Q: Is texting while driving illegal in Louisiana?

Yes. La. R.S. 32:300.5 prohibits using a handheld wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication while operating a motor vehicle on a public road. The statute covers texts, emails, and social media access from a handheld device. Hands-free use is permitted. A first-offense fine is $500. A traffic citation for this violation is evidence of negligence (carelessness) in a civil lawsuit.

Q: How do you prove a driver was on their phone?

The most direct evidence is cell phone records. Wireless carrier records show call logs, texts sent and received, and data activity by timestamp. An attorney can request or subpoena those records. Other evidence includes event data recorder downloads from the at-fault vehicle, traffic and business surveillance footage, witness statements, and social media or app activity at the time of the crash. Police reports alone rarely establish phone use. The investigation needs to go further.

Q: What if the distracted driver denies being on their phone?

Denial is common and expected. Cell phone records are obtained through the discovery process in litigation, not through the driver's cooperation. A court-ordered subpoena to the carrier produces records the driver cannot suppress. Beyond phone records, distraction can be established through other evidence: a witness who saw the driver looking down, surveillance footage showing inattention before impact, or EDR data showing no braking before the collision. The driver's denial does not close the inquiry.

Q: Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?

Louisiana applies comparative fault (shared responsibility). Recovery reduces by the percentage of fault assigned to you. A 30 percent fault finding means 70 percent recovery of total damages. For crashes occurring on or after January 1, 2026, the 51 percent bar applies: a person assigned 51 percent or greater fault receives no recovery at all. This rule applies to the accident date, not the filing date. Pre-January 1, 2026 crashes are governed by prior law, which allowed recovery at any fault percentage below 100 percent.

Q: How long do I have to file a distracted driving accident claim in Louisiana?

Two years from the accident date for crashes on or after July 1, 2024. Louisiana shortened the prescriptive period (filing deadline) from three years under La. C.C. Art. 3493.11, enacted through Act 423 of the 2024 legislative session. Pre-July 1, 2024 accidents retain the three-year deadline. The deadline is firm. Courts dismiss cases filed after the applicable period regardless of evidence strength or injury severity.

Distracted Driving Accidents

There are plenty of qualified attorneys in Caddo Parish who handle distracted driving cases. You are doing your research, which means something has happened on a Shreveport road. Something serious enough that you are looking into legal options. No one reads lawyer websites until they need one.

Our clients came to us after they were injured in accidents caused by drivers who were not paying attention. Cell phones. GPS screens. Drive-through food. Whatever the distraction, the result was a real crash, real injuries, and a real insurance process that was not designed to work in their favor.

This page explains what distracted driving is under Louisiana law, how liability works, and what evidence matters in these cases. Read it. Compare attorneys. Make the decision that works for your situation.

What Is Distracted Driving?

Distracted driving means operating a vehicle while attention is diverted from the task of driving. Transportation safety researchers categorize distractions into three types: visual (taking your eyes off the road), manual (taking your hands off the wheel), and cognitive (taking your mind off driving).

Texting while driving combines all three at once. A driver sending a text takes their eyes off the road, removes at least one hand from the wheel, and shifts mental focus away from traffic. At 55 mph, a five-second text takes a vehicle the length of a football field with the driver effectively not watching the road.

Other common distractions include adjusting a GPS or music app, eating or drinking, reaching for objects in the vehicle, grooming, and conversations with passengers. Each diverts some form of attention from driving.

Louisiana law treats distracted driving as a serious traffic safety issue. Under La. R.S. 32:300.5, using a handheld mobile device while driving is prohibited. That statute covers texting, browsing, and most phone interactions that require manual input.

How Common Is Distracted Driving in Shreveport?

In 2025, Caddo Parish recorded more than 680 crashes involving distracted driving on Shreveport streets and parish highways. That figure covers reported incidents only. Distracted driving is broadly underreported because drivers rarely self-disclose and physical evidence is not always recovered at the scene.

Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) attributes approximately 3,000 deaths per year to distracted driving. In Louisiana, distracted driving appears as a contributing factor in thousands of crashes annually.

Phone-related distraction is the most studied, but it is not the only source. NHTSA data shows that among distracted driving fatalities, the largest category of distraction is not phone use. It is other occupants in the vehicle. That is relevant in cases where the at-fault driver denies phone use, because other forms of distraction remain legally actionable.

