Distracted driving is an epidemic in Tennessee. In 2017, there were 24,786 traffic accidents related to distracted driving. That same year, distracted driving led to the deaths of 723 people.

It is prohibited by law to text and drive, or to talk on the phone without a hands-free device. But clearly the law isn’t working. So what can you do? Who can you turn to if you’re hurt, or if your loved one has died, because of a distracted driver?

You turn to Rocky McElhaney. Not only has he been fighting for the rights of injured drivers in and around Nashville for years, but he’s the authority others turn to when it comes to building a case against a distracted driver. On Thursday, Rocky sat down with WKRN News Channel 2 to explain exactly how he gets the evidence he needs to show someone was distracted at the time of a wreck.

You can never really delete data

People think that they can simply wipe clean the history of their phone  to avoid getting blamed for causing a distracted driving crash, but that’s not actually true.

“Even if they delete the messages, even if they delete their car records – they’re not deleting the data,” Rocky explained. “Lawyers like me will get the information from the car, the black box of the car, and we’ll match it with the black box of the phone. And it’ll prove 100% whether the driver was on the phone in some way: texting, or talking.”

That black box information is easily recoverable. There are “forensic, analytical companies,” as Rocky explains, that can pull up the data from a phone. That information is time stamped. In vehicles, the black box records the moments before a crash: when a driver hit the brakes, the exact moment of impact, the speed of the vehicle before and during impact, etc. By analyzing and comparing this data, an injury attorney is able to pinpoint exactly when two cars collided, and whether or not a cell phone was in use during the time.

Texters aren’t the only danger

While texting is the cause we hear the most about, it is not the only reason people drive distracted. The guy who shaves at the red light, or the gal who’s scrolling through her GPS for the next stop, or even the parent who is trying to retrieve a toy from the floor for his or her kids: these are distracted drivers, too. So is the teen driver using Snapchat filters, or the driver who is filming him or herself while driving. Rocky told WKRN about a phone call he received where a woman seriously injured the passengers in her vehicle because she was using FaceTime while driving and she hit something.

If you are hit by another driver who claims he or she wasn’t using a phone, and the cops don’t issue a ticket at the time, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a case. At Rocky McElhaney Law Firm, we know how to get the evidence we need to prove that you were the victim of a distracted driver. It doesn’t matter if you’re a passenger in someone’s car, or if you’re hit by a truck owned by a multi-national company: either way, we can and will fight for you. We’ll take on the insurance companies to get you the compensation you need, and fight to get the justice you deserve.

If the laws aren’t enough to protect people, then we’ll keep fighting to ensure that we make Tennessee a safer place. A distracted driver might “escape” without a ticket, but lawyers like Rocky, and all of us at Rocky McElhaney Law Firm, won’t stop until we hold distracted drivers accountable for their actions.

If you were injured because of a distracted driver in Tennessee, or if your loved one was killed in a collision, Rocky McElhaney Law Firm will fight for you. Our car accident lawyers in Nashville, Hendersonville and Knoxville represent clients throughout the state. Please call 615-246-5549 or fill out our contact form to make an appointment.