Hit by a car Archives • The Layton Law Firm

When someone is involved in a pedestrian personal injury involving an automobile, the results are often heartbreaking. The Layton Law Firm began its reputation for representing pedestrians by successfully represented a 17-year-old boy who was seriously injured by a driver while crossing a busy Charlotte street at night. After fighting a denied claim and ultimately prevailing against the insurance company for the child and his family, we made it a priority to fight hard for injured pedestrians.

We currently represent numerous pedestrians in personal injury and wrongful death actions. We take each law firm client’s injuries seriously, but injuries to children and pedestrians are specifically important to us because of the extreme nature of the injuries and the age of the individuals involved. As a result, children and pedestrian injuries have become a passion of ours. Unfortunately, winning a pedestrian claim can be an uphill battle requiring persistence, creativity, and diligent pursuit of recovery.

Don’t Pedestrians Always Have The Right Of Way?

This is the question always asked when there is a pedestrian injury. As a Charlotte pedestrian personal injury lawyer, unfortunately, I find myself quite often answering “Not always”. While pedestrians often start with a presumption of the right of way, they can easily forfeit it by being too far outside a crosswalk, crossing the road at a non-designated spot, or being inebriated. In fact, there are some instances where a pedestrian actually must yield to the motorist.

How Do I Preserve The Pedestrian Right Of Way?

There are a few guidelines that will help preserve your right of way as a pedestrian. Always strive to:

Walk with the cross-walk signals
Stay inside specifically marked cross-walk pathways
If a sidewalk exists, use the sidewalk (and not the roadway)
Electric wheelchair users: follow the rules for pedestrians, NOT for vehicles

Do Drivers Have Responsibilities To Pedestrians In NC?

Yes, there are. Even in a situation where a pedestrian may have yielded the right of way, the operator of a motor vehicle must still exercise reasonable care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian in the roadway. The doctrine of Last Clear Chance can also be applied, and your Charlotte Pedestrian Personal Injury Lawyer will discuss it with you. Essentially, it says that even if a pedestrian has forfeited the right of way, if the operator of the vehicle has the last clear chance to avoid an accident, he or she must avoid the accident. This doctrine applies in other personal injury situations as well, such as automobile accidents between the operators of two vehicles.

How Can A Personal Injury Lawyer Help?

A Charlotte personal injury lawyer will help to make sure you are treated fairly. Insurance companies often deny pedestrian claims based on contributory negligence, or some other factor. An aggressive legal strategy can often overcome this denial and help achieve a fair result. It is our opinion that pedestrians make good plaintiffs.

When an insurance denial is met with a threat of a lawsuit, quite often we are able to reach a settlement before entering the courtroom. In most cases, an insurance company does not want to appear in court against a pedestrian, because it shows an unwillingness to settle the case or to be reasonable in accepting liability for the plaintiff’s injuries.

Pedestrian injuries also often lead to large medical bills. Your personal injury lawyer will not only work to secure a fair offer for you but can also negotiate some of your medical billing. The end result is you end up with more money in your pocket. The ability to negotiate these bills stems from the attorney’s understanding of N.C.G.S. 44-49 and 44-50, which is a limiting factor when it comes to liens resulting from medical treatment related to the injury.

You deserve to have someone fight for your rights. Insurance companies are focused on the bottom line. We focus on the client.

Speak With A Charlotte Pedestrian Lawyer Today

If you were a pedestrian, and were hit by the driver of an automobile or motorcycle, please call us at 704.749.7747. Or, if you’d like us to call you, just click HERE to request a call online. An attorney will be happy to discuss your rights and provide you guidance, at no charge. There’s no obligation to hire us but we hope you’ll choose to Recover With Us.

If you need a free copy of your accident report, we’re happy to obtain that for you as well– just click HERE to request one and simply let us know the date of your accident, the location, and your full name.

Hit By A Car While Running – What To Do Next

If you are hit by a car while running, the injuries can be tragic. There is no more vulnerable individual on the road than the pedestrian. Often, runners are moving fast enough that turning cars don’t see them coming. This makes getting hit by a car while running a very real danger.

Take These Steps After Being Hit

If you’ve been hit by a car while running, certainly your health is most important. Calling for medical attention should be your first step.
Second, document the accident. This means taking pictures of the area where you were hit, and the vehicle that hit you. Additionally, take photos of the license plate of the car that hit you.
Third, if you are not being rushed to the hospital by ambulance, be sure to call the police. This will generate a police report which is an official record of the accident.
Lastly, take down the names and phone numbers of any witnesses who saw the accident and were kind enough to stop. They may be the key to your personal injury case down the road.

Statistically Speaking

Each year, the numbers keep getting worse for pedestrians. According to the most recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Administration:

“Unfortunately, pedestrians were one of the few groups of road users to experience an increase in fatalities in the United States in 2016, totaling 5,987 deaths.”
https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/pedestrian-safety

That is a fatality every two hours, which is terribly frightening. Comparatively, 840 bicyclists were killed in the same year. A previous blog article on this site has advice regarding bicycling in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Preventing Pedestrian Accidents

In order to prevent being hit by a car while running or walking, you have to become a defensive pedestrian. This means taking proactive steps to ensure your own safety. Consequently, you need to always be on the lookout for the actions of drivers, and make yourself easily detectable as a pedestrian. Here are a few ways to accomplish that:

Wear brightly colored clothing or a safety vest.
Follow the rules of the road so that motorists are more likely to spot you.
Run during daylight hours.
Pick routes that include greenways and neighborhood streets whenever possible.

Speak With An Attorney Today

If you were hit by a car while running, we’re here to help. Our firm aggressively defends the rights of pedestrians including runners, bicyclists, and others sharing the road with motorists. Attorney Chris Layton spent years commuting to work by bicycle in Charlotte, and runs almost every day—as a result, he’s passionate about helping individuals who have been injured on the road. You can reach us at 704.749.7747 or click for a FREE CASE EVALUATION and we will reach out to you the same day. We know you have choices. We hope you choose to Recover With Us.

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