It is an unfortunate reality that thousands of pedestrians are struck by vehicles every year. Asheville is no exception—it ranks the highest in per capita pedestrian deaths in any city with more than 75,000 in North Carolina.
Given the size and weight difference between pedestrians and vehicles, these collisions can often result in serious injuries to pedestrians. In addition, drivers of cars are often distracted and fail to notice pedestrians, even when the pedestrian is in a crosswalk or otherwise have the right of way to cross a road.
If you’re struck by a vehicle in Asheville or Western North Carolina you need an attorney experienced with pedestrian accident’s to help you navigate the complex laws surrounding these incidents. Melrose Law offers free case reviews for pedestrian accidents in the Asheville area. These consultations have no string’s attached—if you decide that you’d like to take a different approach to handling your case, you will not owe our firm a fee for the consultation.
Most Common Reasons for Pedestrian Accidents
While many car collisions with pedestrians are the driver’s fault, there are a number of different factors that contribute to these serious incidents. Consideration of these potential risk factors can help prevent a collision, and can help a lawyer explain to a jury why the collision may have occurred.
Alcohol Involvement
Alcohol is a very common factor in pedestrian accidents. Asheville is well-known for its strong craft beer scene, and it’s a common sight to see many pedestrians walking from bar to bar on a busy weekend evening. However, it’s also common to see these same pedestrians not treat the roadway with the care and respect that they deserve. According to the CDC, more than half of the pedestrian accident fatalities include alcohol as a contributing factor, either for the pedestrian or for the driver.
North Carolina also has a law called contributory negligence. If you or your loved one is found to have contributed at all to your injuries, such as by consuming alcohol and walking suddenly or carelessly into the roadway, you may be prevented from making a financial recovery, even if the driver of the vehicle was 99% at fault. It’s important to involve a lawyer early in the process, as we can address any alcohol involvement by the injured pedestrian in an honest way, but in a way that helps maximize your chance at a financial recovery.
Lack of Visibility
Many pedestrian accidents happen because the pedestrian was not visible to the vehicle, or the driver just otherwise failed to observe the pedestrian prior to the collision. We often hear drivers say at their depositions that the pedestrian “must have just walked into my vehicle.” While is this almost never the case, it does showcase the frequency in which visibility is a complicating factor.
Other contributing factors for the lack of visibility include fog, lack of streetlights, or dark colored clothing worn by the pedestrian. It can be extremely unsafe to walk on the side of the road in the middle of the night in black or other dark clothing. While drivers are responsible for paying attention to the road and “seeing what’s there to be seen,” if a jury believes a pedestrian’s garb or behavior was unsafe for the circumstances, the injured pedestrian may be precluded from recovery as a result of their behavior or dress.
Failure to Yield at Crosswalks
One of the most common places pedestrians are struck is actually inside of a crosswalk. This often occurs when a vehicle turns left from a side road and strikes a pedestrian that had the right of way to cross the street.
While these are the easiest cases for a lawyer to prove that the driver was negligent, the best result is the pedestrian avoiding injury in the first place. You should always carefully observe vehicles entering from side streets, even when you are in a crosswalk and the crosswalk signal says that it’s your turn to cross the road.
Reckless Driving
Reckless driving (often at a high rate of speed) is a contributing factor in many pedestrian injury cases. This can take the form of aggressive driving to try to beat other traffic on the road, or just simple excessive speed. Speed limits are not a suggestion—they are set at specific thresholds to allow drivers enough time and space to slow down to avoid colliding with pedestrians. Asheville city streets are often have a 25 to 35 miles per hour speed limit, and exceeding the speed limit and causing personal injury is negligent.
Our firm is experienced in hiring crash reconstruction experts or other engineers to help prove that a driver was exceeding the posted speed limit. The sooner we become involved in a case the more likely we’ll be able to preserve physical evidence that will help prove the driver was the cause of your or your loved one’s injuries.
First Things to do After an Asheville Pedestrian Accident
Time is always of the essence when it comes to personal injury claims. It is vital that you act quickly to preserve evidence related to the driver’s negligence. You can be sure that the driver’s insurance company will be doing whatever they can to avoid having to pay you or your family member’s medical bills and pain and suffering.
- Take pictures of the driver’s vehicle, the scene of the collision, and your injuries. Contemporaneous photographs are extremely helpful in helping a jury understand the severity of the collision. These photographs can also help show the road conditions at the time of the collision, and the location of the car and the pedestrian at the time of impact. If you were in a crosswalk, be sure to get that in the photographs as well.
- Call 911. Make sure the police arrive and collect everyone’s contact information. You will need to know the identity of the driver to make a claim against their insurance company.
- Get immediate medical attention. If you are injured, do not refuse to let the ambulance take you to the hospital, even though the EMS ride will be expensive. If you refuse medical care the jury may believe you were not injured as badly as you say were injured, and that could reduce the amount of money you obtain for your injuries.
- Contact an attorney. Attorneys who have experience handling pedestrian accidents know exactly what type of evidence to collect, and we also have experienced personal investigators that can collect witness statements and otherwise protect your right to recover for your injuries.
You have the right to the attorney of your choice to protect your rights in a pedestrian accident injury lawsuit. Experienced and diligent lawyers make a significant difference in your odds of a good recovery in these difficult claims. Contact us today at (828) 452 – 3141 for a free, no-strings-attached, case evaluation. You will not owe us a fee unless we make a successful recovery on your behalf.
