When a vehicle strikes another vehicle, the results are often severe. When a vehicle strikes a pedestrian, however, the consequences can be catastrophic and even fatal. If you sustained serious injuries after being struck by a negligent driver, you might be uncertain about what you should do.
If this is the case, the Detroit pedestrian accident attorneys at the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates can help. Once you sign with us, we will begin work on your case right away to ensure that your insurance benefits are paid in full and that you receive the highest settlement possible. Call us today to schedule your free consultation.
The majority of pedestrian accidents take place because drivers violate traffic laws or are not paying attention to their surroundings. Pedestrian accident lawsuits can be brought for claims of negligent and reckless driving if a pedestrian is struck by a bus, truck, car, bicycle, motorcycle, or any other type of vehicle. The most common causes of pedestrian accidents in Michigan include:
Commercial vehicles are a significant contributor to Detroit’s high pedestrian accident rate. They frequently occur in metropolitan areas but also in neighborhoods and suburbs. The number of pedestrian accidents caused by commercial vehicles has increased drastically over the past several years. This is largely attributed to the growing number and increased popularity of food and package delivery services.
Along with big delivery trucks and postal trucks, pedestrians are frequently struck by:
In the delivery industry, especially food delivery, drivers are generally reviewed and tipped based on the speed at which they make the delivery, which places pedestrians in a significant amount of danger. In these cases, companies may be held accountable for the negligence of their workers.
As a pedestrian, you should always exercise due caution and never assume that a driver sees you or is going to operate their vehicle with your safety and well-being in mind. Pedestrian mistakes that often lead to pedestrian accidents include:
Interestingly, a study conducted in Michigan in 2018 revealed that the highest percentage of pedestrian accidents (36%) involved pedestrians who were crossing at intersections, and the second-highest percentage (20%) involved pedestrians who were crossing the street mid-block.
The other leading causes all involve pedestrians laying, standing, or walking on the roadway. Unsurprisingly, pedestrians who were not on the road were involved in only 5% of pedestrian accidents. The breakdown is as follows:
Most pedestrians have little to no hope of avoiding severe injuries when they are hit by a car. An average passenger vehicle weighs more than 4,500 pounds and trucks and vans weigh considerably more. When a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle, the injuries they sustain are usually catastrophic. Some of the most common Detroit car accident injuries are:
Vehicle accidents involving pedestrians have been steadily increasing over the past few decades not only in Michigan but across the United States as well. According to the law, a pedestrian is defined as anyone on foot, rollerblades, skates, skis, or manual wheelchair, or the rider of a horse and buggy, or the rider of a horse. 2,317 pedestrian accidents took place statewide in 2018, the majority of which caused severe injuries. There were also 145 fatal pedestrian accidents in that same year, indicating a slight decrease from the 178 fatal accidents the year before.
Most pedestrian accidents took place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., likely because this is in the middle of rush hour and, depending on the time of year, could be dark outside as well. The largest percentage of fatal pedestrian accidents occurred among pedestrians attempting to cross the road mid-block. Intoxication, both pedestrian and driver, was another factor that contributed hugely to pedestrian fatalities.
Yes, pursuant to state law, pedestrians injured in vehicle accidents do receive no-fault insurance benefits, even if they have no car insurance or don’t own a car. You do, however, have to be either a resident of Michigan or own a vehicle that is insured and titled in Michigan to be eligible to collect those benefits, which will come from either the insurance policy of the relative you lived with when the accident occurred, or your own auto insurance policy. If neither one of these options applies to you, then your benefits will come from the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan.
Figuring out which insurance carrier is liable for delivering your benefits is confusing but our experienced Detroit pedestrian accident lawyers can determine the correct provider and help you submit all necessary paperwork for a Michigan pedestrian injury claim. We deal with the insurance company on your behalf to ensure that the full amount of your benefits is paid.
