Usually speaking, a pedestrian will have the right of way, but it is a mistake to think that a pedestrian can never be liable for a pedestrian accident. Motorists are not the only people who have responsibilities when it comes to exercising care on the road. Pedestrians also have a duty of care. Just as a driver or cyclist can cause an accident when they breach this duty, so too can a pedestrian. Read on to learn more about pedestrian accidents and liability.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in just 2008, there were 69,000 traffic accidents where pedestrians were injured. Even more sobering is the fact that 4,378 pedestrians were killed in those accidents. Seven percent of those deaths involved children who were 15 years old or younger. This age group also accounted for 22 percent of pedestrian accident injuries. Then adults who were 65 years or older made up 18 percent of these traffic deaths, and 10 percent of those injured in a car and pedestrian accident.

Various factors play into the likelihood of such accidents occurring, some of them seemingly mundane, such as rush hour. Again, according to the NHTSA's data for 2008, thirty-eight percent of these traffic accidents that caused deaths involved a driver who was 16 years old or younger, and took place somewhere between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Forty-eight percent of all fatalities resulting from a car and pedestrian accident took place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And even more grim is how very preventable these accidents. Sadly, it may not surprise you to learn that alcohol can be a huge factor in these accidents, impairing either the driver or the pedestrian. Of the pedestrian fatalities in 2008, 48 percent of them involved one of the parties being under the influence of alcohol. What may in fact surprise you is that in 36 percent of pedestrian-car accidents, the pedestrian was the one who was impaired by alcohol.

But there are several other conditions under which a pedestrian can be considered at fault in an accident. One of these is jaywalking, or even crossing the street outside of the cross walk. If a pedestrian causes an accident while going against traffic signals, then they would be faulted for any ensuing accident. Crossing a freeway or a highway when there are no traffic controls is also something that will bring blame onto a pedestrian. Outside of an emergency, a pedestrian who is walking along the freeway, a highway, or a bridge, or similar prohibited areas, would face partial if not full liability in an accident with a vehicle.

While these may not be the sole cause of the accident, in the handful of contributory negligence states, sharing any fault at all means losing all rights to compensation. In most of the country, any negligence that added to an accident means losing out on full compensation, only get a fraction of it. So what happens if a pedestrian shares fault with a driver? Insurance adjusters and attorneys will have to apportion fault in the accident, determining how much each party is at fault.

For example, after both a driver and a pedestrian get into an accident after they both violated a law of traffic, then an insurance company decides that the pedestrian has 40 percent of the blame, while the driver has 60 percent. What this means in terms of compensation for the pedestrian is that he or she can only collect 60 percent of their compensation, the amount that they are NOT at fault. Determining fault is a huge factor in an accident claim. You want an experienced legal advocate on your side for this. You can find the dedicated car accident lawyer you need on our directory today!