Facts about Pedestrian Accidents

Mar 22, 2010

When you think of traffic accidents, you often picture two cars colliding. But that’s not true for all motor vehicle accidents. In many cases, cars or trucks crash into pedestrians for one reason or another.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, more than 80,000 pedestrians are involved in traffic accidents each year about 5,000 of them are killed. They account for 11 percent of the fatal motor vehicle accidents. Pedestrians actually make up the second largest category of victims in motor vehicle accident fatalities. One is killed in a traffic accident nearly every two hours, and is injured every eight minutes.

Motorists and pedestrians alike have duty of care when sharing the roadways, but when an accident happens, someone is always at fault. Investigators usually decide who that is by talking to witnesses or reconstructing the accident.

A pedestrian can recoup damages for injuries suffered when someone else is to blame or somehow contributes to the accident by filing a lawsuit. Your suit would basically accuse the driver of negligence, which is the legal term. It happens when someone fails to do something a reasonable person would do in a similar situation.

To prevail in a lawsuit against the person who hurt you, you must prove to the court that the driver had a duty of care to you and neglected to fulfill that duty through his or her actions. You must also prove that the driver caused the accident and that you were injured or harmed in some way as a result.

The result of any pedestrian negligence case will depend on the extent of your injuries and what duty of care the defendant actually had to you. This may be obvious in some cases, but it may take a lengthy review from a court to determine the severity of the offense.

A driver can be found negligent if what he or she does is inattentive, disobeys traffic signs or signals, drives through intersections without giving pedestrians the right of way, and drives under the influence of alcohol or drugs, among other ways.

A pedestrian can be found negligent if he or she does not exercise reasonable care for his or her own safety. For instance, pedestrians may be negligent in their own duty of care if they don’t use crosswalks or jump into the street from between parked cars. They could also be neglectful if they ignore “walk” signals or even walk interrupt the flow of traffic by walking in front of moving vehicles.

It may take a long time for your lawsuit to wind through the court system. Your medical bills can stack up in that time, growing into a mountain of debt. And if you were seriously injured in the accident, you may be unable to work, leaving you with no money to pay these bills. What can you do in the meantime?

There are companies like Lawsuit Hotline that provides advances on future settlements you may get. You can apply in minutes and get a decision within an average of 48 hours. If approved, you can have money in your account to pay your bills within 24 hours of signing the agreement with the lawsuit funding firm. The best part about Lawsuit Hotline is that there is no risk to you. If your case doesn’t win, you don’t have to repay the advance.

Accident victims have enough to worry about without the oppressive weight of bills to make matters worse.