Pedestrian Accidents

Hundreds of pedestrians in Arizona suffer injuries in accidents every year. These injuries can be serious because they usually involve a collision between a fragile human and a heavy motor vehicle.

According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on average, one pedestrian is injured by a vehicle every 8 minutes, and one pedestrian dies as a result of injuries from the vehicle every 120 minutes.

Although, here in Maricopa County, these accidents sometimes decrease in the summer time due to heat you should still be very aware of pedestrians as a driver and as a pedestrian you should always be aware of vehicle.  

Although the primary cause of pedestrian injury or fatality is driver negligence.  This does not always mean the pedestrian was not negligent as well.  As a pedestrian, in order to help prevent being involved in an accident with a vehicle some of things you can do to are:

• Be careful at intersections, pay attention to traffic signals, and cross the street when possible use a designated marked crosswalk.
• Remember as a kid when you were taught to look left and then right and then left again before crossing, always stop and look.
• If you are walking in a parking lot or near where a vehicle may be parked blocking the view, stop at the edge line of the vehicle and look around before entering. Look for people in the vehicle, brake lights, backing up lights etc.
• Increase your visibility when walking at dusk or night. Pedestrians are at greater risk when it’s dark or near dusk and are more likely to be hit.  Use a flashlight and reflective clothing that helps you become more visible.
• Walking on the sidewalk is safer than the street.
• Don’t assume a vehicle can see you. Pay attention.  Just as a driver can be distracted so can a pedestrian.   Stay off your phone, keep your eyes and watch around you.

Some of the main reasons for driver negligence include speeding, failing to yield right of way to pedestrians at crosswalks, disregarding stop signs and traffic control devices and being distracted by something in the vehicle such as a cell phone, radio or kids.  All of these can cause a driver to not pay attention to their surroundings.

Determining who is negligent in pedestrian cases can often be problematic.  Even when auto/pedestrian accidents aren’t fatal, they can be debilitating, causing costly, life-changing injuries.

For this reason, our Scottsdale firm should be consulted to determine what courses of action to take to ensure that you have the best possible chance at recovering compensation.

Pedestrian injuries often involve head trauma, internal injuries and bone injuries.    With larger vehicles these injuries can be critical and sometime fatal.  Regardless of the sizes of the vehicles involved in pedestrian accidents, the Law Office of A.J. Mitchell can help your case. A life can be forever impacted by a pedestrian accident.

Our Arizona firm can offer legal advice and insight if someone in your family was injured or killed in an auto/pedestrian accident.