Fort Lauderdale, FL Pedestrian Accidents Lawyers Guiding Injured Pedestrians Toward the Compensation They Deserve

Whether you enjoy walking to your destination or do so out of necessity, motor vehicles are always a danger to pedestrians like you. This is because you have no real way to protect yourself when a metal vehicle weighing over 2,000 pounds comes hurtling toward you. The result is typically severe injuries that could be permanent, leaving you in pain and responsible for expensive medical bills.

If you were hit by a car and need financial help so you can pay for your medical treatment and lost wages, you need to hire a pedestrian accident lawyer to claim the compensation you deserve. Attempting to collect compensation from the insurance company on your own can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially since insurance companies are known for denying accident claims or offering the bare minimum when it comes to damages.

A trusted, experienced pedestrian accident attorney can take care of all the legal details for you, including communicating with insurance companies and calculating the damages you’re entitled to. If you’re ready to get help with your pedestrian accident claim, come to Milano Legal Group, PLLC, for a free consultation with pedestrian accident attorneys who are eager to assist you.

What Are the Types of Car Accidents Involving Pedestrians?

There are many situations in which drivers and pedestrians can collide in ways that result in serious injury. The following are some of the most common types of pedestrian accident cases that experienced personal injury lawyers in Fort Lauderdale have seen over the years:

Intersection collisions: When pedestrians cross intersections, they’re at risk of being hit by drivers who don’t see them or are speeding and cannot stop in time to avoid hitting them.
Back-up crashes: This type of pedestrian accident is common in parking lots, as they happen when drivers back up their car without first checking to see that the area is clear.

Dart-out accidents: This type of pedestrian accident may occur when someone darts into view of the driver quickly, and the driver does not have time to stop. This might happen when a pedestrian is crossing the street or through a parking lot and another car is blocking the driver’s view of the pedestrian, leading to a tragic accident.

Passing incidents: An accident like this happens when a driver attempts to pass a vehicle that is stopped to let pedestrians cross. In this type of pedestrian accident, the driver doesn’t usually see the pedestrians crossing and just assumes the vehicle in front has stopped for no reason, causing them to get around the vehicle and accidentally hit someone.

School bus pedestrian crash: A specific type of passing incident involves school buses, as drivers who pass school buses may hit children who are crossing the street. However, school buses have stop signs and flashing lights to reduce the chance of children being struck by cars, so drivers who cause tragic accidents like this are considered negligent.

Turning motor vehicle accidents: Some pedestrian accidents occur when pedestrians are in the crosswalk while a car is trying to make a turn to the left or right. Drivers may be watching for other cars before turning, so they may not notice pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Off-road crashes: Sometimes motor vehicles don’t stick to the roads like they’re supposed to. Distracted or impaired drivers might swerve their car onto the sidewalk, where unsuspecting pedestrians are walking, leading to serious or fatal injuries.

If the pedestrian accident you were injured in occurred due to any of the above situations, you need to talk to a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to discuss your legal options. Even if your pedestrian accident case did not involve any of the most common scenarios described here, you likely have a personal injury claim to pursue. Hiring a pedestrian accident lawyer can help you determine if you have a strong case that you can get compensation, as this will help you pay for your medical bills, lost wages, and more. Come to our Florida law firm for a free consultation to get started.

What Are Common Causes of Pedestrian Accidents?

In most pedestrian accident cases, the driver of the motor vehicle is the at-fault party. After all, drivers have a responsibility to drive safely to avoid injuring pedestrians, bicyclists, and other motorists with their cars. However, some drivers are negligent on the road and do not protect pedestrians, resulting in the following common causes of pedestrian accidents:

Speeding
Driving recklessly
Texting
Driving impaired due to drugs or alcohol
Scrolling through social media on a cell phone
Dialing a number on a cell phone
Ignoring traffic laws, lights, and signs
Not using sufficient caution while driving through neighborhoods
Not yielding the right of way to pedestrians
Talking to a passenger in the car
Eating or drinking
Reading a map
Putting on makeup or brushing hair
Changing the radio station or volume
Daydreaming
Focusing on a car accident or other event nearby instead of looking at the road

It’s not always immediately obvious who or what caused a traffic accident, which is why you need to hire a pedestrian accident lawyer to investigate the situation. During that investigation, your legal team will look at all the evidence they have to determine fault. This evidence may include photos of the accident scene, traffic camera footage, witness statements, and the police report.

After reviewing the evidence, your pedestrian accident attorney will work to prove that the driver who injured you had a duty to drive safely and breached that duty by causing a serious pedestrian accident that left you injured. Whether it’s clear that alcohol or distracted driving played a role in the crash or that a negligent driver failed to give you the right of way, your personal injury attorney will find out the reason for the pedestrian accident and then focus on helping you recover compensation.

What Are Common Injuries That Pedestrians Suffer?