Younger drivers show higher rates of phone-related distraction. Drivers 20 to 29 years old represent the largest share of distracted driving fatalities. But distracted driving claims are not limited by age. The behavior occurs across all age groups, vehicle types, and road conditions.

Louisiana Laws on Distracted Driving

La. R.S. 32:300.5 prohibits using a handheld wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication while operating a motor vehicle on a public road. The statute applies to texting, email, and social media access. It does not apply to hands-free use, voice-operated systems, or GPS navigation through a device mounted in a fixed position.

Violations carry fines. A first offense is $500. Subsequent violations increase. The law also applies to learner's permit holders and intermediate license holders under additional restrictions.

In a civil lawsuit, a traffic citation for a handheld device violation is evidence of negligence (failure to meet the standard of care owed to other drivers). It does not automatically establish liability, but it creates a documented violation that plaintiffs can use to support their claims. Louisiana courts allow introduction of traffic infractions as evidence in civil proceedings.

The statute does not cover all distracting behavior. Eating, grooming, and adjusting the radio are not separately prohibited. However, any driving behavior that causes an accident and falls below the standard of care a reasonably careful driver would meet can constitute negligence in a civil claim.

Who Is Liable After a Distracted Driving Accident?

The driver who was distracted is the primary liable party. Louisiana law imposes a duty on every driver to keep a proper lookout, control their vehicle, and drive at a safe speed for conditions. A driver who diverts attention from the road and causes a collision has breached that duty.

If the distracted driver was working at the time of the crash, the employer may also bear liability. Louisiana applies respondeat superior (an employer is responsible for the actions of an employee acting within the scope of their employment). A delivery driver checking orders on a phone, a sales representative reviewing emails between calls, or a company driver managing dispatch through an in-cab device is acting within employment scope when the crash occurs. Employer liability attaches separately from driver liability, meaning both may be named as defendants.

In rare cases, third parties can contribute to liability. If a commercial carrier or employer had a policy prohibiting driver phone use and failed to enforce it, that failure is relevant to claims against the company.

Establishing liability requires connecting the distraction to the crash. The at-fault driver will not volunteer that they were on their phone. That evidence comes from documentation, which is why early investigation matters.

What Evidence Proves a Driver Was Distracted?

Proving a driver was distracted at the moment of impact requires specific types of evidence. Police reports rarely contain definitive proof of phone use. The investigation has to go further.

Cell phone records. Attorneys can request or subpoena call logs and data usage records from wireless carriers. These records show the exact time of calls, texts sent or received, and data activity. If a text was sent 30 seconds before a crash or a call was connected at the moment of impact, that is documented evidence.

Event data recorders. Most vehicles built after 2012 contain an event data recorder (EDR), sometimes called a black box. EDR data captures vehicle speed, braking input, throttle position, and steering inputs in the seconds before a crash. Combined with phone records, EDR data can establish what the driver was doing when the collision occurred.

Traffic and business surveillance footage. Shreveport intersections, commercial corridors like Youree Drive, and I-20 and I-49 ramps often have camera coverage. Footage showing a driver looking down before impact is strong evidence of distraction. Surveillance systems frequently overwrite footage within 24 to 72 hours. Preserving this evidence requires acting quickly after a crash.

Witness statements. Other drivers, pedestrians, and passengers may have observed the at-fault driver using a phone or otherwise not watching the road before the crash. Statements collected close to the crash date carry more weight than those taken months later.

Social media and app activity. Timestamps on social media posts, photos taken, or app activity during the window of the crash can corroborate or contradict the at-fault driver's account.

Thorough investigation launched within days of the crash, not months later, protects the evidence that ultimately protects claims.

What Are Your Legal Options After a Distracted Driving Accident in Shreveport?

If a distracted driver caused your crash, you can hold that driver liable (legally responsible) for your injuries, property damage, and other losses.

Whether you can file a lawsuit depends on several factors, including:

Whether the other driver owed you a duty of care
Whether the other driver breached that duty through distracted behavior
Whether the breach directly caused the accident
Whether you suffered actual damages as a result

Louisiana applies comparative fault: every party to a crash, including the person who was injured, receives a percentage of responsibility based on evidence. Recovery reduces by the percentage of fault assigned to you. A 20 percent fault finding means 80 percent recovery of total damages.

