Truck driver Marc Simard and his employer Drive Logistics have been sued for wrongful death after a tractor trailer accident involving a dropped mobile phone and a woman (who goes by T.A.R. in the lawsuit) who had stopped and gotten out of her vehicle to help another motorist.
Simard had been driving his tractor trailer on Interstate Highway 30 in Texas, as the Southeast Texas Record reports, and using his mobile phone while driving. Simard dropped his phone, as the lawsuit alleges, and bent down to pick it up off the floor of the cab.
At that point, Simard must have veered off the road for a moment – heading into the exact spot where T.A.R. had gotten out of her vehicle to help another motorist who had been involved in an accident.
Simard’s rig hit and killed T.A.R. as Simard hunted for his phone.
This case is another in a long line of cases that involve mobile phones and distracted driving. In Texas, distracted driving is another form of negligence that can lead to liability against the driver who causes a serious or fatal accident.
Source: Wrongful death suit says wreck caused by truck driver on cell phone