As you might expect, injuries from traffic accidents involving pedestrians are often more severe than injuries from regular car accidents. That’s because pedestrians hit by a motor vehicle won’t have the protection that drivers and passengers in a vehicle have. As a result, many pedestrian accidents result in life-changing or fatal injuries, such as the following:

Broken bones, especially hips, ankles, knees, and feet
Serious chest injuries
Traumatic brain injuries
Spinal cord injuries
Cuts and scrapes
Sprains and strains
Bruises
Paralysis

These injuries can be permanent or at least take several months to heal properly. This is why you deserve the peace of mind of knowing your medical expenses will be taken care of by the at-fault party, which can only happen if you file a claim through an insurance policy. Of course, the average insurance company won’t make it easy for you to get the funds you need for your medical care, so it’s critical that you hire an experienced pedestrian accident attorney to help.

As an injured pedestrian, you’re entitled to seek compensation for all expenses related to the pedestrian accident, including your medical costs. This means if you needed an ambulance, surgery, or follow-up care from your doctor after the pedestrian accident, these medical expenses will be covered in your settlement from the insurance company.

You should also get fair compensation for property damage, lost income from work, pain and suffering, and more. When you schedule a free legal consultation with Florida pedestrian accident attorneys, you can learn more about what kind of damages you can request through your insurance company claim. Come to Milano Legal Group, PLLC, to talk to caring pedestrian accident lawyers who want to help you obtain compensation after a serious accident.

How Can a Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Help Injured Victims?

Once you’ve been injured in a pedestrian accident, one of the most important steps to take is to get medical care, which costs money. If you’ve already started getting treatment, you may be wondering if you’ll be left paying for it all on your own or if you can obtain compensation from the at-fault party. The answer can be complicated, which is why you’re encouraged to learn your legal options from Florida pedestrian accident lawyers who want to help you. Here’s an idea of how lawyers can help injured pedestrians with their legal rights after pedestrian accidents.

Determine Liability

Before you can seek damages to help pay for your costs from being involved in a pedestrian accident, you will need to determine who was liable for the crash. Maybe you think it’s clear who caused it, but you will need proof to convince insurance companies of this. A pedestrian accident attorney can collect this proof and present it in your claim.

Another detail to consider is that sometimes more than one person is at fault for a crash. You might assume the alleged at-fault driver is the only person who can be held responsible for your injuries, but your lawyer might find that someone else was at fault, too.

For instance, if a pothole in the road caused a motor vehicle to swerve and drive onto nearby sidewalks, causing pedestrian deaths or injuries, the agency in charge of road maintenance may be partly to blame for the crash. The same goes if poor lighting, faulty traffic signals, or a faded crosswalk may have contributed to pedestrian-vehicle accidents like yours. If this is the case, your lawyer will collect the necessary evidence and then pursue maximum compensation for you.

Calculate Fair Compensation

You deserve to have all your accident-related bills paid for by the insurance provider of the at-fault party. If you need to file a personal injury lawsuit, then the at-fault driver will be liable for these bills. Either way, you’re likely entitled to a settlement that pays for all your costs when it comes to your hospital stay, surgery, medications, long-term rehabilitation, physical therapy, and more. Your settlement should also include money to make up for any wages you couldn’t earn while you were recovering from your injuries.

Your pedestrian accident lawyer can add up all these costs and ensure you recover compensation that pays for everything. However, your legal team should also pursue non-economic damages, which are difficult to calculate unless you have years of legal experience. Non-economic damages can include money for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and more. If you want a chance to recover compensation of this kind, you’ll need the help of a law firm to determine which damages apply to your pedestrian accident lawsuit or insurance claim.

Negotiate with Insurance Companies

Another reason pedestrian accident victims should hire a lawyer for personal injury cases is that insurance providers are not always easy to deal with. If you don’t want to spend hours on the phone repeating details to representatives or scheduling appointments with insurance adjusters, you need a lawyer’s assistance. When you hire a lawyer for your personal injury case, you can leave the insurance disputes to the professionals.

After all, whether you’re thinking of using your personal injury protection (PIP) coverage or need to go through the at-fault party’s insurance company, insurance claims aren’t easy to file on your own. You will find that the insurance provider will likely have a lot of questions for you that you might not be prepared to answer or don’t want to revisit, such as accident scene details you’d rather forget. A lawyer can take on this task with ease and will also handle negotiations with the insurance company. In addition, a lawyer knows when and how to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit when it’s clear the insurance provider is unable or unwilling to cover your expenses.

Pedestrian accidents can be devastating, especially if you were severely injured or lost a loved one in the crash. If you’re ready to pursue compensation for your injuries or file a wrongful death lawsuit, it’s time to talk to Florida attorneys who are here to help you learn your legal options after a collision. At Milano Legal Group, PLLC, our team has handled several cases involving pedestrian accidents and can confidently handle yours, as well. If you want to talk to a skilled attorney before the statute of limitations is up, contact our Fort Lauderdale law office today at 855-545-1777 to schedule your free case evaluation.