For crashes occurring on or after January 1, 2026, a critical change applies. Under revised La. C.C. Art. 2323, enacted through Act 15 of the 2025 legislative session, a person assigned 51 percent or greater fault is completely barred from recovery. This is a hard cutoff. Under the prior rule, even a person found 99 percent at fault could recover 1 percent of damages. That rule no longer applies to post-January 1, 2026 crashes. Fault allocation matters more than it has at any prior point in Louisiana law.

Damages available include economic losses (medical expenses, past and future treatment costs, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, property damage) and non-economic losses (physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, activity loss, and permanent disfigurement). Louisiana imposes no statutory cap on non-economic damages in most car accident cases.

Louisiana's prescriptive period (deadline) for filing a car accident claim is two years from the accident date for crashes occurring on or after July 1, 2024. Pre-July 1, 2024 crashes carry a three-year deadline. Missing the applicable deadline means courts dismiss cases regardless of evidence strength.

How to Avoid a Distracted Driving Accident

You cannot control other drivers' behavior. You can reduce your own risk and build habits that keep your attention on the road.

Put the phone away before driving. Not in the cup holder. Not on the seat. In a bag or the back seat so it requires physical effort to reach.
Use do-not-disturb driving modes. Most smartphones have a driving mode that silences notifications and sends automatic replies. Use it.
Set navigation before you leave. Adjusting GPS while moving divides attention. Set the destination before pulling out of the parking lot.
Pull over if you need to respond. If something requires your attention, pull into a parking lot. A two-minute delay is not a significant cost.
Limit passenger distractions. Conversations with passengers are a leading category of distraction. Keeping conversations low-intensity while driving reduces cognitive load.
Avoid eating behind the wheel. Eating requires manual and cognitive attention. Stop if you need to eat.
Report dangerous driving. If you observe a driver who appears distracted or erratic, note the vehicle and report it to Shreveport Police Department's non-emergency line when safely stopped.

Morris & Dewett Handles Distracted Driving Cases in Shreveport

Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers handles car accident cases in Shreveport, including collisions caused by distracted drivers. If you want to understand your options after a distracted driving accident, the firm can walk you through the evidence, the claims process, and what your case is likely worth.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is texting while driving illegal in Louisiana?: Yes. La. R.S. 32:300.5 prohibits using a handheld wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication while operating a motor vehicle on a public road. The statute covers texts, emails, and social media access from a handheld device. Hands-free use is permitted. A first-offense fine is $500. A traffic citation for this violation is evidence of negligence (carelessness) in a civil lawsuit.
Q: How do you prove a driver was on their phone?: The most direct evidence is cell phone records. Wireless carrier records show call logs, texts sent and received, and data activity by timestamp. An attorney can request or subpoena those records. Other evidence includes event data recorder downloads from the at-fault vehicle, traffic and business surveillance footage, witness statements, and social media or app activity at the time of the crash. Police reports alone rarely establish phone use. The investigation needs to go further.
Q: What if the distracted driver denies being on their phone?: Denial is common and expected. Cell phone records are obtained through the discovery process in litigation, not through the driver's cooperation. A court-ordered subpoena to the carrier produces records the driver cannot suppress. Beyond phone records, distraction can be established through other evidence: a witness who saw the driver looking down, surveillance footage showing inattention before impact, or EDR data showing no braking before the collision. The driver's denial does not close the inquiry.
Q: Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?: Louisiana applies comparative fault (shared responsibility). Recovery reduces by the percentage of fault assigned to you. A 30 percent fault finding means 70 percent recovery of total damages. For crashes occurring on or after January 1, 2026, the 51 percent bar applies: a person assigned 51 percent or greater fault receives no recovery at all. This rule applies to the accident date, not the filing date. Pre-January 1, 2026 crashes are governed by prior law, which allowed recovery at any fault percentage below 100 percent.
Q: How long do I have to file a distracted driving accident claim in Louisiana?: Two years from the accident date for crashes on or after July 1, 2024. Louisiana shortened the prescriptive period (filing deadline) from three years under La. C.C. Art. 3493.11, enacted through Act 423 of the 2024 legislative session. Pre-July 1, 2024 accidents retain the three-year deadline. The deadline is firm. Courts dismiss cases filed after the applicable period regardless of evidence strength or injury severity.

These answers reflect Louisiana law as of January 2026. For case specific advice, consult with a Louisiana personal injury attorney who can evaluate your particular circumstances.