Crosswalks are designed to provide innocent pedestrians with a safe way to cross the road, especially at busy intersections and in commercial retail areas. If there is a crosswalk, it means that professional engineers identified this as a location with heavy foot traffic necessitating extra precautions.
Drivers are required to be on alert in pedestrian areas, such as on city streets or near schools and parks. If a negligent driver injured you while you were lawfully present in a crosswalk, you may be entitled to substantial financial damages from the negligent driver, the local municipality, and your underinsured motorist policy. Maximize your potential benefits by connecting with a local pedestrian accident lawyer to discuss your rights and potential legal claims.
Understanding Pedestrian Rights in Crosswalks
Not all crosswalks have traffic control devices indicating when pedestrians are safe to cross the street. Some crosswalks are simply painted, while some states recognize unmarked crosswalks in certain residential areas. While it’s always important to be aware of your surroundings, including not stepping into oncoming traffic even with the right of way, drivers must generally yield to pedestrians in all types of crosswalks. Walkers and cyclists often have the right of way after they’ve stepped into the crosswalk, and any accident occurring within this safe zone is usually considered the driver’s fault.
In some cases, the liable driver’s insurance company may challenge whether you had the right of way. This often occurs if the crosswalk was unmarked, the pedestrian crossed against the traffic control device, or the walker failed to take reasonable safety precautions. However, drivers are responsible for seeing and responding to the presence of pedestrians on roadways – especially in marked crosswalks – regardless of the driver’s right of way.
The failure to see what was to be seen and respond appropriately often shifts liability back to the driver. Experienced pedestrian injury lawyers are aware of the common excuses insurance companies make to blame pedestrians for motor vehicle accidents and will advocate for the legal rights of crosswalk accident victims.
Serious Pedestrian Accident Injuries and Fatalities
Despite only making up a small percentage of traffic crashes, pedestrian accidents account for nearly 17 percent of all traffic fatalities in the United States. They also more commonly involve the following catastrophic injuries, accounting for nearly 140,000 emergency room visits each year:
- Paralysis/Spinal Cord Damage: Due to the height of standard motor vehicles, many crosswalk accidents involve a direct impact to the pedestrian’s torso, significantly damaging his spinal cord. A broken neck or back will typically result in paralysis below the damaged area, requiring lifetime medical care.
- Broken Hips/Fractures: The double impact commonly associated with pedestrian accidents, such as the initial vehicle strike followed by hitting the pavement, often results in broken hips and traumatic fractures.
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): The secondary impact with the roadway, not the initial vehicle strike, often causes significant and fatal traumatic brain injuries in pedestrian accidents. If the pedestrian falls backward onto the hard pavement, this can result in a fatal subdural hematoma.
- Organ Damage: Many deadly pedestrian accidents occur when, instead of stopping, a drunk or distracted driver runs over the pedestrian in a crosswalk. This may result in compression fractures requiring surgery or amputations, but it most often causes traumatic rib fractures and fatal organ damage.
Even slow-moving vehicles can cause life-threatening pedestrian injuries due to the significant weight differential between the vehicle and pedestrian. However, vehicles traveling over the posted speed limit, which is intentionally lower in areas with designated crosswalks, often cause more serious damage. If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a crosswalk accident, discuss your claims with a dedicated catastrophic injury lawyer near you.
Common Risk Factors and Causes of Pedestrian Crosswalk Accidents
Experienced pedestrian injury lawyers understand the common risk factors and causes of crosswalk accidents, often involving negligent drivers and poorly designed roadways. Identifying the primary cause of a pedestrian accident is critical for obtaining financial damages from liable drivers and municipalities. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), most serious and fatal pedestrian accidents involve one of the following factors.
High-Traffic Roadways
Pedestrian fatalities often occur on high-volume roadways with speed limits above 30 mph or requiring pedestrians to cross multiple lanes of traffic. Many drivers travel above 30 mph even on residential roads, so pedestrians struck in crosswalks near these accident ‘hot spots’ can have a significant claim for damages.
Hit-and-Runs
Unfortunately, almost 1 in 4 pedestrian fatalities involve a hit-and-run accident. These occur when the driver strikes a pedestrian and flees the scene intentionally or ignorantly. This is a felony in most states, and a dedicated legal advocate can help families identify the reckless driver, press charges, demand insurance compensation, and even request punitive damages. If you suffered an injury in a crosswalk hit-and-run accident, an attorney can claim damages from your uninsured motorist (UM) policy.
Dark Conditions
Dark conditions account for nearly 3 in 4 pedestrian fatalities. If the municipality designated a pedestrian crosswalk but failed to provide proper roadway lighting, you can have a claim against both the state and negligent driver. Because these claims involve public liability, strict claims deadlines and procedures apply. You should contact a local municipal liability lawyer immediately if you believe poor lighting, lack of reflective paint and signal devices, or negligent crosswalk design contributed to your injuries.
Speeding and Vehicle Weight
The CDC reports that the majority of fatal pedestrian roadway accidents occurred on roadways with commercial retail businesses but also higher speed limits. Cities are encouraging pedestrians to walk and shop, and yet they often do not make these roadways safe for the very foot traffic they encourage.
