Pedestrian Accidents Can Cause Serious Injuries
Imagine that you're crossing a street at a crosswalk and you have the right of way. All of a sudden, a car flies around a corner and crashes into you. Pedestrian accidents like this scenario can be serious and often fatal, and unfortunately there is little you can do to prevent them if you're following the rules.
Most pedestrian accidents restult in serious injuries.
An alarming 64,000 pedestrians are injured each year and over 5,000 of these injuries result in fatalities. That means that a pedestrian is injured almost every eight minutes; someone just walking along, minding their own business and in a second a car strikes them and changes their life. Incredibly, over 85 percent of pedestrian accidents occur in urban areas--where drivers know to look for pedestrians in crosswalks and drives. The fact that the pedestrian accident rate is so high shows that drivers simply don't look before pulling out or turning a corner, and unfortunately, you or a loved one could be seriously injured as a result of another person's carelessness.
Pedestrian accidents fall under the same insurance policy as motor vehicle accidents.
If a person in a vehicle strikes you as a pedestrian, that person's auto insurance policy is just as valid as if he or she had hit the driver of another vehicle. If the negligence falls on the driver--and in many states the driver in a pedestrian accident is always liable, then that driver's auto insurance policy must pay your medical bills and other recoverable damages.
Unfortunately, due to the potentially life-altering nature of pedestrian injuries compared to injuries commonly sustained in car collisions, low auto policy limits may not be enough to cover your medical bills. Medical treatment is almost always more extensive since there is no protection of another vehicle between a pedestrian and the impact from a car or truck.
Hiring an experienced personal injury attorney to pursue an at-fault driver personally, to pay the rest of your medical bills and any other sufferable damages incurred (i.e. time off of work, loss of benefits, etc.) will help you recover the compensation you deserve after such a traumatic incident. Please contact the Anderson Law Firm for a free consultation if you or someone you know has been injured in a pedestrian accident at 817-294-1900.
