The majority of people consider crosswalks as a safe place to cross the street. The law generally provides pedestrians in crosswalks the right of way. Drivers are put on notice by the markings and, in certain spots, the crosswalks are also controlled by lights or signs. Nevertheless far too many accidents involve pedestrians hit as they are in a crosswalk. Accidents involving pedestrians may lead to fractures, limb amputations and even death. Below we examine a number of lawsuits resulting from such accidents.
Do you think you're safe by adhering to the rules and using a crosswalk to cross the street? You you try to only cross a street at a marked crosswalk. If perhaps there were a guarantee that drivers would follow the rules and grant pedestrians in a crosswalk the right of way. It is not unusual for lawyers handling claims resulting from motor vehicle accidents to be approached by pedestrians who were hit by a motor vehicle as they were crossing the street in a marked crosswalk. If an automobile accident deals with a pedestrian the injuries are often significant and have disastrous and irreversible effects. Consider the next cases.
Case 1: In this instance a bus hit a pedestrian while she was crossing the street in a crosswalk. The victim was a fifty year old woman on her way to buy some gives for her grandchildren. She was pushing a shopping cart as she was going to the store. The bus struck her and then kept going, running her over. The bus driver did not realize she had struck a shopping cart and had run over the pedestrian until passengers started screaming for her to stop the bus. The impact and the weight of the bus running her over caused the pedestrian to suffer fractures to her rib, fractures to her pelvis, and a fracture to her spine. The woman will need hip replacement surgery due to her injuries. The law firm that helped the pedestrian indicated that they obtained a $1.25 million settlement for her.
Case 2: This lawsuit involved the driver of a rental car who was speeding in a high traffic area of a large urban city. There were a lot of pedestrians in the region. The driver ran a red light and wound up striking a van. The force of the impact forced the van onto the crosswalk just as a twenty five year old male pedestrian was crossing the street at the crosswalk. The accident left the pedestrian with a thoracic level spinal cord dislocation leading to complete paralyzes from the chest down. The law firm that represented the pedestrian started a personal injury claim against both the driver and the company that rented the car to the driver. Unable to reach a settlement, the law firm took the case to trial. The jury verdict was partially upheld to the sum of $20.3 million by the trial judge. This included $10 million for future pain and suffering. The rest was for the expense of medical care, past and future loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
Case 3: This case report concerned the driver of a school bus making a left hand turn at an intersection. The bus ran over and pinned the pedestrian’s foot. The pedestrian was a fifty four year old woman who was walking across an intersection in a designated crosswalk. The driver did not even realize what had happened until witnesses got his attention and had him back the bus up to free the pedestrian’s foot.
The pedestrian sustained multiple significant injuries to her foot and leg. The pedestrian wound up requiring various surgeries to both her foot and her leg. Eventually, however, she lost the leg to a below the knee amputation following which she experienced continual phantom pain. The report of this matter by the law firm that handled it indicated that they took the case to trial and attained a jury award in the amount of $5.9 Million on behalf of the pedestrian.
The claim above exhibit that many them take place in locations with significant pedestrian traffic. The vehicles can be cars, buses, even trucks. The victims can be young, middle aged or elderly. They can be male and they can be female.
The lawsuit, however, do normally share a number of things in common. First, crosswalks are no promise of safety. Drivers are easily distracted. In the first case above the driver failed to even grasp that she had caused an accident and had run over a person. In the second case the driver was speeding and did not stop for a red light. In the third claim bystanders had to get the driver to back up so that as to release the pedestrian’s foot pinned beneath vehicle. Victims of pedestrian injuries of the type highlighted in these cases should seek out the assistance of a highly skilled and experienced pedestrian accident lawyer.
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