When people think of accidents between cars and pedestrians, it is almost instinctive to assume that the car was at fault. While in many cases the driver of the vehicle is at fault, possibly because of speeding, distracted driving, or other reckless or negligent acts, there are plenty of times where the pedestrian may be at fault, too. In fact, California uses something known as “comparative fault” in order to assign varying degrees of fault to everyone involved in an accident, instead of squarely placing 100% of the blame on one party. This helps to reduce liability on behalf of the at-fault party, which can be the difference of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is especially important if they were not the sole responsible party in the accident.
Whether you are the driver or the pedestrian in an accident, it is important that you work with a personal injury attorney through every step of your case. 1800injured.care attorneys have a history of connecting experienced lawyers with clients who have been involved in accidents—attorneys who have a deep understanding of how to ensure that comparative fault works correctly so that the victim of the accident gets what they truly deserve. Take a look below to get a better idea of some times when a pedestrian may be at fault in an accident between them and a car.
Examples of Pedestrians Causing Car Accidents
If a driver is going down a road at the speed limit or below, and a pedestrian runs out from behind a tree, car, or other obstruction and into the car’s lane of travel and is hit, the driver will not be at fault in most cases. Provided that the driver took any measures possible to avoid the pedestrian, in combination with the fact that the pedestrian violated safety and traffic laws and gave the driver no chance to avoid an accident, there is no question that the driver did not cause the crash.
Another example of a pedestrian causing a car accident is when a pedestrian is jaywalking, crossing the road outside of the legally-permitted areas, and are struck by a driver who had no reason to suspect that a pedestrian would be in the road. Of course, there is a lot of nuance to this situation and it is important that an attorney explores all possibilities of comparative fault, again with such questions as to whether or not the driver took possible actions to avoid the pedestrian, whether or not they were driving the speed limit, and more.
Yet another situation where a pedestrian could be at fault in a car accident would be someone walking along a major road at night, dressed in all black when they were struck by a car. The pedestrian did not take any active measures to avoid being stuck in this situation, considering that they were wearing clothing that made them essentially invisible to oncoming traffic while they were walking in a lane of travel that put them at an increased risk of an accident. In some cases, the pedestrian may not be the victim in the accident, because the vehicle may swerve to avoid them and then strike another vehicle.
What To Do If a Pedestrian Caused Your Accident
Again, the most important thing that you can do after an accident where injuries occurred is to work with a lawyer as soon as possible. These cases can get complicated very quickly, and what seemed like a fairly straightforward situation at the start can rapidly devolve into a contentious and high-stakes case with no clear outcome.
Michael Davis is the Content Director of Miami’s On the Map Marketing, Inc. As the chief content editor of one of the fastest-growing internet marketing firms in the country, Michael has made it his mission to provide high-level, factual, and error-free content that emphasizes the best SEO practices and helps his company’s clients convert sales.
Comments for this article are closed.