Road Accidents Caused by Pedestrians

Road Accidents Caused by Pedestrians 

The frequency of road accident involving pedestrian is concerningly high, its fatality rate is increasing over the years as in the early years around 2017, 5,977 pedestrians have died in pedestrian-related traffic crashes in U.S. in that year alone, that is estimatedly one death in every more than 1 hour and 137,000 pedestrians have sustained significant injuries in the same form of road accident in the same year. 

Most of these accidents are deemed to be caused by a negligent or reckless driver and take the whole liability, but on rare occasions, pedestrians themselves cause the accident in first place because of few factors and some involved multiple vehicle accidents and caused again by a pedestrian would be hard to assert who would be possibly liable for the accident. 

What if there is a fault in both parties?

Way back in 80's, Ohio became one of those states who have established the comparative negligence law. The comparative negligence law means that if a party is more than half  at fault, filing for a compensation pay or intervention of insurer is not allowed, the scale or numbers used for determining the odds of who is at fault is percetage system, wherein, for an instance, the at-fault driver is 70% at fault while the victim is 30%, then the victim is entitled to file a claim against the at-fault party.  

This also means that even if the victim of the accident has a slight contribution for the accident to occur, instead of being filed a claim against by the at-fault party, the claim that the victim would possibly receive is deducted by the amount of how much the victim have contributed to the accident for it to occur such as if a pedestrian is said to be 10% liable for the crash, the claim should be reduced by 10% as well.

What should be the determinant of who is at-fault?

CCTV footage and dashcam captures are key proofs to determine who is at fault and must be reviewed to know why and how the accident occurred. As many angles should be considered and many questions should be asked when taking this case, for an instance, when the pedestrian has the right of the way then it would conclude that the driver caused the accident and is liable, if that was the footage reflected by the CCTV and when the CCTV made it appear that the pedestrian was crossing when he/she doesn't have the right of the way and recklessly cross while approaching a car that was on full speed, then the pedestrian is on the wrong where the pedestrian has sustained significant injuries or even ended up dea, the case will be deemed as a comparative negligence. Contexts where the pedestrian is wrong such as:

• When the pedestrian was caught in a CCTV or dashcam that he/she have crossed when traffic signal states not to so do and resulted in an accident, this means that it is illegal and pedestrian will be held accountable for the liabilities. 
  
  
• Jaywalking on roads that prohibits crossing that has led to accident can be as well the pedestrian's responsibility.
  
  
• Highways and intersection crossers are also automatically liable for the outcome of their actions. 
  
  
• If the pedestrian uses the road while drunk or under the influence of drugs and has caught in an accident. 

Call Ryan LLP

If ever you or one of your family members has been involved or has experienced an road accident with a pedestrian and was perplex and was skepltical about how the accident occurred whether he/she is driving negligently and you as well believed that it is the pedestrian's fault, you can always refer help from a professional experienced injury lawyer to smoothen things out and work together to unveil what malice and fraudulent activities was on behind the scenes. 

Ryan LLP is an Ohio based injury lawyer that represents victims of personal injury caused by car accidents, medical malpractice due to medical professional's negligence, and even wrongful death against large companies, agencies and even individuals. We have 40 years of experience doing our service in this field and evidently successful with our civil litigations. Call our office now for free legal consultation.