No. When it comes to the law, it is not usually completely accurate to say something always happens. A distracted driver is not always liable for a traffic accident. The question is not just whether the driver was distracted. We must instead ask whether the driver being distracted caused the accident. For example, if a driver is looking at their phone while legally stopped at a red light, they are probably not liable if another vehicle rear-ends them. Though they were distracted, this had nothing to do with causing the accident. Also, New York is a comparative fault state, meaning multiple drivers can be liable for contributing to causing the accident. So, a distracted driver might not be completely to blame for causing an accident either.