Walking in the Baytown area should be a safe activity. People who make the environmentally friendly and economically efficient choice to travel on foot should be able to move from point A to point B while remaining free from danger. Sadly, this is not always the case. Traffic accidents on the road may spill over onto sidewalks or drivers may fail to yield to people using crosswalks. Even walking from one’s vehicle to a store or home may expose a person to hazards in parking lots or garages.
A driver who causes an injury to a pedestrian could be held liable to provide monetary damages for all resulting damage. This might include payments for medical bills, reimbursement for lost wages, and even compensation for emotional traumas connected to the incident. Our skilled personal injury attorneys are prepared to help you hold the parties responsible for your losses accountable. Reaching out to a Baytown pedestrian accident lawyer at Kirk Law Firm, PLLC today allows us to immediately get to work pursuing these payments on your behalf.
How a Pedestrian Collision Could Impact a Person’s Life
Pedestrians involved in incidents with a motor vehicle tend to suffer severe injuries. This is because they lack even the basic protections that riders in other cars can enjoy when enduring contact from another vehicle. Even collisions at low speeds still have the potential to knock a person to the ground and cause harm. Faster crashes might cause a person to be thrown into the air or to become trapped under a vehicle.
The physical injuries that result from these accidents could have devastating consequences. Our Baytown pedestrian crash attorneys work to obtain the medical records, information about a victim’s mental health concerns, and lost wage reports that provide a full picture of all the ways in which a wreck has impacted a person’s life.
Seeking Fair Compensation for the Victims of Crashes
Liability is never a certainty, even in cases where a victim was on foot. Collisions between a person on foot and a vehicle are always someone’s fault, but it is the responsibility of the victim to prove that a driver was to blame for a crash. Only after a driver’s negligence is proven can an injured person successfully move forward to obtain financial reimbursement.
Courts considering pedestrian accidents in Baytown must use the concept called modified comparative negligence to evaluate the actions of all involved parties. Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 33.001, defendant drivers and their insurance companies can attempt to shift blame for an incident onto a pedestrian. This can include allegations of:
- Wearing dark clothing at night that limited a walker’s visibility
- Crossing a road in the absence of a crosswalk
- Moving out from between parked cars
If a court accepts this argument, it may reduce or even eliminate the award presented to an injured pedestrian. Talking with the Baytown pedestrian collision lawyers at Kirk Law Firm, PLLC today allows our team to fully investigate the cause of a crash and build a powerful case against an at-fault driver.
Pursue Your Case with the Help of a Baytown Pedestrian Accident Attorney
Every collision that occurs between a traveler on foot and a driver is someone’s fault. Unfortunately, the law never presumes liability for an accident, and even your status as a pedestrian is no guarantee of success. In fact, drivers and their insurance companies may argue that a wreck was unavoidable because you darted out into traffic or were moving into the street outside of a crosswalk.
Having our team of experienced Baytown pedestrian accident lawyers on your side to pursue your case could significantly improve your odds of receiving the payments that you need. Not only could we work to prove that a driver was to blame for the incident, but we could also help measure how that incident has impacted your life to demand fair compensation. Reach out today to get started.