Pedestrian Accident Lawyer
Everyone is a pedestrian at some point of the day. Whether you drive or take public transportation, you are a pedestrian whenever you are not in a vehicle. Unfortunately, being a pedestrian puts you at higher risk of severe injuries and death in the event of an accident.
Pedestrian accidents occur at an alarming rate in the US. According to the National Highway Safety Administration, at least one pedestrian is killed every 81 minutes. In 2020, 6,516 pedestrians were killed in fatal traffic accidents, while 55,000 more suffered injuries.
Were you or a loved one injured in a pedestrian accident? Did someone else’s negligence cause the accident? If so, you have the legal right to hold responsible parties accountable for their actions.
The pedestrian accident lawyers at Injury Lawyers Team, sponsored by Rosenfeld Law Offices, can serve as your legal representation and skilled counsel in your case. Our experienced attorneys will help you recover financial compensation for your injuries and, in the process, prosecute those at fault.
Call us today for a free case evaluation on your personal injury case. All confidential or sensitive information you disclose with our legal team will remain private under an attorney-client relationship.
Types of Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accidents can occur in many ways, including:
- Intersection Accidents: These accidents occur when a pedestrian tries to cross an intersection incorrectly, leaving the driver with inadequate time to react.
- Dart-Out Accidents: When a pedestrian suddenly darts out onto the road, the driver may not have enough time to react, causing a dart-out accident.
- Passing Accidents: A driver may not see a pedestrian crossing the road because the view is blocked by another vehicle that has let them pass.
- Vehicle Turns and Merge Accidents: These accidents occur when a driver is too focused on turning or merging into traffic, failing to see a pedestrian until they start to turn or merge.
- Back-Up Accidents: This type of pedestrian accident occurs when a driver hits a pedestrian while reversing without looking out the back of the car first. Back-up accidents typically occur in parking lots.
- Vendor Accidents: These accidents commonly occur on neighborhood streets when people wait at food trucks or children chase ice cream trucks.
- Hit-and-Run Accidents: A driver hitting a pedestrian and driving off may constitute a hit-and-run accident.
Why Do Pedestrian Accidents Occur?
Most pedestrian accidents result from negligent acts of drivers, such as:
- Distracted Driving: Being distracted by technology, food, or passengers can reduce a driver’s concentration. As a result, a driver may not have enough time to react to pedestrians crossing the road. Distracted driving is considered negligence in most states.
- Drunk Driving: Drugs and alcohol impair a driver’s concentration, coordination, and reaction time. An intoxicated driver may not be able to stop in time to let a pedestrian cross, especially at night when vision is poor.
- Aggressive Driving: Speeding, swerving, ignoring traffic signals, and other aggressive driving behaviors can cause a driver to collide with pedestrians.
- Lack of Awareness: A driver can hit a pedestrian trying to cross in front of a stopped vehicle due to a lack of awareness. Similarly, a driver can cause a pedestrian accident if they are too focused on turning or merging with traffic, failing to see people near their vehicle.
In some cases, pedestrian behaviors are to blame for pedestrian accidents, including:
- Negligent Crossing: A pedestrian can cause an accident if they jaywalk, cross the road while the light is green, dart out on the road suddenly, or commit other negligent behaviors that leave drivers with little to no time to react.
- Distracted Walking: Walking while texting, reading, or doing other distracting activities can hinder a pedestrian from seeing oncoming cars.
- Intoxication: A drunk or high pedestrian is often uncoordinated and has poor judgment, which can lead them to cross the road without looking both ways, run out on the road suddenly, or walk outside the edge of the sidewalk.
- Irresponsible Skating: People that ride skateboards or rollerblades may still be considered pedestrians. Reckless skating behaviors, such as riding too fast or doing tricks on a crosswalk, can easily lead to a pedestrian accident.
Inadequate or ineffective road design and features can sometimes fail to protect pedestrians from harm. Problems that can reduce pedestrian safety include:
- Inadequate sidewalks or crosswalks
- Poorly situated traffic signs
- Sharp turns
- Poorly lit roads
- Malfunctioning traffic lights
Common Injuries in Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident victims can suffer serious injuries, such as:
- Head Injuries: A pedestrian that suffers a significant blow to the head can develop a concussion or something more severe like a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Worst cases of TBIs can result in permanent brain damage and death.
- Bruises and Cuts: These minor injuries typically occur when a pedestrian collides with another object in the accident.