In some cases, no-fault benefits include coverage of lifetime medical expenses, lost earnings, household benefits, and home care services, as well as coverage for other services and alterations deemed medically necessary.
Yes, if you were partly or even completely at fault for your pedestrian accident, such as crossing the road illegally or being under the influence, you are still eligible to collect no-fault benefits. No insurance carrier is allowed to deny you your benefits even if you caused the accident.
Sadly, drivers sometimes decide to flee the scene of the accident after striking and seriously injuring or even killing a pedestrian in an effort to avoid criminal charges. Drivers who are under the influence often flee because they could potentially face incarceration and would probably prefer to avoid taking a field sobriety test.
Even if the driver who hit you is never identified or their vehicle is never found, hit-and-run accident victims are still eligible to collect their no-fault insurance benefits. A victim only needs to prove that a vehicle caused their accident and injuries. This is easily accomplished with material evidence collected at the crash site and eyewitness statements.
Also, most auto policies include uninsured and underinsured driver coverage. This allows pain and suffering damages to be collected for hit-and-run accidents, as well as accidents where a pedestrian was hit by a motorist with no or insufficient insurance coverage. If you were injured in a hit-and-run accident, contact the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates right away.
If you were struck by a vehicle, you are entitled to file a lawsuit seeking damages for your pain and suffering in addition to your no-fault insurance benefits. The lawsuit would be brought against the at-fault driver as well as the owner of the vehicle. Through the use of physical evidence and witness statements, you will have to prove that the at-fault driver violated a traffic law or was otherwise negligent and, as such, is to blame for your accident. You will also have to show that the accident was the cause of your injuries.
These types of claims are referred to as personal injury or bodily injury claims and are entirely distinct from a no-fault insurance claim.
A personal injury claim provides financial compensation for your physical pain and emotional suffering, decreased quality of life, emotional trauma, disability, and disfigurement resulting from your pedestrian accident. Michigan places no cap on pain and suffering damages. However, the defendant’s policy limits will play a big role in your economic compensation award.
In 2019, a pedestrian safety campaign run by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning targeted four major cities: Detroit, Warren, Kalamazoo, and Lansing. The campaign’s objective was to educate pedestrians and drivers about various safety issues.
For the duration of the campaign, 294 traffic citations and 257 warnings were issued. For drivers, the emphasis was on failure to yield to pedestrians and unlawful turns. The focus of the pedestrian warnings was facing away from traffic while walking in the street and not walking on a sidewalk when one was available.
If your case involves a fatal pedestrian accident, our lawyers will file a wrongful death suit on behalf of the deceased’s surviving relatives. In a wrongful death pedestrian case, any damages are intended to compensate for the pain and suffering experienced by the victim between their accident and their passing, even if was mere moments, as well as the loss of fellowship experienced by the remaining relatives.
If the victim was a source of monetary support for a family member, a claim for those economic damages will also be included in the wrongful death lawsuit. Michigan’s no-fault laws also provide compensation for survivor loss benefits, which include lost wage payments for no more than 36 months, coverage of medical bills and household services, as well as $1,750.00 for funerary services.
In Michigan, the statute of limitations, which is the amount of time you are given to file a lawsuit, is three years from the day your accident occurred. The deadline can be extended if the victim was under 18 years of age when the accident happened. No-fault benefit claims have to be filed with the insurance carrier no more than one year after the accident.
When it comes to contacting an attorney regarding your Detroit pedestrian accident case, it is best to act as quickly as possible. Besides potentially missing strict deadlines, a delayed start to the investigation could be detrimental to your case. By promptly contacting the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates, we will be able to locate and interview any witnesses, inspect the striking vehicle, and track down dash cam and surveillance videos from local houses and businesses, and other drivers who were in the area. If you wait too long to speak with a Detroit pedestrian accident lawyer from the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates, vital evidence that would have strengthened your claim could be erased, destroyed, altered, or simply lost to time.
