Car meets pedestrian, who wins? Most men and women instantly respond that the pedestrian wins. Nonetheless, like all injury situations, it is not that straightforward. As a individual injury lawyer, I feel this is an exciting subject to discuss.
Like all injury cases, you have to appear at who is negligent. If a pedestrian is crossing in the middle of the street, has dark clothes on, there is no lighting or they are intoxicated, they are assuming the risk. With that said as the driver of a vehicle, you have headlights and it is your responsibility to be paying attention. Nevertheless, I did not take one case simply because I did not think the pedestrian would win.
This client came in and said that he had been hit by a automobile and wanted to get compensation. He went on to clarify that he had gotten off a bus, walked ahead of it about 25 feet to a crosswalk and then ran across the street. It is correct that automobiles are suppose to be cautious about buses, and that they are suppose to watch for persons in crosswalks, but not consumers who are running across the street. To strengthen the case against this client the bus was full of many people who witnessed him running and a couple of witnesses had cameras. Since of this pedestrian's actions, the driver did not have a chance to quit. In situations like this, the pedestrian is absolutely not going to win.
Then there are cases when the pedestrian wins even though their actions caused the accident. Let me give you an example. I had one client who was drunk and ended up being hit while staggering across the street. I represented this client and got $15,000 for him. This was the policy limit, and they decided to settle on it since it was more affordable than going to trial. The two examples above are oddities, but as a individual injury lawyer, I have observed a couple of circumstances comparable to these.
I am certain you have had the expertise of a person stepping off the curb and it is obvious that the individual was not paying attention. It may perhaps appear apparent to you that the person need to be at fault, but it is tough to prove. If there are not witnesses, then it becomes their word versus yours. Anytime it becomes a he-said-she-stated battle, then the pedestrian is going to have a much better opportunity of winning.
The perfect advice I can give you as a private injury lawyer, is not to hit a pedestrian. Even though the pedestrian might be at fault, it is not one thing that you do not want to deal with.
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