At Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, we’ve worked on many cases involving pedestrian accidents. In our experience, we’ve learned that it’s common for people to believe that the driver is always at fault in these accidents. That simply is not always the case. Read on to learn more about determining fault in a pedestrian accident case and then reach out to us at 909-982-0707 for a free legal consultation.
Determining fault in a pedestrian accident
It’s typically the first question on everyone’s mind: Who is at fault? California laws are clear on the issue of negligence. Note that in legalese, negligence refers to not acting with reasonable care. The requirement is that another person in the community who was facing the same circumstances (or very similar) would have acted the same as the party in question.
In some cases, it’s simple to show negligence. For example, if a pedestrian had a walk sign, a driver had a red light, and the driver hit the pedestrian, that’s an obvious example of the driver being negligent. However, most cases of pedestrian accidents are not that simple. You’ll need a qualified personal injury attorney to carefully study the case and find the truth.
Situations in which the driver may be negligent
The only way to know for sure if you or the other party was negligent is to reach out to Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707 for a free case evaluation. That said, there are a few examples that can help illustrate a situation in which the driver would be negligent.
First and most simply, it is the driver’s job to act in a reasonable way and to obey traffic laws, signs, and lights. If they’re driving faster than the posted speed limit, then this could make them negligent. If they didn’t yield the right of way to a pedestrian, didn’t follow traffic signs and signals, didn’t stop at a stop sign or red light, or were distracted while driving (for example, texting on their phone) then they may be considered negligent.
Situations in which the pedestrian may have been negligent
Pedestrians have their own rules of the road that they’re required to follow. They must also obey all traffic signs and lights. They may be found negligent if they crossed the street outside of a crosswalk or otherwise crossed illegally, didn’t look both ways before they stepped into the street, or they failed to obey a “don’t walk” sign.
It’s common for both the pedestrian and the driver to be negligent
It’s not at all uncommon for a situation to arise in which they’re both negligent. For example, a pedestrian may cross outside of a crosswalk but a driver was speeding. The combination of these two mistakes led to the accident. In that case, a personal injury attorney could carefully consider the case, the evidence, and the facts to see who’s legally at fault.
In California, a person does not have to have 0% negligence to file a lawsuit. To learn more about how you may have a lawsuit even if you were partially responsible, each out to Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707. We offer a free case evaluation.