- Spinal Cord Injuries: When pedestrians injure their spine in an accident, they may suffer temporary or permanent paralysis. These injuries commonly occur in moderate to severe collisions.
- Fractures: A pedestrian can suffer broken bones if they collide with a car or another object hard enough. Fractures can range from mild (e.g., hairline fractures) to severe (e.g., open fractures).
- Dental or Facial Injuries: Colliding with a car can cause significant damage to a pedestrian’s face, including their teeth. When most of the damage is focused on the face, a pedestrian may lose teeth, become blind, or suffer severe facial scarring.
- Sprains and Strains: These soft tissue injuries can occur when the accident causes the pedestrian’s ligaments to stretch or tear.
Who Can Be Liable in a Pedestrian Accident?
Usually, a negligent driver is fully liable for a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian. However, this is not always the case. In some pedestrian accidents, the person at fault may be the pedestrian.
In some cases, a pedestrian injured in a car accident may have “shared liability” if they somehow played a role in the accident. A pedestrian can be liable if they:
- Cross the road in an area other than a marked crosswalk
- Cross the road when the traffic light is green
- Darts out in front of a car
- Walks on a road where pedestrians are not allowed
States have varying laws on shared blame. Your state may follow any of the three rules:
- Pure Comparative Negligence: You can recover compensation for an accident if you are partially to blame, but your percentage of fault reduces the value.
- Modified Comparative Negligence: You can recover compensation in proportion to your degree of fault as long as your percentage of fault is less than 50%.
- Contributory Negligence: You cannot receive compensation if you are partially to blame for the accident, regardless of your degree of fault.
Some states follow the “no-fault” insurance system, where parties must first use their personal injury protection (PIP) insurance, regardless of who is at fault for the accident. Most car insurance companies will pay for injuries up to the bodily injury liability coverage.
Proving Liability in a Pedestrian Accident Case
Proving the negligent driver’s liability is crucial in ensuring you receive maximum compensation for your losses. Your pedestrian accident lawyer will help you establish the negligence of the at-fault driver through substantial evidence.
Critical Evidence in Pedestrian Accidents
The following forms of evidence can be valuable in your pedestrian accident case:
- Photos and Videos of the Accident: Photos and videos of the scene can show how the accident occurred. Documentation should include all vehicles involved, the surrounding road, and any streetlights, crosswalks, or signs where violations may have happened.
- Medical Records: It’s essential to seek medical attention following a pedestrian accident. Not only can a check-up identify underlying injuries that need addressing, but it will also produce medical records that you can use to prove your damages.
- Police Reports: A police report of the car accident can help you prove liability. Aside from providing documentation of the accident, a police report is an unbiased report of what occurred. It can be more effective as evidence than statements made from you or the driver’s point of view.
- Witness Accounts: While they may be less effective than a police report, witness accounts from other pedestrians or motorists can be valuable in your case. Witness statements can provide different points of view of the accident. However, your pedestrian accident lawyer will have to prove the validity of these statements.
- Surveillance Footage: Videos from surveillance cameras can serve as uncontestable proof of the accident. However, finding and obtaining surveillance footage from establishments within the facility may be challenging, but your pedestrian accident lawyer can help.
- Motor Vehicle Records: You may be able to show a driver’s previous history of negligence through vehicle records.
Recovering Compensation
By filing a pedestrian accident claim, you could recover financial compensation for the following economic and non-economic damages:
- Medical Expenses: Getting into a pedestrian accident can result in steep medical bills. Fortunately, you may be able to recover your out-of-pocket medical expenses, including hospitalization, medication, surgery, therapy, and emergency transportation.
- Disability: A catastrophic injury from a pedestrian accident may lead to a disability. If this happens, you could seek compensation for disability-related medical bills, mobility aids, loss of quality of life, and other related damages.
- Pain and Suffering: You could recover financial compensation for physical and non-physical injuries, such as physical pain, mental anguish, emotional trauma, etc.
- Lost Wages: You may miss work while healing from your injuries or caring for your injured loved one. If this happens, you could include lost wages and income in your list of damages.
- Loss of Quality of Life: Most personal injury victims experience some degree of loss in quality of life following an accident. It may be in your best interest to include effects like reduced independence, trauma, and decreased enjoyment of life in your claim to ensure you are compensated for them.
- Property Damage: You may be entitled to compensation for the repair or replacement of personal property you’ve lost in the accident, such as your cellphone, bicycle, or laptop.
