The dark statistic says that pedestrians are killed every couple of hours and injured every ten minutes. Most of these accidents happen in urban areas and most of them happen when it’s dark.
This means you can be the most careful driver and you can still hit a pedestrian. People are less visible when it’s dark.
Things get even more complicated when pedestrians wear dark clothes so they are even less visible for drivers. This is why pedestrians are advised to wear clothes with brighter colors in the night hours.
In most accidents of this type, pedestrians ar able to collect compensation for their injuries.
And while pedestrians are the most vulnerable traffic participants and often end up with severe injuries, they too can be contribute to the accident.
If you were injured in such an accident but you wore dark clothes and believe that you contributed to the crash, call a pedestrian accident attorney.
How pedestrian might cause an accident
Drivers often hold liability for pedestrian accidents, but very often pedestrians themselves are responsible for the accident as well.
There are various ways a pedestrian can contribute to an accident:
- Wearing dark clothes – When it’s dark outside, drivers’ visibility is limited. Add dark clothes to that and a person who decided to cross the street on a marked or unmarked crosswalk has higher chances of getting hit.
- Jaywalking – Pedestrians tend to cross roads wherever they want to. Sometimes they are lazy to walk to the marked cross-zone, and decide to jaywalk, and cause chaos in the traffic. In fact, most pedestrian accidents happen this way.
- Pedestrians failing to look both ways – Instead to check both sides of the street, pedestrians tend to simply walk without noticing a rushing vehicle going towards them.
- Throwing things on the road – Intentionally or unintentionally, people throw items on the road (this can cause vehicles to lose control and end up hitting a person).
- Crossing the road when they should stop – When the traffic signals that a pedestrian should stop and wait, they tend to cross the road anyway and end up in an accident.
- Walking down the street while intoxicated – Walking under the influence is as dangerous as driving under the influence. Drunk pedestrians who try to cross the street may easily end up in an accident.
- Carelessly walking into the street to collect an item – They might have dropped something and tend to walk into the road to pick it up. Drivers don’t expect this and have a short time to stop.
- Intentionally trying to distract drivers – This can happen for various reasons, but it is a sure way for the person to get injured or killed.
Drivers still hold the responsibility if they hit you
Technically, drivers are liable if they hit a pedestrian. But, pedestrians should know that the driver will not be automatically at fault if the pedestrian jaywalked or wore dark clothes in the dark.
Pedestrians have responsibility on the road. Not every person who goes out at night thinks that they should wear bright colored clothes to protect themselves from accidents. But, keep in mind that if you get hit by a car, the driver’s attorney or insurers will use against you the fact that you were less visible (in your dark clothes).
Even though you as a victim in this case can file for a compensation claim, keep in mind that wearing lighter clothes would protect you from potential hits.
Picking bright-colored clothes will keep you safe and prevent you from further complications (medical expenses, recovery, lost wages, and so on).
Assessing fault
Often drivers claim that the pedestrian came out of nowhere and will do their best to deny liability, or at least they will try to claim that they are not entirely at fault for the accident.
Drivers have the duty to take care of pedestrians; they should be careful and follow traffic rules. However, if the street lights were out or it was pitch dark and the pedestrian decided to jaywalk or wore dark clothes, the case would be much more complicated (for both sides).
If you or your loved one were injured in a pedestrian accident where the other side is trying to reduce their liability by claiming that they did not see you because you wore dark clothes, make sure you contact a pedestrian accident attorney.
Our team at Rowe & Hamilton will help you get justice on your side. Call us today.
