Examples Of Pedestrians Severely Hurt While In A Marked Crosswalk

Do you think you're safe by following the rules and using a crosswalk to cross the street? You you try to only cross a street at a marked crosswalk. If perhaps there were a guarantee that drivers would follow the rules and give pedestrians in a crosswalk the right of way. Cases regarding pedestrians hurt in a motor vehicle accident while in a crosswalk are among those taken on by any lawyer who handles motor vehicle accident lawsuits. If a vehicular accident involves a pedestrian the injuries are frequently considerable and have disastrous and irreversible consequences. Think about the following cases.

Case 1: In this case a bus hit a pedestrian as she was crossing the street in a crosswalk. The victim was a fifty year old female on her way to buy some gives for her grandchildren. She was pushing a shopping cart as she was going to the store. The bus hit her and then continued to run her over. The bus driver did not realize she had hit a shopping cart and had run over the victim until passengers in the bus started screaming for her to stop the bus. The impact and the weight of the bus running her over resulted in her sustaining fractures to her rib, fractures to her pelvis, and a fracture to her spine. She will have to undergo hip replacement surgery due to her injuries. The law firm that handled this lawsuit announced that they obtained a settlement of $1,250,000 for the victim.

Case 2: A driver was speeding in a heavily trafficked region of a large metropolitan city. There were a large number of pedestrians in the area. The driver was driving a rental car. He went through a red light and hit a van. This forced the van into a crosswalk which was being crossed by a pedestrian. The pedestrian, a twenty five year old man, sustained a spinal cord fracture injury that left him with total paralysis from the chest down.

The law firm that handled this lawsuit filed a claim on behalf of the pedestrian against the driver and the car rental company. Unable to reach a settlement, the law firm took the case to trial. The jury verdict was partially upheld to the sum of $20.3 million by the trial judge. This included $10 million for future pain and suffering. The remainder covered the cost of medical care, past and future loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

Case 3: This case report involved the driver of a school bus making a left hand turn at an intersection. In the course of making the turn the bus ran over a pedestrian’s foot. At the time of the accident the victim, a female, aged fifty four, was in a designated crosswalk walking over to the other side of the intersection. The driver did not recognize what had occurred until witnesses got his attention and had him back the bus up to free the pedestrian’s foot. The pedestrian sustained various considerable injuries to her foot and leg. The woman had to have several surgeries in order to try to save her leg. Ultimately, though, she lost her leg as she needed a below the knee amputation. Since the amputation she experienced constant phantom pain. The law firm that handled the matter documented that the case went to trial and the jury gave the victim $5,900,000.

By comparing and contrasting these lawsuit we discover first that each case is unique. Extrapolating from the claim it is apparent that a case can involve a car, a bus, a truck, or even a motorcycle. The victims, even when we consider incidents involving only pedestrians, can be male or female and can be any age.

The lawsuit, however, do normally share a number of things in common. First, crosswalks are no guarantee of safety. Drivers are easily distracted. In the first lawsuit above the driver failed to even comprehend that she had caused an accident and had run over a person. In the second lawsuit the driver was speeding and went right through a red light. In the third claim witnesses had to get the driver to reverse the vehicle in order to release the pedestrian’s foot pinned under the vehicle. Victims of pedestrian injuries of the type highlighted in these cases should consult a highly skilled and experienced pedestrian accident lawyer.

To learn more about how a pedestrian accident attorney can help you and about other vehicle accident cases including fatal car crash visit the websites