records, and any impairment evidence are constructed and attacked. I represent injured people, not insurance companies, and I came up as a public defender who tried numerous cases and cross-examined witnesses constantly. When an insurer will not pay fair value, I am willing to put the case in front of a jury, and that readiness is often what changes the number. I handle your case personally, from the first call through trial. Learn more about my background.
The three kinds of distraction
Distraction is not only a phone, and naming its forms helps show a jury how a careful driver failed. Safety research and driver training describe three kinds, and a texting driver commits all three at once. There is visual distraction, taking the eyes off the road; manual distraction, taking a hand off the wheel; and cognitive distraction, taking the mind off the task of driving. Eating, reaching for something, adjusting a screen, turning to talk to a passenger, or reading a text each pulls at one or more of these. Florida law reflects the seriousness of the worst offender by banning texting while driving and letting officers enforce it directly, but the legal point is broader than any one statute: a driver who was not looking, not steering, or not thinking about the road was not driving with the care the law requires, and that failure is negligence when it causes a crash.
Proving the driver was not watching the road
Distraction cases are won with records, not accusations. Cell phone and carrier data, the timing of texts and app activity, the event data recorder in the vehicle, witness accounts, and any video build the picture. Much of that proof is fragile or deleted on a schedule, so a preservation demand and, where needed, formal legal process have to go out early. Tying the distraction to the moment of impact is the work that makes it stick.
The proof is in evidence the other side controls
Here is the hard truth about these cases: the best proof of distraction usually sits in the other driver’s phone, their car, and records held by companies, none of which land in your hands by accident. That is why moving fast matters so much. Cellphone records and app usage data can show a text sent or a screen touched in the seconds before impact, the vehicle’s event data recorder can capture speed, braking, and steering just before the crash, and social-media and messaging timestamps can place a person’s attention somewhere other than the road. Witnesses and any nearby video fill in the rest. This evidence gets overwritten, deleted, or lost as time passes, so a prompt demand to preserve it, sent before it disappears, can decide the case. The same evidence does double duty under Florida’s fault rules, because proving the other driver looked away also answers the insurer’s attempt to push blame onto you.
Why the first days decide these cases
The evidence that proves distraction is on a clock, and the clock is not the two-year deadline to file suit. Carriers keep detailed phone and text records for only a limited window before they purge them, an app may hold usage data briefly, a vehicle can be repaired or salvaged with its event data recorder still inside, and business or traffic cameras often loop over their footage within days. Once any of that is gone, it is gone, and no amount of later work brings it back. That is why a written demand to preserve the phone data, the vehicle and its recorder, and any nearby video needs to go out early, and why the failure to preserve evidence after such a demand can itself become part of the case. Moving in the first days is not caution for its own sake, it is how the proof that shows the other driver looked away is still there when the case is built.
The deadline
For a crash on or after March 24, 2023, Florida gives you two years to file suit under Fla. Stat. 95.11(5)(a). The proof in a crash case, the vehicles, the scene, and any video, disappears long before then, so the first weeks matter. See the filing deadline.
Common Questions
Is texting while driving illegal in Florida?
Yes. Florida law prohibits texting while driving under Fla. Stat. 316.305 and bars handheld device use in school and work zones. A driver who was texting and caused a crash has broken a safety law, which strengthens the case for negligence.
How do you prove the other driver was distracted?
Through evidence that goes beyond the driver's say-so: cell phone and carrier records, the timing of texts and app use, the vehicle's event data recorder, witness accounts, and any video. Securing phone records often requires moving quickly and, when needed, formal legal process.
What counts as distracted driving besides phones?
Anything that takes a driver's eyes, hands, or attention off the road, including eating, grooming, adjusting screens, and reaching for objects. The law and the facts both focus on whether the driver failed to pay attention.
Does proving distraction increase my recovery?
It can strengthen liability and, in cases of egregious conduct, support a larger damages picture. It also helps defeat the insurer's attempt to shift blame onto you.
How long do I have to file?
Generally two years from the date of the crash under Fla. Stat. 95.11(5)(a).
How fast does distraction evidence disappear?
Faster than the deadline to sue. Phone and carrier records are kept for a limited time, app data can be brief, a wrecked vehicle may be repaired or scrapped with its data recorder inside, and camera footage often loops over itself within days. A prompt written demand to preserve all of it is how the proof stays available.
Related: Car accident overview, Comparative negligence, Rear-end collisions, Damages and compensation, and About Rory Safir.
This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The governing authorities include Fla. Stat. 316.305 (texting while driving), 768.81 (comparative fault), and 95.11(5)(a) (two-year limitations). Insurance and tort law change, and this reflects June 2026. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
