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Crosswalks are meant to provide a safety zone for pedestrians. They are supposed to give pedestrians a clear right of way. They are supposed to signal to drivers an area of the road where they need to exercise caution. They are usually clearly marked. They are often controlled by traffic signs or light signals. But they fall short of guaranteeing pedestrians a safe place to cross. Cases involving pedestrians injured by a motor vehicle accident while in a crosswalk are part of the caseload of any attorney who handles motor vehicle accident cases. These cases often involve devastating injuries that can leave the pedestrian with long-term disabilities or even take the life of the pedestrian. Below we discuss two reported cases involving pedestrian injuries:
Case 1: In this case a bus hit a pedestrian while she was crossing the street in a crosswalk. The pedestrian was a fifty year old female who was going to a store to buy some gifts for her grandchildren. The woman had a shopping cart as she was approaching the store. The bust hit her, did not stop, and instead ran over her. The driver of the bus failed to realize that she had both hit a shopping car and had also run over a pedestrian. It was not until passengers started yelling for her to stop the bus that she came to understand what was happening. The victim suffered multiple fractures. She had rib fractures. She had pelvic fractures. She had a spinal fracture. She will need hip replacement surgery for her hip fracture injury. The law firm that represented the victim was able to report achieving a settlement on the victim's behalf of $1.25 Million.
Case 2: While in a section of a large metropolitan city the driver was speeding. There were a large number of pedestrians in the area. The driver was operating a rental car. As he went into the intersection while running a red light he slammed right into a van. As a result of being hit the van was thrown onto the crosswalk at a time when a pedestrian, a twenty file year old man, was in the crosswalk. The accident left the passenger with a thoracic level spinal cord dislocation resulting in complete paralyzes from the chest down.
The law firm that represented the victim filed suit on the victim's behalf against two defendants - the driver and the car rental company. The case went to trial with the judge upholding $20.3 million of the larger jury verdict. This included $10 million for future pain and suffering. The rest covered the cost of medical care, past and future loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
Case 3: The report of this case described the accident as happening as the driver of the bus made a left turn but did not grant a pedestrian the right of way. The pedestrian was a 54 year old woman who was walking across an intersection in the designated crosswalk. The bus not only ran over the pedestrian's foot, its wheel actually pinned the pedestrian's foot. The driver did not even know that an accident had happened. It took the efforts of several bystanders who flagged him to back up the bus in order to unpin the victim's foot from under the wheel.
The cases above show that many cases happen in areas with heavy 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 cases, though, all seem to share two basic things. First, pedestrians remain at risk even when in a crosswalk. Drivers are easily distracted. In the first case above the driver did not even realize she had caused an accident and had run over a person. In the second case the driver was speeding and went right through a red light. In the third case bystanders had to get the driver to back up so that as to release the pedestrian's foot pinned under the vehicle. An experienced and highly skilled pedestrian accident attorney can be of assistance to pedestrians injured in motor vehicle accidents.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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