A Bradenton texting and driving accident lawyer represents people hurt by drivers who were typing, reading, or scrolling on a phone. Texting while driving has been a primary offense in Florida since 2019, and phone records can be used as evidence after a crash that causes injury or death. Proving the phone use is often the turning point in the claim.
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☎ Call NowHeintz Law represents people injured by texting drivers throughout Bradenton, Palmetto, Manatee County, and the Suncoast, including on I-75, US 41, Manatee Avenue, Cortez Road, and in the school and work zones where Florida bans handheld phone use entirely. Founding Partner Steven E. Heintz and our Bradenton texting and driving accident attorneys handle these claims as part of the firm's car accident lawyer practice, within our broader personal injury lawyer practice.
If a texting driver hit you, call 911 and tell the officer if you saw the driver holding or looking at a phone. Get medical care, photograph the scene, and collect names of witnesses who saw the phone use. See a doctor within 14 days to protect your personal injury protection benefits, and avoid recorded statements to the driver's insurer.
Our article on what to do if hit by a distracted driver covers these steps in more detail.
Yes. Under Florida's Wireless Communications While Driving Law, a driver may not manually type or read texts, emails, or messages on a handheld device while the vehicle is moving. Since 2019, texting while driving has been a primary offense, so officers can stop a driver for texting alone. Handheld phone use of any kind is banned in school zones and active work zones.
The law allows a few exceptions, including:
The handheld ban in designated school crossings, school zones, and active work zones applies to calls as well as texts. That matters around Bradenton schools during drop-off and pickup and in the many road construction zones across Manatee County. Our article explaining that texting while driving is a primary offense covers the history of the law.
A first texting violation in Florida is a nonmoving violation with a $30 base fine and no points. A second violation within five years is a moving violation with a $60 base fine and three points. Handheld use in a school or work zone is a moving violation with three points. If unlawful phone use results in a crash, six points are added.
Court costs are added to the base fines and vary by county. When officers stop a driver for texting, Florida law requires them to tell the driver that they have the right to decline a search of the phone, and officers may not access or confiscate the device without a warrant.
A traffic citation is separate from the injury claim. The civil case can go forward whether or not the driver was ticketed, and a driver can be found negligent for phone use even without a citation.
Texting is proven by matching the exact time of the crash to phone records showing texts, calls, and data use, along with app activity, vehicle data showing no braking, video of the driver looking down, witness statements, and the driver's own admissions. Florida law allows phone billing records to be used as evidence after a crash causing injury or death.
Evidence used in texting and driving cases includes:
Phone carriers keep detailed records for limited periods, and video is often recorded over within days. Preservation letters to carriers, the driver, the driver's employer, and nearby businesses should go out quickly.
Navigation use is allowed under Florida's texting law, so drivers often claim they were only looking at a map. Phone records and device data can show which apps were active at the moment of the crash. A driver switching between navigation and messages, or programming GPS while moving, may still have been driving carelessly.
Even lawful phone use can be negligent if it takes a driver's eyes off the road at the wrong moment. The question in a civil case is whether the driver used reasonable care, not only whether the phone use broke the texting statute.
Watching video, scrolling social media, and video calls are also common causes of crashes. Our article on whether watching videos behind the wheel has become the new texting covers that risk.
Distracted driving caused more than 52,900 crashes in Florida in 2025, with more than 2,100 serious bodily injuries and more than 300 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. State officials identify texting as one of the most dangerous distractions because it takes a driver's eyes, hands, and attention off the road at once.
The state also notes that distracted driving is likely underreported, because officers may cite a texting driver for careless driving or failure to maintain a lane instead. Our distracted driving lawyer page covers other distractions, such as eating, passengers, and in-car screens.
The texting driver is usually responsible, along with the vehicle's owner under Florida law. An employer may be responsible when the driver was working, especially if company practices required responding to calls, texts, or app notifications while driving. Parents who signed a teen driver's license application may also be responsible.
Teen drivers are a particular concern. Our article on teens and distracted driving explains the risks.
Your own personal injury protection coverage, called PIP, generally pays first, regardless of who caused the crash. PIP covers 80 percent of reasonable medical bills and 60 percent of lost income, up to its limits. Florida requires at least $10,000 in PIP, and initial care must begin within 14 days.
The full $10,000 is available for medical care only if a qualified provider determines there was an emergency medical condition. Otherwise, medical benefits are limited to $2,500.
After PIP, health insurance, medical payments coverage, the texting driver's bodily injury coverage, and your own uninsured motorist coverage become the next sources of payment. Florida does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage, so uninsured motorist coverage is often essential.
Yes, if your injuries meet Florida's serious injury threshold. Under the no-fault system, you can recover medical bills and lost wages beyond PIP from the at-fault driver. Pain and suffering requires a permanent injury, a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, significant permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.
Texting drivers often hit at full speed without braking, so injuries such as fractures, disc herniations, and brain injuries are common and are often evaluated under this standard. Different rules may apply when the injured person was on a motorcycle, bicycle, or on foot.
An injured person may seek economic damages, such as medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and property damage, and, when the threshold applies and is met, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. A spouse may have a separate claim, and punitive damages may be available in limited cases.
When a texting driver causes a death, our wrongful death page explains how families pursue a claim.
Florida uses modified comparative fault. An injured person who is 50 percent or less at fault can recover damages reduced by their share of fault. An injured person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Your own phone records may be requested, so being honest about your phone use from the start matters.
A phone that was in your cup holder or on a mount is very different from a phone in your hand. The defense will look for any argument that you contributed to the crash, and the same phone evidence used against the other driver may be requested from you.
Because texting drivers often do not brake before impact, these crashes commonly cause whiplash and neck injuries, back injuries and herniated discs, traumatic brain injuries, fractures, internal injuries, facial injuries, and post-traumatic stress. Rear-end crashes in stop-and-go traffic and red-light crashes at intersections are especially common.
For most negligence claims arising from crashes on or after March 24, 2023, Florida's statute of limitations is two years from the date of the crash. Wrongful death claims generally must be filed within two years of the death. Claims against government agencies require written notice first.
Phone evidence often disappears long before the deadline. Carrier records, app data, and video can be lost if preservation requests are not sent early.
Our Bradenton texting and driving accident attorneys handle each case in stages, from first contact through investigation, pre-suit negotiation, discovery, mediation, trial, and appeal. Every file is prepared from the start as if a jury will hear it, because proof of phone use shapes how insurance carriers value the claim.
Steven E. Heintz is the Founding Partner of Heintz Law, a Bradenton firm that represents only injured people and their families. His approach is careful preparation, aggressive advocacy where the facts call for it, and trial readiness from the first conference. Settlement on the right number is welcome. Settlement that shortchanges a client is not.
Texting and driving accident cases are handled on a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless there is a recovery. For crashes in Bradenton more broadly, see our Bradenton car accident lawyer page, and for impaired drivers, see our drunk driving accidents page.
If you or a family member was hurt by a driver on a phone in Bradenton, Palmetto, or anywhere in Manatee County or the surrounding counties, Heintz Law can review the crash, preserve the phone evidence, and explain your options under Florida law.
Have our 30 years of experience in personal injury go to work for you. No fees or costs unless we get results.
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