Walking is one of the best ways you can enjoy Florida’s sunshine and warmth. A stroll along the beach or through the park does not have to be stressful; instead, you are free to take your time getting from point A to point B. However, collisions between a person and a vehicle cause catastrophic injuries because of the massive size difference, especially to the elderly and children.
If you or a loved one has been hit by a car, you may be able to recover financial compensation from the driver. A DeLand pedestrian accident lawyer from Colling Gilbert Wright is here to provide advice on your options and support throughout the legal process. Our team of personal injury attorneys has decades of combined experience with complex accident cases and takes pride in helping victims move on with their lives.
Person Versus Vehicle
A crash between two cars can be destructive, but modern vehicles are equipped with safety features to minimize the impact on occupants. These include seatbelts, a steel frame, and crumple zones at the front and back that can absorb the force. Although injuries in a car accident can still be serious, these designs may prevent something disastrous.
As a regular person walking along the street, however, you do not have any of these to protect you from being hurt. In addition, a car is significantly heavier, so even a slow-speed collision could cause severe injuries, such as:
- Shattered bones
- Crushed legs or feet
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Damage to the neck and spinal cord
- Lacerations to the internal organs
- Wrongful death
Because of the danger, drivers are usually responsible for avoiding pedestrians, but many of the same causes of car crashes also result in pedestrians being hit. For example, getting distracted by a text message is more than enough time for a driver to miss seeing someone crossing the street. That is why fault for a collision often lies with the driver, and the victim may be able to claim damages with assistance from a skilled DeLand pedestrian accident attorney.
How Can You Protect Yourself as a Pedestrian?
While you may not be able to win against a car, you can take several precautions to protect yourself from harm and preserve your chance to hold the driver accountable. You should consider:
- Walking along the sidewalks instead of the road
- Using pedestrian-exclusive footbridges or tunnels to bypass traffic
- Crossing intersections using designated crosswalks
- Always looking both ways before crossing the street
Unfortunately, accidents can still happen despite your best efforts, but you may be able to avoid a catastrophe by being aware of your surroundings.
Sometimes the driver leaves the scene of a crash to try and escape the consequences. If this happens to you, it is essential to seek medical attention immediately to receive treatment. The incident response also alerts the police, so you have the opportunity to tell them as much information as you can about the incident. Any little bit could help law enforcement track down the car.
Additionally, the police and medical reports are important pieces of evidence your attorney could use to support your claim for damages from being hit by a car in DeLand. With these documents, you may be able to recover financial compensation to cover things like your hospital bills, lost wages, and emotional trauma.
Types of Compensation You May Claim
The compensation you collect in a legal claim is called your damages. You are entitled to economic damages for your out-of-pocket costs and financial losses. You are also entitled to non-economic damages, which offer financial compensation for the accident’s impact on your quality of life.
Your economic damages are all the costs and expenses you incurred because of the accident. Some of these are obvious, like medical expenses and lost wages. Other losses you could claim in your demand for damages include:
- Future anticipated medical treatment and care expenses
- Value of any paid time off you took during your recovery
- Reduced future earning capacity if you cannot return to the job you held before the accident
- Home renovation expenses if necessary to accommodate a disability resulting from the accident
- Therapy and medication to manage the psychological trauma you experienced
- Hiring people to perform household tasks you cannot do because of your injury
- An adapted vehicle if your injury prevents you from driving a standard vehicle
- Replacement cost of the property damaged in the wreck
Our seasoned injury lawyers in Deland will help you document and calculate all your economic damages arising out of the pedestrian accident.
Your non-economic losses may be the most difficult to bear, and your compensation should reflect that fact. You can seek compensation for your physical and emotional pain, scarring, disability, and lost enjoyment of life.
Can You Get Punitive Damages?
Economic and non-economic damages are called compensatory damages because they compensate you for something you lost or that changed due to your injury. You are always entitled to compensatory damages when someone else’s negligence causes you to suffer harm. Depending on the circumstances, you may also be eligible to seek punitive damages, which punish a wrongdoer for egregious conduct.
Florida Statutes § 768.72 allows you to seek punitive damages if you have clear evidence that the party who injured you acted with knowing disregard for the impact of their actions. If the driver who hit you was drunk or driving recklessly, you could request that a court award you punitive damages.
How Can Our Pedestrian Accident Attorneys Help You?
Sometimes people believe they can handle an injury claim themselves and achieve results comparable to what a lawyer could obtain. That belief often stems from the perception that insurance companies are willing to be fair and settle a case quickly. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case.
Insurance companies are businesses focused on profits. It is cost-effective for them to employ lawyers, investigators, and adjusters to find reasons to pay you less than you deserve or deny your claim entirely. Florida law allows them to discount your compensation if you were partially at fault for the accident, so the insurer will try to blame you for your own injuries to reduce its liability. The DeLand pedestrian injury attorneys at The Florida Firm have decades of legal experience that guide our strategy decisions. We have a deep knowledge of the law and will fight back hard against attempts to unfairly limit your compensation.
Contact a Pedestrian Collision Lawyer in DeLand About Your Case
A DeLand pedestrian accident lawyer at Colling Gilbert Wright could help you with your situation and work towards getting you the compensation you deserve. In one of our previous cases, we were able to secure a $1.525 million settlement from the owner, driver, and manufacturer of a commercial vehicle that ran over someone.
We frequently receive referrals from other law firms and former clients because they trust us to get results for injured victims. Call now to schedule a free case evaluation with a member of our team.