Tampa Pedestrian Accident Lawyers

When you are on foot, you are at your most vulnerable in relation to traffic accidents. In fact, you have nothing to protect you from the impact of an accident caused by a motorist’s negligence. A recent report highlights exactly how dangerous the State of Florida is for pedestrians. Unfortunately, Florida cities account for eight of the ten most dangerous metro areas for walking in the nation.

Specifically, Sarasota is included as the fourth most dangerous area in the entire United States for those walking, and Tampa is listed as the ninth most dangerous area in the U.S. Researchers implemented their own Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI), which measures exactly how dangerous it is for pedestrians in specific areas based on the number of pedestrians who are killed by motorists, while accounting for the percentage of the population who walk to work. At 182, Florida has the highest PDI of any state, and Alabama is a distant second with a PDI of 145.

Pedestrian injuries are all too common in Tampa. If you are injured, you want an aggressive pedestrian accident lawyer protecting your rights. Consult with Matthews Injury Law right away.

Pedestrian Accident FAQs

Answers to the most frequently asked questions can help you move forward with your pedestrian accident claim.

Where Are Pedestrian Accidents Most Common?

Every pedestrian accident is unique to the circumstances involved, but pedestrian accidents often take place in intersections and crosswalks when motorists fail to live up to the duty of care they owe pedestrians in their midst. Consider the following:

• Drivers who fail to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in intersections and crosswalks
• Drivers who pass other vehicles at intersections (and fail to see one or more crossing pedestrians)
• Drivers who fail to carefully adhere to traffic signs, signals, lights, and safety rules at crosswalks.

When you’re on foot, always make safety your priority, but know you cannot prevent collisions and injuries alone.

Who Is Most Likely to Cause Pedestrian Accidents?

Pedestrian accidents often stem from driver negligence, which can include all of the following forms:

• Distracted drivers (who fail to pay adequate attention to the road)
• Impaired drivers (who experience delayed reaction times and a decrease in focus)
• Drowsy drivers (who experience some of the same deficiencies that impaired drivers do)
• Speeding drivers (who decrease the amount of time they have to react and increase the risk that any ensuing accidents will be serious accidents)

Driver negligence is often the cause of life-threatening pedestrian accidents, and these drivers should be held fully accountable for the physical, mental, and financial losses they cause.

Who’s Liable in a Tampa Pedestrian Accident?

All motorists have a legal duty to practice reasonable care when sharing the road with others, including pedestrians. When a driver fails to uphold this duty and becomes reckless, it can lead to devastating accidents. For example, if a driver drove through a crosswalk and hit a pedestrian, the driver obviously failed to exercise reasonable care.

The driver also behaved negligently and may be held legally responsible for the damages stemming from the accident. But to recover fair compensation, you must first establish liability and fault. Negligence driving practices typically include the following, among others:

• Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Distracted or inattentive driving
• Failure to give the right-of-way
• Aggressive driving
• Speeding
• Failure to follow traffic signals
• Unexpected lane changes

However, it’s crucial to note that pedestrians can likewise be held liable for accidents. In all accident cases, multiple parties can share fault and liability. For instance, a distracted pedestrian may fail to follow a traffic sign or carelessly cross the street and get hit by a car. In this situation, the driver that hit the pedestrian may not be completely at fault for the accident.

In any case, the Tampa pedestrian accident lawyers of Matthews Injury Law can investigate the facts of your accident to determine fault and liability.

How our Experienced Tampa Pedestrian Accident Lawyers Can Recover Compensation For You

To obtain maximum compensation from the at-fault driver’s insurance provider, you must collect credible evidence to prove your account of the crash and the driver’s negligence. When you work with Matthews Injury Law, our Tampa pedestrian accident lawyers will do all the work to gather proper evidence, such as police reports, videos and photographs of the accident scene, witness statements, and video surveillance, among many others, and use it for building a strong case for compensation. 

But even with enough evidence demonstrating the other party’s fault, you must likewise prove the damages you incurred due to the accident. Our lawyers know full well how a pedestrian crash can upend your entire life and all the negative consequences that come with these changes.

Before negotiating with the insurer, our lawyers will collect relevant medical bills and records and consult with your treating physicians to calculate all your future needs, including surgery, physical therapy, home accommodations, and assistive devices, among others. We’ll also make sure to determine all future and current lost earnings and pain and suffering damages, including reduced quality of life due to emotional distress and poor mental health.

By putting in the effort, time, and resources needed to show the extent of your pedestrian accident-related losses, we can ensure that you receive the compensation you rightfully deserve. Our seasoned Tampa pedestrian accident lawyers have more than 70 years of combined experience handling personal injury cases, so they know how to deal with greedy insurance providers and fight their unjust tactics so that you recover maximum compensation.

With the lawyers of Matthews Injury Law working for you, your recovery is the only thing you should focus on.

An Experienced Tampa Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Can Help

If you or someone you care about has been injured – or worse – in a pedestrian accident, the Tampa pedestrian accident attorneys at Matthews Injury Law are committed to tirelessly fighting for your rights and in pursuit of full justice and compensation. To learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call us at 813-530-1000 or 941-877-5800 today.