Reading about a random car accident involving a pedestrian in the morning newspaper and cursing the reckless drivers on-road is quite a normal occurrence. Following the old adage “the pedestrian has the right of way,” the conclusion almost seems to be set in stone. The reckless driver hit the poor pedestrian. The damages for the pedestrian who hit the car should be compensated by the driver. That may be the first judgment by any usual reader. But is that set in stone legally?
Liability In a Pedestrian-Car Accident
The party with the most damage in a Pedestrian-Car accident most of the time is, undoubtedly, the pedestrian. After all, with all the safety features of an automobile, how is the driver supposed to have injuries. But does that really mean that the driver will have to bear full responsibility for such accidents?
As per laws in Texas, it depends. It is generally concluded that, on the roads, reasonable care for the safety of everyone around should be exercised by both, the drivers and the pedestrians. And subsequently, the law of negligence is used to determine the fault and responsibility in such accidents. That is, if it can be proved that the pedestrian failed to exercise appropriate care, the pedestrian will also be made to share responsibility in the accident.
When is a pedestrian held responsible for an accident?
A normal cautious person is expected to follow traffic norms. In the case when the pedestrian acts in such a way that a normal driver is unable to circumvent an accident, the pedestrian can be held responsible for the accident. Some common faults by pedestrians in a pedestrian-car accident include:
- Walking on the area clearly marked off-limits to pedestrians
- Not following traffic signal
- Jaywalking, i.e., the crossing street in an area other than the crosswalk
- Running on the streets while disregarding the vehicles
- Walking/crossing street while intoxicated
Responsibility, in the accidents of such cases, can be shifted to the pedestrian and the driver can even ask for appropriate compensation from them legally.
Shared Fault in Car-Pedestrian Accidents
It’s not really impossible to imagine cases where both, the driver and pedestrian, maybe at fault. And in most cases, negligence from both sides is actually the real cause of a car-pedestrian accident. Finding an appropriate judgment in such a case becomes very challenging. It is also the place where an experienced pedestrian accident lawyer shines the most. Since there may be slight differences in the laws adopted by each state, it is also integral to have a good pedestrian accident attorney familiar with the local laws. Two basic types of commonly adopted systems for handling accidents of such nature are:
Contributory Negligence
This old and harsh rule is still used in quite a few jurisdictions. In layman terms, this is an all-or-nothing system. That is, in case if even the slightest fault of the other party is proved, the plaintiff can take away without a need to pay any compensation. Thus, a person needs to exercise due caution before moving such a case in the courts of Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and North Carolina.
Comparative Negligence
Unlike rigid contributory negligence, this system tries to determine the comparative responsibilities of involved parties. Under this system, proving the fault of the other party may not necessarily mean the elimination but a reduction of the total liability borne by the plaintiff in accordance with the comparative percentage decided at the end of the judgment. Two common variants of such system include:
- Pure comparative negligence – In accordance with its name, the liability is split purely according to the percentage of the comparative responsibility of the party. That is, in the states following such rule the driver is ruled out as being 30% responsible for the accident then they would need to pay all $300 in case the pedestrian’s damage totals to $1000.
- Modified comparative negligence- This system follows the splitting of liability similar to the pure comparative negligence system— but the liability is borne only until a certain level. In case the fault of one party exceeds 50%, the party is barred from any compensation. That is, taking the earlier example where the driver was only 30% responsible and inversely the pedestrian the remaining 70%, the pedestrian would be barred from recovering that $300 of his total damage of $1000 from the driver since they are more than 70% responsible for the accident.