- Wrongful Death: Some car accidents cost pedestrians their life. If this happens to your loved one, your pedestrian accident lawyer can help you recover death-related damages, such as funeral and burial costs, pre-death medical treatment, loss of consortium, etc.
Your lawyer will estimate the potential value of your pedestrian accident case during your free consultation.
Filing a Pedestrian Accident Claim
Most pedestrian accidents happen due to illegal driving behaviors. A driver that acts carelessly on the road could face legal repercussions if their actions lead to the injury or death of a pedestrian.
Were you or a loved one injured in a pedestrian accident? And was the accident caused by driver negligence? If so, you have the legal right to seek adequate compensation for your injuries, trauma, property damage, and other losses.
The Role of Your Pedestrian Accident Attorney
Having an experienced pedestrian accident lawyer to handle your case is crucial. Aside from guiding you through the legal process, your lawyer can help you:
- Determine how and why the accident occurred
- Identify the traffic laws the defendant violated
- Establish the liability of the at-fault driver
- Collect evidence to support your claim
- Estimate the potential value of your settlement
- Negotiate with the driver’s insurance company
- Consult medical experts
- File your claim within the statute of limitations
- File a pedestrian accident lawsuit, if necessary
Settlement
After you file a personal injury claim against the responsible driver, their insurance company may offer you a settlement. At this point, you can either accept the payment or have your pedestrian accident attorney negotiate for a better offer.
Accepting the settlement at any point will make you unable to sue for additional damages. Do not accept a payment without consulting your pedestrian accident attorney to ensure you receive a fair settlement.
Filing a Pedestrian Accident Lawsuit
Most pedestrian accident claims settle out of court. However, this does not always happen.
An experienced pedestrian accident lawyer could help you file a lawsuit if:
- The driver’s insurance company refuses to make a better settlement offer or;
- The driver denies responsibility for the accident
You could take your case to civil court if either scenario happens. During litigation, a judge or jury will hear evidence from both sides and determine a verdict, with your pedestrian accident attorney serving as your legal representation.
However, not all pedestrian accident cases have to go to court. Your attorney could help you pursue other dispute resolution methods, such as arbitration or mediation, to resolve your case.
How Drivers and Pedestrians Can Avoid Pedestrian Accidents?
Drivers and pedestrians share the responsibility of keeping everyone safe on the road. You can help prevent pedestrian accidents by following a few simple yet crucial tips.
Pedestrian Safety Tips for Drivers:
- Keep a lookout for pedestrians everywhere at all times.
- Slow down when driving in bad weather or during nighttime.
- Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.
- Exercise caution and be prepared to stop when turning or entering a crosswalk.
- Never drive while intoxicated.
- Always look behind you before reversing.
- Watch out for pedestrians while turning or merging into traffic.
- Do not pass vehicles stopped at any marked or unmarked crosswalk; there may be crossing pedestrians blocked by stopped cars.
- Never speed up when the light is about to turn yellow or red.
Pedestrian Safety Tips:
- Always look both ways before crossing a road, even if the traffic light is red.
- Stick to sidewalks whenever they are available.
- If a crosswalk is unavailable, cross at a well-lit area where you can see oncoming traffic clearly, and drivers can see you. Never assume all motor vehicles will stop for you.
- Watch out for cars turning, exiting driveways, or reversing in parking lots.
- Obey road signals and signs.
- Avoid alcohol and drugs while walking.
- Do not use your cellphone while crossing.
Hire The Best Pedestrian Accident Lawyer to Resolve Your Case
Pedestrian accidents are rising, and there are far too many pedestrian fatalities and injured pedestrians to ignore this issue.
Many pedestrian accidents result from driver negligence. When drivers fail to follow traffic laws, pedestrians suffer from their carelessness. Many innocent pedestrians suffer serious injury, become disabled, or even die from the negligent actions of others.
Were you or a loved one hit by a car, truck, or other motor vehicle? If so, the pedestrian accident lawyers at Injury Lawyers Team can serve as your legal advocates in pursuing justice. Our skilled attorneys have won countless pedestrian accident cases, helping thousands of pedestrian accident victims recover financial compensation for injuries, lost income, disability, and other significant damages.
Call our pedestrian accident attorneys today for a free consultation. All confidential or sensitive information you disclose with our legal team will remain private under an attorney-client relationship.
Our personal injury attorneys handle all accepted pedestrian accident claims on a contingency fee basis, meaning you don’t have to pay for our legal services unless we win your case.