When it comes to accidents involving pedestrians, the consequences can be devastating. According to recent statistics from the Texas Department of Transportation, there were 657 fatal accidents involving pedestrians in the state of Texas in 2019. If you or someone you love has been injured in a pedestrian accident in Pearland, Texas, or the nearby areas of Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, or Corpus Christi, you may be able to file a personal injury claim.

Hildebrand & Wilson, LLC, our personal injury attorneys have years of experience working with individuals and families who have been injured in a pedestrian accident. Our firm is dedicated to providing reliable legal counsel and aggressive representation to injured victims so that they can pursue compensation for their medical bills, lost wages, and any additional pain and suffering they’ve been forced to endure. If you or someone you know has been injured in a pedestrian accident, call or reach out to our office today to schedule a free case evaluation.

Many people involved in a pedestrian accident may be asking themselves who is actually at fault when a pedestrian is hit? Determining liability is one of the first steps in the personal injury claims process.

Because Texas is considered an at-fault state, the pedestrian’s health insurance company will pay for any medical bills. However, the driver of the car that hit the pedestrian can still be liable for the accident. Most traffic laws require drivers to be alert to hazards and to pay attention to the road, so if a driver is not performing these duties and hits a pedestrian, then they are violating the law — and can be held liable for any injuries or damages they cause.

If the “Walk” sign is on when you are walking in a crosswalk and a vehicle hits you, the driver has violated the law. Pedestrians have the right of way in all crosswalks, however, if you or a loved one has been hit by a car when you were not using a crosswalk, you may still have a case. Consulting with an attorney to discuss the details of your case is always a good idea so that you can investigate whether or not there was a violation of right of way law.

It is the responsibility of the pedestrian to make sure that the road is clear before crossing. Pedestrians also must pay attention to “Walk” and “Don’t Walk” signals as well, and cannot suddenly run into the road. Just like drivers, pedestrians must obey traffic laws.

If a pedestrian was walking in the middle of the road at night and wearing all black when they were hit, this may understandably be a difficult case to pursue. Walking in the middle of the road at night while wearing dark clothing presents a significant challenge for any driver to avoid. These types of hazardous circumstances could be reasonably avoided by wearing reflective clothing and walking on the sidewalk or off the road entirely.

Whether or not your personal injury claim will be successful largely depends on who is at fault in the accident. There are even cases where both the driver and the pedestrian share some level of fault, and therefore, can both be found liable for the accident.

If you can prove that the driver of the vehicle was negligent, then you may be able to receive compensation for your injuries. Negligence is caused when a person was supposed to perform a duty (like pay attention to the road), but instead breached that duty (such as not looking for pedestrians before accelerating), there was a cause in fact (the accident directly caused an injury), the cause was proximate (reasonably could have been avoided), and you can legitimately receive damages for it.