Pedestrian accidents are more likely than crashes involving only motor vehicles to cause serious injuries or fatalities because people out walking on Lafayette’s roads do not have anything to protect them from impacts with vehicles, the ground, or other objects. If you’ve sustained serious injuries, you can work with a Lafayette pedestrian accident lawyer to recover compensation.
The Gauthier & Granger legal team has extensive experience working with injured pedestrians to recover the compensation they need to pay hospital bills, make up for lost wages, and find ways to move on with their lives. We are committed to providing thoughtful representation, attentive service, and high-caliber advocacy for clients injured on Lafayette’s roads. If you need a skilled Lafayette personal injury lawyer to help with your case, you’ve found the right firm.
In 2024, there were 161 pedestrian fatalities and 353 serious injuries in Louisiana. Across the United States, 7,080 people died, and over 71,000 were injured in pedestrian accidents.
If you’ve been injured by a motor vehicle while you were out walking, you can hire a pedestrian accident lawyer to help you file your claim. Your lawyer can assist you with every aspect of claim filing, from filling out paperwork to negotiating settlements.
Hiring a Lafayette pedestrian accident attorney isn’t just the most effective way to improve your odds of a successful claim. Having a lawyer on your team to handle all the details of your case can also take some of the stress off of you during a difficult time, allowing you to focus on what’s most important: healing from your injuries.
Motor vehicle drivers are expected to exercise reasonable care to protect others using Louisiana’s roadways, including pedestrians. If they fail to do so, it can lead to serious injuries.
To be eligible to receive compensation, you must prove that the driver who hit you was behaving negligently. You can prove negligence by showing that they violated local traffic laws or that they were distracted, intoxicated, or drowsy.
Each case is different, but what all negligent drivers have in common is that they did not behave in a way that a reasonable person could be expected to do so in the same circumstances.
Pedestrians can also be negligent and can thus be found to be at fault for their own accidents. People walking on Lafayette’s roads must exercise reasonable care. They must use common sense and protect their own safety.
A failure to exercise reasonable care could lead the court to find that you were partially liable for your own injuries, reducing your settlement amount. Common examples of ways that pedestrians can be found liable include:
Even if you were partially at fault for your accident, you may still be able to recover compensation. Louisiana follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which allows pedestrians to file claims against drivers as long as they were more than 50% to blame for their accidents.
Your settlement amount is lowered by the percentage of fault you have been assigned. A $100,000 settlement will become a $50,000 settlement if you were 50% at fault.
If you suffered significant injuries during your accident, you could be entitled to a good deal of compensation. Your lawyer can get you the compensation you need by making a demand for damages. Damages represent losses suffered as a result of an accident. They can include:
To receive compensation, you’ll have to show that you suffered one or more of these types of damages. You can do so by providing copies of medical bills, pay stubs, and repair bills for any physical belongings you were carrying at the time of the accident.
The steps you take in the moments and days following your pedestrian accident can impact whether you’ll be able to recover damages from the defendant. Immediately after the accident, you should:
You only have a certain amount of time following the accident to file a claim, so don’t put off hiring a lawyer. As soon as your health is stable, reach out to our office to schedule a consultation.
Pedestrian accidents almost always involve some combination of driver negligence and distracted walkers. The most common causes of pedestrian accidents include:
Each case is unique. Your lawyer can review the evidence in your case to determine whether you have a valid claim.
Many pedestrian accidents involve either infants in strollers or children. Unfortunately, kids don’t have the maturity that adults do, so they don’t always pay attention when crossing the street. If a motor vehicle struck your child while they were in the middle of the road, they could be entitled to significant compensation, even if they were not using a crosswalk.
Drivers have a higher duty of care when it comes to protecting children because young kids can’t exercise reasonable care to protect their safety. If you’re not sure whether your child has a valid claim, contact a pedestrian accident lawyer to discuss the specifics of your case. Your lawyer can evaluate the evidence and determine whether the driver was legally liable for hitting your child. In most cases, they are.
Who is at fault when a car hits a pedestrian depends on the circumstances of the accident. Drivers are often found liable because of the duty of care they owe to pedestrians. If the driver was speeding, distracted, impaired, or failing to follow traffic laws such as yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks, they will most likely be found liable. However, pedestrians can be fully or partially at fault, as well, as is the case with jaywalking or darting into traffic.
Pedestrians do not always have the right of way in Louisiana. However, the Pelican State has laws that are particularly favorable to pedestrians and require drivers to prevent endangering any people walking on the road. Drivers must do everything in their power to prevent striking pedestrians, even if they are breaking traffic rules.
If you hit a pedestrian and they walk away, you should still stop immediately to attempt to offer help and file a police report that documents the incident. Even if pedestrians seem uninjured at the time, they may later report injuries and file a claim against the driver. Filing a police report offers proof that you didn’t flee the scene.
A pedestrian does not have the right of way if there is no crosswalk in Louisiana. Pedestrians crossing roadways at points other than marked crosswalks or the unmarked ones at intersections are required to yield the right of way to the motor vehicles using the roads. That said, drivers are also required to exercise reasonable care to avoid hitting pedestrians, even when they are jaywalking.
If you’ve been struck by a motor vehicle while out walking on a busy road like Johnston Street or University Avenue, you can hire a Lafayette pedestrian accident lawyer to help you hold the liable party accountable and seek compensation for your injuries. The Gauthier & Granger legal team is prepared to help. We’ve taken on many pedestrian accident cases since we opened our doors. We can tackle yours, too. Contact us to schedule a consultation today.
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