Although this is an extremely common question, keep in mind that personal injury cases are all unique. At the time it comes in, no case has a set value. It is a lawyer’s job to work with their client to ensure that their case has maximum value. In order to do that, liability must be assessed, and then we need to understand the damages by establishing facts such as the nature of the injury and whether or not the client is going to be living with the consequences of that injury for the rest of their life. Having a lawyer who understands these things is essential. If you talk to a lawyer at the outset and they tell you that your case has a specific value, you are probably not getting the best legal advice.
Michigan doesn’t place any limits or caps on how much financial compensation you can collect, but a limit may be imposed by the at-fault driver’s insurance policy limits times and the limits of any other potential insurance coverage.
Each personal injury claim is unique and based on a wide variety of factors. Your total settlement amount will ultimately depend on the severity and longevity of your injuries, the duration and manner of your medical treatments, and how your injuries have impacted your day-to-day life and your ability to enjoy it. Whether you experienced a loss of earnings and reduced or lost future earning capacity will also be factored into your total settlement amount.
At the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates, our Detroit pedestrian accident lawyers will thoroughly investigate every potential source of coverage to make sure that you obtain the largest settlement possible in your pedestrian accident case, including tracking down the auto insurance policies for both the at-fault driver and the owner of the striking vehicle. Oftentimes, these two insurance policies can be combined to increase the amount of insurance coverage available for a settlement.
It is worth noting that most pedestrians are also covered under their own insurance policy or the policy of a relative. Most insurance policies also include underinsured motorist coverage along with uninsured motorist coverage, both of which can supply for coverage for pain and suffering damages.
Just like the value of a personal injury claim, the amount of time it will take to receive your settlement varies from case to case. Cases involving serious injuries and low policy limits tend to settle quite quickly. By and large, the majority of personal injury cases take a year or longer to settle. This is due to the fact that the victim is still in recovery and the forthcoming effects of their injuries are not yet known.
It is generally unwise to accept a settlement offer before the long-range effects of your injuries are fully understood. Beware of an attorney who promises a quick settlement to your Detroit pedestrian accident case. This usually indicates that they are looking out for their own best interests and not yours by earning a quick attorney fee and then leaving you to deal with the no-fault insurance claim by yourself.
No, no one is obligated to hire a lawyer to help them with any type of Detroit personal injury case. Truth be told, if your injury was mild and you are fully recovered, you could very well be better off settling with the insurance carrier on your own. If, however, your injury was severe or your case involves the wrongful death of a family memebr, we strongly recommend that you enlist the aid of a skilled Detroit pedestrian accident or wrongful death lawyer for help as soon as possible.
It is always in your best interests to partner with an attorney who has experience in handling serious pedestrian accident cases. This is because Michigan’s no-fault insurance laws can be confusing and complex. Additionally, the insurance carrier is not going to just tell you all the benefits that you are entitled to. If you choose to forego legal representation, it is highly unlikely you will be paid everything you are owed, and even less likely that you will even be aware of the no-fault benefits the insurer did not pay you because they aren’t going to tell you about them.
It is also very difficult for someone with no legal training and experience to learn about and locate every insurance policy available to pay your settlement.
Lastly, don’t expect the insurance adjuster to negotiate fairly or tell you the truth about the policy limits. They are going to try to get you to sign a release of all claims forms. Once you do that, you waive your right to any benefits that you would have been eligible to collect for the rest of your life.
The Detroit pedestrian accident lawyers at the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates operate on a contingency fee schedule. Simply put, we do not collect any fees unless and until you are awarded a settlement. We never charge clients any money to begin work on their cases and only get paid if we are successful in securing you a settlement check. We cover all expenses upfront related to your pedestrian accident case, and if, for any reason, your case is unsuccessful, you don’t have to pay us a single dime.
The Detroit pedestrian accident lawyers at the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates have the experience, skill, and resources you need to obtain the maximum settlement amount for your damages. Contact us right away at (248) 886-8650 or fill out the contact form on our website to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
