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Who Has Pedestrian Accident Liability in Ohio?

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If You Were Hit by a Car, Protect Your Rights

If you were hit by a car while walking, you may be able to secure significant compensation for this disruption to your life.

A car hitting a pedestrian is one of the simplest types of accidents to determine who’s at fault. Most of the time, the vehicle driver is liable. Ohio law holds drivers to a high standard for keeping vulnerable pedestrians safe.

It doesn’t mean, however, that you don’t need to take special care to protect your rights as an injured pedestrian.

The driver and their insurance company could seek to put some of the blame on you for what happened.

A 2022 report from the Ohio State Highway Patrol said pedestrians were at fault in 34 percent of accidents with cars.

In fatal accidents, pedestrians were at fault 53 percent of the time. Forty-four percent of pedestrians killed in collisions with vehicles may have been drunk or high.

Few things are more horrific than getting hit by a car. Work with the personal injury lawyers at Horenstein, Nicholson & Blumenthal (HNB) to get the resources you need to recover and put this hardship behind you.

In a personal injury case, you can claim:

  • Payment for your current and future medical treatment resulting from the accident
  • Payment for missed work time and income
  • Compensation for damage to your quality of life, pain and suffering

The pedestrian accident lawyers at HNB Law have helped thousands of people get financial relief after injuries.

HNB has secured over $500,000,000.00 in injury awards, benefits and settlements.

In Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and every city in Ohio, people say, “Helping me, that’s HNB.”

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    Who’s at Fault in a Pedestrian Accident?

    While it’s every driver’s responsibility to watch out and avoid hitting a pedestrian, in some cases the pedestrian’s behavior removes some of the fault from the motorist.

    For example:

    • Someone darts between parked cars in front moving traffic
    • A person is drunk or otherwise impaired and staggers into cars
    • A pedestrian crosses a street in an unsafe place, mid-block, without a crosswalk or proper markings (in other words, jaywalking)
    • A person is distracted while walking, texting or talking on the phone, or otherwise not paying attention, and steps in front of traffic
    • Someone on foot fails to take safety precautions like wearing light colored clothing along a dark street

    If the vehicle’s driver, on the other hand, violated a traffic law in hitting a pedestrian—they were driving aggressively or speeding, they ignored traffic signs and signals, they were distracted, or they were drunk or impaired—the case much more clearly goes against the driver.

    Ohio law has “comparative negligence” in personal injury cases. Both sides of a collision can have a degree of fault. As an injured pedestrian, if you’re deemed less than 50 percent liable, and the driver is over 50 percent liable, you’ll likely be able to collect damages.

    Also, it doesn’t always have to be a car or truck driver hitting a pedestrian to create a legal case. Liability laws apply to motorcyclists, scooter riders and even bicyclists who hit a person on foot.

    And liability can extend to the companies that employ commercial drivers, property owners who failed to maintain sidewalks, government agencies that failed to address road hazards, and vehicle manufacturers if a mechanical defect triggered the collision.

    If the driver and their insurance company are trying to pin liability on you after a vehicle injured you while you were walking, make sure you have a skilled pedestrian accident lawyer to protect your rights.

    If you’re trying to understand how pedestrian accident liability law applies to your case, you can discuss it with HNB Law for free.

    There’s no cost for an initial consultation on how you can pursue compensation after a pedestrian accident. And you don’t pay an attorney fee until you win an injury award or settlement.

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    Causes of a Vehicle Hitting a Pedestrian

    People in cars can fail to see pedestrians and fail to keep them safe in many situations.

    Getting at the cause of your accident is an important step in determining liability.

    Your pedestrian accident lawyer will look for situations like these:

    • During turns, drivers aren’t paying as much attention to pedestrians.
    • Going in reverse, drivers can easily miss someone standing behind their car.
    • At transit stops, cars can hit pedestrians after they get off buses.
    • Across multiple lanes, one car may stop to let a pedestrian cross, but the car in the next lane keeps going.
    • Pedestrians who haven’t finished crossing before the “don’t walk” light comes on can get hit by inattentive drivers.
    • Distracted drivers could be talking on the phone, texting, fiddling with the radio, eating, checking their hair and makeup, talking to people in the car, dealing with their children, tending to pets—and not seeing pedestrians.
    • Aggressive drivers do all kinds of things that can get pedestrians hurt: speeding, failing to yield at appropriate times, blowing through signs, abruptly changing lanes, turning too fast, and more.
    • Drunk drivers’ entire perception of the world around them is impaired, leading to all kinds of accidents.
    • Poor road conditions like bad weather, broken streetlights, construction, damaged roads, accidents and other obstructions, and even poor street designs lacking clear markings and places for people to cross, can lead to pedestrians getting hit.

    HNB pedestrian accident lawyers have extensive experience gathering the evidence you need to show the cause of your injury as a pedestrian, including witness statements, police reports, medical reports on your injuries, information on the driver’s state at the time of the accident, and traffic or security camera footage.

    This evidence, in turn, helps establish pedestrian accident liability, so the driver’s insurance company—or a court if necessary—can see that you deserve compensation to put the pieces back together and return to fully living.

    After this devastating trauma, let’s fight together to get you what’s fair.

    Call HNB Today  Call HNB Today