Why Pedestrian Cases Are Different

Pedestrian claims raise questions most car crash claims don't: whose insurance pays when you weren't in a car, who had the right-of-way, and what happens if the driver never stopped. Insurers can use that confusion to pay you less.

It makes sense to talk to a lawyer if:

• You were hit by a car, truck, bus, or other vehicle and needed medical care
• The driver or an insurance company says the crash was your fault
• The driver left the scene or hasn't been identified
• You don't own a car and aren't sure whose insurance covers you
• A family member was killed

A consultation with us is free, and there is no obligation. If we take your case, you owe no fee and no costs unless we recover money for you.

How Pedestrian Accidents Happen

Many pedestrian cases fit a familiar pattern:

• A driver turning at an intersection who doesn't yield to someone in the crosswalk
• A driver running a red light or rolling through a stop sign
• A car backing out of a parking space or driveway without checking behind it
• Crashes in parking lots, gas stations, and shopping center drive lanes
• Crashes at night or at dusk, when a driver says they never saw the person walking
• Drivers who are texting, speeding, or impaired

Nighttime cases often turn on street lighting, headlights, and the driver's speed and attention.

What to Do After Being Hit by a Vehicle

1. Call 911: Get medical help and ask for police to come. The crash report is an important record of what happened.
2. Get the driver's information: Ask for the driver's name, phone number, driver's license, license plate, and insurance. If the driver leaves, note the plate, the vehicle's make and color, and which way it went.
3. Document the scene: Photograph the vehicle, the crosswalk or roadway, signals, street lights, and your injuries. Get witnesses' contact information and note any nearby cameras, since footage can be recorded over within days or weeks.
4. Keep what you were wearing: Don't wash or throw away the clothes and shoes you had on. They can help show how the crash happened and what the driver could see.
5. See a doctor within 14 days: For Florida's personal injury protection (PIP) coverage to pay your medical bills, you generally must get initial medical treatment within 14 days of the crash. Go even if you feel fine; some injuries take time to show up.
6. Be careful with insurance companies: Report the crash to your auto insurer (or a relative's, if you're covered there) and meet the policy's requirements, but think twice before giving a recorded statement to the driver's insurer or signing anything it sends you. What you say can be used to reduce your claim.
7. Call a lawyer: The sooner a lawyer gets involved, the sooner video, vehicle data, and other evidence can be preserved.

Florida Pedestrian Laws You Should Know

Right-of-way at crosswalks

Drivers must stop for, or yield to, a pedestrian in a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the road or close enough to be in danger. That covers crosswalks at traffic signals (when the pedestrian has a signal to cross), crosswalks with signs telling drivers to stop, and crosswalks with no working signal. A driver also may not pass a car that has stopped at a crosswalk to let someone cross. And a crosswalk doesn't have to be painted: at an intersection, the space where the sidewalks on each side would meet if extended across the road counts as one.

Rules for pedestrians

People on foot have duties too. They must obey the signals that apply to them, use the sidewalk where there is one, and where there isn't, walk facing traffic on the left shoulder when practicable. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or an intersection's unmarked crosswalk must yield to vehicles. Between two neighboring intersections with working signals, pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk. No one may suddenly step into the path of a vehicle so close that the driver cannot yield.

Breaking one of these rules does not by itself decide who pays. Every driver must still use due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian, and a traffic violation is evidence a jury weighs with everything else. Someone who crossed mid-block may still have a claim against a driver who was speeding or on a phone.

PIP covers you on foot

Florida's no-fault rules apply when a car or truck hits you, even though you were walking. Different rules can apply if you were hit by a motorcycle or a public transit bus. Personal injury protection (PIP) generally pays 80% of your reasonable, medically necessary medical bills and 60% of your lost income, up to the $10,000 limit, no matter who caused the crash. Medical benefits above $2,500 are available only if a medical doctor, osteopathic physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse finds that you had an emergency medical condition. Which policy pays depends on your situation:

• If you own a car insured in Florida, your own PIP generally pays.
• If you don't own a car, PIP on a car owned by a relative you live with may cover you.
• If neither applies and you are a Florida resident, the PIP on the vehicle that hit you generally pays.

PIP covers a pedestrian only if the injury was caused by physical contact with a motor vehicle, such as being struck by a car or by something a car crashed into. If you were hurt getting out of the way of a car that never hit anything, PIP generally won't pay. If you own a car that Florida requires to be insured but let the coverage lapse, you generally cannot use a relative's PIP or the driver's PIP instead. Visitors from other states generally can't use the PIP on the vehicle that hit them, and different rules may apply to their claims.

When you can sue the driver

PIP rarely covers everything. To recover for pain and suffering from the at-fault driver, Florida law generally requires that the crash caused a permanent injury (within a reasonable degree of medical probability), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, or a death. Even if your injury does not meet that standard, you can still claim from the at-fault driver the medical bills and lost income that PIP does not cover.

Hit-and-run and uninsured drivers

Leaving the scene of a crash that injures someone is a crime in Florida, but some drivers flee. Others have little or no insurance, because Florida generally does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage. Either way, uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage can pay for your injuries. UM is optional, but if you or a relative you live with has it, it generally protects you while walking, not only in a car.

Shared fault

Florida uses modified comparative negligence. If you are partly at fault, your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame. If you are found more than 50% at fault, you generally cannot recover anything from the driver. Insurers often argue that the pedestrian stepped out suddenly or crossed outside a crosswalk, so the evidence matters.

Deadline to file a lawsuit

For crashes that happened after March 24, 2023, Florida generally gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit. Crashes on or before that date generally have four years. If you miss the deadline, you can lose your claim entirely. Claims against a government agency, such as a crash with a city bus, also have notice requirements and limits on damages, so talk to a lawyer early.

What Compensation Can You Recover?

Depending on the facts of your case, compensation can include:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost wages and lost earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish and emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Scarring and disfigurement

Where Florida's no-fault injury standard applies, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and scarring can be recovered from the at-fault driver only if the injury meets it. Medical bills and lost wages can be recovered to the extent PIP has not paid them.

If a pedestrian was killed, the family may have a wrongful death claim. In Florida, it is brought by the personal representative of the person's estate, and the deadline is generally two years from the date of death.

How We Build Your Pedestrian Accident Case

Evidence in a pedestrian case can disappear quickly. We move fast to gather:

• The police crash report and any citations
• Video from businesses, homes, doorbells, dashcams, and buses
• Photos and measurements of the crosswalk, signals, sight lines, and lighting
• Medical records that connect your injuries to the crash
• Every insurance policy that may apply, including policies in your household

When the facts are disputed, we work with accident reconstructionists to show how the crash happened. If the insurance company won't make a fair offer, we are prepared to take your case to court.