The speed and weight of the vehicle that struck you have a significant impact on the severity of your injuries. For example, pedestrians hit by a small sedan traveling at 25 mph have a higher likelihood of recovering from their injuries than pedestrians struck by SUVs traveling at 32 mph. These differences may seem small, but speed limits save lives. An attorney can analyze video footage, black box data, and witness statements to determine whether the liable driver was speeding.
Drunk Driving
Driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol frequently contributes to crosswalk accidents. Drugs and alcohol reduce the driver’s ability to process and respond to stimuli. Even if you have the right of way, the driver is traveling slowly, and the driver sees you in the crosswalk, inebriated drivers cannot process the information quickly enough. Alcohol causes a delay between recognizing the stimuli (the walker) and executing the appropriate response (stopping). Accidents occurring in broad daylight, especially runover accidents where the driver did not attempt to slow down, often involve drugs or alcohol.
Filing Auto Insurance Claims After Crosswalk Accidents
Pedestrians struck by any automobile, including cars, trucks, buses, or motorcycles, have been involved in a motor vehicle accident. As such, they can recover damages from both the negligent driver’s liability policy and their personal UM/UIM insurance policy. Claiming UM/UIM insurance benefits is complicated, however, as claimants must submit specific paperwork indicating that the negligent driver fled the scene or the claimant exhausted available liability insurance coverage.
Do not settle claims with liable insurers after a pedestrian accident without first speaking with a dedicated pedestrian accident lawyer, as this may impact your right to obtain additional damages. An attorney with experience handling pedestrian accident cases may file multiple insurance claims on your behalf, provide evidence of liability, and prove your eligibility for UM/UIM benefits.
Submitting proof that you were in the crosswalk when struck is often considered prima facie evidence of the driver’s negligence. Legal counsel can obtain a police report, witness testimony, or video footage from local businesses to prove you were in a designated crosswalk when the accident occurred. This is necessary if the force of impact propelled you out of the crosswalk and onto the roadway before police arrived. Because pedestrian accidents often involve multiple insurers and complex UM/UIM claims, you should not begin the claims process without the help of a legal professional.
Damages Available to Pedestrians Injured in Crosswalks
Personal injury cases generally entitle victims to compensation for their economic and non-economic (pain and suffering) damages. However, the unique nature and high fatality rate associated with pedestrian accidents can result in experienced lawyers requesting additional compensation. If you were struck by a negligent driver while crossing the road, an attorney can demand the following compensation.
Economic Damages
Economic damages refer to the victim’s direct past and future financial losses resulting from the accident, including expenses for the following:
- Hospital stays
- Surgery
- Doctors’ visits
- Rehabilitation
- Home nursing care
- Medications
- Medical equipment
- Lost income and earning capacity
- Lost workplace benefits
Reputable law firms can hire expert medical witnesses and economists to calculate your future damages, allowing your lawyer to settle high-value claims while you continue treatment.
Non-Economic Damages
These incalculable damages provide innocent pedestrians with financial compensation for their physical pain, emotional suffering, and lost enjoyment of life. Attorneys recommend keeping detailed journals indicating your pain levels and describing how the injuries have impacted your daily activities and mental health.
Loss of Consortium
If you were married when the accident occurred, your spouse can claim damages for lost emotional support and physical comfort. They can also demand compensation for the additional housework and responsibilities involved in caring for you while you recover.
Punitive Damages
Though rarely awarded in car accident cases, these damages can be available for injured pedestrians. They are designed to directly punish the offender for extremely reckless and criminal conduct. If you were struck by a drunk driver or the driver fled the scene and was eventually located, an attorney could request additional damages from the offender.
Wrongful Death
If your loved one died from the injuries sustained in a crosswalk accident, a lawyer can help family members file a wrongful death case. These claims entitle financially dependent loved ones to compensation for lost support and reimbursement for funeral expenses. Working with legal counsel is essential to maximize the value of your claims after a serious or fatal pedestrian accident.
The Importance of Retaining a Local Pedestrian Accident Law Firm
Many pedestrian accidents involve the same dangerous crosswalks or roads. As such, local personal injury attorneys are normally aware of the speed limits, lighting, and most dangerous roadway conditions in their cities. They may know exactly which traffic devices are broken and which crosswalks do not have reflective paint. This knowledge can help victims of pedestrian accidents obtain financial damages from both negligent drivers and the local highway department.
Additionally, it’s important to retain legal counsel after a pedestrian accident because of the medical and insurance complexities often seen in these cases. Pedestrians have no protection when they’re struck by negligent drivers and often sustain catastrophic injuries. As such, you need a law firm with the resources and experience necessary to litigate disabling injury and wrongful death claims.
Experienced pedestrian accident attorneys can also obtain UM/UIM benefits, these are not no-fault benefits. Even though you pay for the policy, you must still prove liability and fight for your right to UM compensation.
Contact a Pedestrian Accident Attorney if You Were Injured in a Crosswalk
You need the help of a dedicated pedestrian accident lawyer if you want to maximize the compensation available after a crosswalk accident. Your case may involve negligent drivers, municipal liability, and even claims against your own insurance policy. Whether you need help after being hit in a local crosswalk or want justice for a loved one killed by a negligent driver, retaining an attorney is the best thing to do after a pedestrian accident.
Most reputable law firms even handle pedestrian injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you can obtain legal counsel without paying any upfront fees or legal costs. Instead, your lawyer only gets paid if they recover compensation for you. Connect with a local personal injury firm today to discuss your crosswalk accident claims.