Hit in a crosswalk? Call me.
In Durham and Chapel Hill, there are a LOT of people walking about. With two giant universities and vibrant downtown areas, pedestrians are everywhere. As a result, there are a lot of accidents involving pedestrians. Why is this? Well, let’s talk about a few issues associated with pedestrian v. automobile accidents.
DRIVERS AND PEDESTRIANS
Part of the problem is these accidents don’t happen in a vacuum. It’s not always just this one car struck this one pedestrian. Often times, a pedestrian has begun walking in a crosswalk and one car stops for them, but a car in the other lane doesn’t see them or understand why the car has stopped and BOOM, there’s trouble. If you’re operating a vehicle in a multi-lane road and a car in the lane next to you stops for a pedestrian, YOU MUST STOP TOO! This can be frustrating for drivers because it takes the decision out of their hands, but this rule is right. Once someone has stopped for a pedestrian, it’s best to just let them get across safely and not have to play real life version of the video game Frogger.
RIGHT OF WAY…WHO HAS IT?
Traffic lights give us a good idea as to who has the right of way, but NC law can be a bit squishy on this. Once a pedestrian is in the roadway and/or crosswalk, that creates a duty on the part of the driver to yield to the pedestrian, even if the pedestrian shouldn’t have been there because of what the light is doing. This seems somewhat unfair, but think of it this way: We can’t just run over people simply because they’ve made a bad decision. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s ALWAYS the driver’s fault…
CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE
I’ve written and talked about this issue ad nauseum…check out this vid for a more detailed description, but the short version of Contributory Negligence is if a victim is even 1% at fault, they are statutorily prevented from being awarded ANYTHING from the person who is 99% at fault. North Carolina is one of only 4 states who still have this fossil of English Common Law on the books, sadly. It can be a very difficult barrier for many pedestrian claims in that it’s fairly easy to make an argument that even if the pedestrian had the right of way, the pedestrian had the duty to exercise reasonable care, too, and maybe they didn’t and that’s at least PART of the reason why they were hit. The take-home message here is that Contributory Negligence can really be a killer for pedestrian cases, so you should call an attorney if you have one.
Call me for help with any injury claim. 919-929-2992.
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