Yes. Oklahoma law bars texting while driving under 47 O.S. § 11-901d and requires every driver’s full attention to the road under 47 O.S. § 11-901b. If a distracted driver caused your Oklahoma City crash, that violation is evidence of negligence you can use to recover medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Oklahoma recorded nearly 8,000 distracted driving crashes in a recent year, including 44 fatalities statewide, and Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County alone saw more than 2,100 of those collisions, injuring 664 people and killing 8. At Hasbrook & Hasbrook, our Oklahoma City car accident attorneys build distracted driving claims using phone records, crash reconstruction, and the full car accident practice we run across Oklahoma City.
What Qualifies as Distracted Driving Under Oklahoma Law?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention groups driver distraction into three categories:
- Visual distraction happens whenever your eyes leave the roadway, whether to glance at a phone screen or a dashboard display
- Manual distraction happens whenever a hand leaves the wheel, whether to eat, dig through a bag, or fiddle with the radio
- Cognitive distraction happens whenever your mind drifts from the act of driving itself, whether from a stressful phone call, daydreaming, or a heated conversation with a passenger
Texting combines all three at once, which is why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that looking at a phone for five seconds at 55 mph covers roughly the length of a football field.
Oklahoma law requires every driver to devote full attention to the road (47 O.S. § 11-901b), and a separate statute bars composing, sending, or reading a text message on a hand-held device while a vehicle is in motion (47 O.S. § 11-901d), punishable by a fine of up to $100. For the details of that specific law and its emergency exceptions, see wrecks where the driver was caught texting. Commercial truck drivers and public transit operators face a stricter rule: they cannot use a hand-held phone at all while operating the vehicle (47 O.S. § 11-901c), a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine. Any of these violations count as strong evidence of negligence in a car accident claim, alongside other moving-violation citations tied to distracted driving. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office tracks enforcement of these laws statewide.
Common Injuries From Distracted Driving Accidents
Distracted drivers often fail to brake or swerve before impact, so these crashes tend to happen at full speed. Injuries commonly include:
- concussions and other head trauma from the impact
- spinal trauma from a high-speed distracted-driving crash
- broken bones, internal organ damage, and burns from post-collision vehicle fires
- whiplash and strained muscles from the collision
- emotional and psychological trauma, including anxiety and post-traumatic stress
In the most severe cases, distracted driving results in a death, which can lead to a claim for a family that lost someone to a distracted driver.
Proving Fault After a Distracted Driving Accident
Showing that a driver was distracted takes more evidence than a typical crash claim. Useful evidence includes subpoenaed phone records and timestamps, the responding officer’s citation and crash report, witness statements, the vehicle’s electronic data recorder readout, and analysis from specialists who map out how the impact happened.
Oklahoma follows a comparative negligence rule under 23 O.S. § 13: you can recover as long as your fault does not exceed 50 percent, though your own percentage of fault reduces your award. Insurers often try to shift blame onto the injured driver, so see how Oklahoma splits fault when a distracted driver shares blame for a full breakdown, or how fault gets determined by the type of distraction involved for how liability plays out in specific crash scenarios.
Compensation Available for a Distracted Driving Accident
Oklahoma law allows people hurt by a distracted driver to pursue both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages cover current and future medical bills, the paycheck and career impact of time away from work, vehicle repair or replacement, and rehabilitation costs. Non-economic damages address pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and scarring or disfigurement.
Oklahoma caps non-economic damages at $500,000 under 23 O.S. § 61.3, though the cap does not apply if a jury finds you suffered a permanent and severe physical injury, and its constitutional validity remains an untested question the Oklahoma Supreme Court has not yet decided. For especially reckless conduct, Oklahoma law (23 O.S. § 9.1) also allows a jury to add extra damages Oklahoma juries can add for reckless conduct behind the wheel, on top of your compensatory award.
Oklahoma’s two-year statute of limitations under 12 O.S. § 95 sets a firm deadline to file your claim. See the exact filing clock that applies to your case for exceptions that can pause this deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions About Distracted Driving Accidents in Oklahoma City
How do I prove the other driver was distracted?
Your attorney can subpoena cell phone records, request traffic camera or dashcam footage, and gather witness statements. An accident reconstructionist can analyze the crash scene, and the vehicle’s black box data can help confirm what the driver was doing at the moment of impact.
Can I still recover compensation if I was partially at fault?
Yes. Oklahoma’s comparative negligence rule lets you recover as long as your fault does not exceed 50 percent. Your own percentage of fault reduces your award. If you are 20 percent at fault and your damages total $200,000, you receive $160,000.
What is the deadline to file a distracted driving accident lawsuit?
Oklahoma gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. Missing this deadline can forfeit your right to compensation, so it is worth talking to an attorney well before that clock runs out.
Is texting while driving illegal in Oklahoma?
Yes. Oklahoma law prohibits reading, writing, or sending text messages while operating a vehicle, with narrow emergency exceptions. A violation is strong evidence of negligence in a personal injury claim.
What compensation can I recover after a distracted driving accident?
You may recover medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. In cases involving especially reckless conduct, a jury may also add punitive damages on top of your compensatory award.
Does it cost anything to hire a distracted driving accident lawyer?
Most distracted driving cases are handled on a contingency basis, meaning you pay no upfront fee and owe nothing unless the case results in a recovery for you.
Speak With an Oklahoma City Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer Today
Evidence in distracted driving cases disappears quickly. Phone records can be deleted, footage overwritten, and witness memories fade. Hasbrook & Hasbrook offers a free, confidential case review to explain your options, and you pay nothing unless we win.
Call (405) 605-2426 or start a free review of your distracted-driving claim today.
