Did you know that Philadelphia has a higher rate of pedestrian accidents than other cities of its size? Every six hours, a pedestrian sustains serious injuries or dies. The city has made several attempts to address its worsening pedestrian accident problem, but numbers continue to climb.
If you or someone you love has been injured as a pedestrian, you may be eligible to pursue a legal injury claim for damages. These accidents can cause severe injuries and astronomical medical bills. Protect your right to receive compensation for these and other losses, including lost wages from time missed at work. Contact a pedestrian accident lawyer at The Rothenberg Law Firm for a free consultation.
What Is a Pedestrian Accident?
A pedestrian accident refers to any adverse traffic incident involving people on foot and an additional party. The worst cases include traditional motor vehicles, such as cars, buses, trucks, and motorcycles.
Micro-transportation has grown worldwide and helps cities tackle vehicle congestion and emissions issues. Even so, micro modes of transportation can contribute to accidents. Examples include bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, and electric unicycles.
Pedestrian accidents can lead to serious bodily injury. That’s because pedestrians are the least protected of all road users. There are no metal structures, airbags, seatbelts, or helmets to deflect physical damage.
What Causes Pedestrian Accidents and Deaths?
Common causes of pedestrian accidents and fatalities include:
Distracted Driving
Focus is in short supply these days, and it's easy to get distracted. Cellphones, passengers, and even built-in infotainment systems can lead to distraction while driving. Distracted at-fault drivers are far less likely to notice pedestrians or to stop in time.
Impairment of Road Users
Pennsylvania law enforcement officers made 44,531 DUI arrests in 2021. The state also reports that 30% of traffic fatalities involve the use of alcohol. Prescription meds and recreational drug use contribute to additional fatalities across the state. Note that impaired road users can also include pedestrians, cyclists and other riders. For example, a drunk person could ride his scooter into oncoming traffic and cause a crash.
Speeding
Philadelphia is one of several cities across America that joined the Vision Zero campaign to reduce traffic accidents. Its 2021 report found that speed is the number one factor determining fatality in a crash. It shared that one in 10 pedestrians die when struck by a vehicle at 20 mph. That number climbed to nine out of 10 at 40 mph.
High Crime
PhillyVoice proposes that high crime can cause police officers to prioritize de-escalating violence over monitoring traffic conditions. The city also notoriously has a no-pursuit policy for handling traffic violations. These and other factors leave reckless motorists with more leeway to ignore or disrespect traffic laws, sometimes at the cost of the lives of other road users.
Aging Population
Pennsylvania ranks at number nine in America for states with the most significant percentage of seniors in the population. Age leads to experience on the road, but senior drivers must grapple with other factors that may impair their ability to drive safely. Risk factors include growing medication use and vision impairment.
Vehicle Size
Americans have a strong preference for larger vehicles, and this holds true even in the city. The longstanding love for pickup trucks and the rise in crossover vehicles have created more safety risks for pedestrians, often in the form of worse visibility. Larger and heavier vehicles cause more physical damage. The angle at which they strike persons also increases the risk of injury to critical organs including traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries.
Sidewalk Sharing
Pedestrians now share sidewalks with operators of electric micro-vehicles. These operators are often inexperienced and face many of the same impairment risks as drivers. Consequently, they can cause crashes. While these likely won't lead to the same severity of injuries as car accidents, they can still lead to medical bills and lost income. Children and seniors are especially susceptible to injuries.
Malfunctions
Vehicles and their parts can fail without the operator's knowledge. The entities responsible for maintaining these vehicles, such as e-scooter rental companies, may not have adequately serviced them. In these cases, an experienced attorney must identify responsible parties and prove fault to secure compensation.
Who Is Responsible for Pedestrian Accidents?
Negligent parties in pedestrian accidents may include:
- Reckless, impaired, or drunk negligent drivers
- Operators of micro-vehicles
- Manufacturers of defective or malfunctioning auto parts
- Rental companies
- Municipalities whose traffic lights are malfunctioning
When Do Pedestrians Have the Right of Way?
Some cases are so complex that it becomes difficult to determine who caused the accident. Experienced personal injury attorneys must review all the details and prove the defendant's negligence. Pennsylvania law regarding the right of way significantly impacts this.
Here are some of the instances where pedestrians have the right of way:
- When using sidewalks
- When crossing the street via a crosswalk
- When crossing at intersections and signaled by traffic-control devices
What Should I Do After Being Involved in a Pedestrian Accident?
Pedestrian accidents often lead to catastrophic injuries, such as broken bones, organ damage, head trauma, spinal cord damage, mental distress, and even wrongful death. Pedestrian accident injuries can make it challenging for persons to take charge of the scene and secure their best interests, especially if they fall unconscious or experience intense pain. If you can take action, consider these general guidelines.
Seek Medical Attention
Your health comes first. Even if you don't feel severe pain, seek medical treatment as soon as possible because some injuries may not manifest until days after the accident. If you fail to seek medical care but later discover injuries, it may negatively impact your claim and legal rights.
Gather Evidence
If possible, take pictures of the scene and get contact information from witnesses. Documenting the scene will make it easier for you or your attorney to build a case against a negligent party in a pedestrian accident claim. If you cannot do this, ask someone who can and exchange contact information. Write down everything you remember at the earliest opportunity.
Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer
The attorneys at Rothenberg Law Firm understand the complexities of pedestrian accident cases. We know how to identify patterns of negligence and we will fight the insurance companies to make sure you get the maximum compensation you deserve for your personal injury case. Our legal team serves clients with empathy and dedication while working hard to deliver results. We have won and collected billions of dollars for our clients and have been helping people for over 50 years.
Do You Need a Philadelphia Pedestrian Accident Lawyer ?
Every pedestrian accident case is different. Even minor factors can drastically change a case, such as whether someone owned or rented the scooter or car that caused an accident. Our experienced attorneys review each case carefully to determine our clients' options.
We fight hard to help our clients hold negligent persons responsible for the damages caused. Our team's persistence has helped us recover billions of dollars for injured pedestrians and other injured persons. Here are some of our case results for pedestrians:
- $6.25 million for a pedestrian struck by a car
- $2.6 million for a pedestrian struck by a bus
- $2.5 million for a pedestrian struck by a police car
- $2.5 million for a pedestrian struck by a bus
- $1.5 million for a fatal pedestrian accident at a crosswalk
We cannot guarantee results like these for every case we handle, but we do everything possible to recover the compensation your injuries deserve. Contact us for a free case review.
