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The legal system has laid out a series of steps, which can be followed by a pedestrian that has been hit by a car. Pedestrians that follow those same steps stand a better chance of being compensated for their damages.
Actions a pedestrian should take after being hit by a car
• Start by calling the police.
• Take photographs of the scene. You may also want to photograph your injuries, along with any damage done to your vehicle or to others’ property.
• Get the names and contact numbers for several witnesses.
• Call the company from which your family has purchased automobile insurance.
• Seek medical treatment. If you have severe injuries, you need to place a priority on this particular action.
Who pays the pedestrian’s medical bills?
The pedestrian’s health insurance is supposed to cover those bills. The automobile insurance does not cover injuries to a policy holder that has been hit by a motored vehicle.
Could the municipality be held responsible?
Perhaps the driver of the car that hit you should not be viewed as the person primarily responsible for any injuries that you have suffered. Maybe there was some problem with the equipment that motorists relied on, when driving through that section of the area where the accident took place.
• Were there any traffic lights in that part of the region where you got hit? Had any of them failed to work properly?
• Were there any intersections in need of a stop sign?
• Did some intersection have a stop sign that had become hidden, due to development of extensive overgrowth?
• Had some cross walk been placed in a spot that allowed pedestrians to become vulnerable to drivers?
• Should the municipality have installed a sign that warned drivers about the fact that a cross walk for pedestrians was approaching?
• If you got hit at night, you should ask whether or not there was poor lighting at the spot where you had felt the force of a moving automobile.
• Should the road be re-graded at the spot where you became an accident victim?
Maybe motorists come up a slope that has been made too steep. Perhaps it should be re-graded, so that a pedestrian would not suddenly pop into the driver’s view, when crossing a certain section of roadway. Try to find out if a similar incident has happened on that same road at some time in the past. A Personal Injury Lawyer in Brantford could help with that effort.
If you plan to sue a municipality, you should not drag your feet. The court will not allow you to file a lawsuit against that specific municipality, if you wait for 4 to 5 months beyond the date when some driver made you an accident victim.