The driver who hit me was texting. How do I prove it?
- Texas Attorney
- Yale B.A. · University of Houston Law Center J.D.
- Habla español
- Updated October 1, 2026
With the phone records, matched to the second of the crash. Texting while driving has been illegal statewide in Texas since 2017. Carrier records show texts, calls and data use by the minute, and they are obtained through the lawsuit. Combined with the car's crash data showing no braking, witnesses and video, they can prove the driver was looking at a phone when they hit you.
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Texting and driving is against the law in Texas
Since 2017, Texas has prohibited drivers from using a handheld wireless device to read, write or send an electronic message while the vehicle is moving. Handheld phone use is also banned in active school zones. A driver who was texting when they hit you almost certainly broke the law, and in a civil case that violation is strong evidence of negligence.
The problem is not the law. It is proof. Almost no one admits to texting, and the phone is in the other driver’s pocket.
What distraction looks like in a crash
Distracted-driving crashes have a signature. The driver did not brake, or braked a fraction of a second before impact. The car drifted out of its lane with no reason. The driver ran into stopped traffic in clear weather, on a straight road, with nothing blocking the view. Witnesses describe a driver looking down. When a crash looks like that, distraction is the most likely explanation, and it is worth proving.
How it is proved
The strongest evidence is the phone’s own record. Carrier records show calls, texts and data sessions by the minute, and the phone itself can show which apps were in use. Matched against the exact time of the crash — from the 911 call, the vehicle’s crash data, or a dashcam — those records can show that the driver was typing when the impact happened.
Getting those records takes legal process. They are requested in the lawsuit, and courts usually limit the request to the minutes around the crash rather than the driver’s whole phone. The vehicle data shows whether the driver braked. Witnesses who saw the driver looking down, and video from a dashcam or a nearby business, fill in the rest. Carrier records are kept for a limited time, which is one more reason not to wait.
Why it matters beyond fault
In many crashes, fault is clear either way. Proving distraction still matters. A driver who chose to text at highway speed looks very different to a jury than one who made an honest mistake, and an insurer knows that. If the driver was working and texting a dispatcher or a customer, the employer may be responsible too.
Say what you saw. If you noticed the other driver holding a phone, looking down, or on a call, tell the officer at the scene and write it down afterward. Do not confront the driver about it.
Not every distraction is illegal, but all of them can be negligent
The Texas texting law is narrower than people think. It does not apply to hands-free use, and using a phone for GPS navigation or to play music is a defense to it (in a school crossing zone, any hand-held use is banned). It says nothing about eating, adjusting an in-dash screen, or turning around to deal with a child in the back seat. But a civil case does not require a broken statute. Every driver owes a duty to keep a proper lookout and to control the vehicle, and a driver who was looking at a screen, a map or anything else instead of the road when they hit you breached that duty whether or not the conduct was a traffic violation. For commercial truck drivers the rules are stricter: federal regulations prohibit texting and using a hand-held phone while driving a commercial motor vehicle.
Authority: Tex. Transp. Code § 545.4251 (electronic messaging while driving) · Tex. Transp. Code § 545.425 (wireless devices in school zones)
Your next steps, and ours
Get evaluated and follow through
Distracted drivers often hit without braking at all. Get checked even if you feel fine.
Write down the time, what you saw
The exact time, a phone in hand, looking down, no brake lights, anything the driver said. Don't confront them.
Call Jimmy
713-600-6233Carrier records are kept for a limited time, and getting them takes legal process. Call so we can move before they're gone.
We match the phone to the crash
We line up phone records, the car's braking data, witnesses and video to the second of impact.
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