Question

To the honored master, the mighty gaon, may he live long and well,
Greetings,
If a person was in a car accident (a serious one, within a neighborhood in the city) and was saved, and the accident happened because he took his mind off the road while speaking on the phone, does he need to recite the Gomel blessing? The basis of the doubt is what our master the Chida, of blessed memory, wrote (Birkei Yosef 219:3), that for a danger into which a person brought himself he does not need to recite the Gomel blessing, like a person who did not repay a debt and was put in prison—when he gets out, he does not recite it. Or perhaps it is not comparable to that case, since here he is not aware of the full extent of the danger.
We would be glad if he would enlighten us with the light of his Torah,
Awaiting his response eagerly,
A young student

Author of the books Esh David, Shemittah LeDavid, and Peirot Libi