Pedestrians suffer some of the most serious injuries of all traffic accident victims. Without seatbelts, airbags, or the steel frame of a vehicle, pedestrians have no protection from the full force of a violent car crash. Unlike bicycle and motorcycle riders, pedestrians do not even have helmets to protect the brain. Injured pedestrians often find themselves facing permanent injuries, disabilities, and other life-altering changes as a consequence of a driver’s negligence.
The law requires a negligent driver to fairly compensate an injured pedestrian for all of their losses. Our experienced San Jose pedestrian accident lawyers know how to get the compensation our clients deserve. We have recovered over $500 million dollars for injury victims across California. You don’t have to fight the insurance company on your own – let our experienced legal professionals fight to get you the compensation you are owed.
Settlement in a motor vehicle versus pedestrian accident; client, suffered facial and spinal injuries.– Judd Ross Allen
San Jose has become a large city. It has not only the third-highest population of any city in California, but it is also the tenth most populous city in the entire United States. More people means more traffic. More traffic means more auto accidents, so it is important for San Jose residents to know what to do in the likely event that they are someday involved in a car crash. San Jose is also one of the most expensive cities in the United States.
The San Jose metropolitan area has the highest percentage of homes costing a million dollars or more in the entire United States. The high cost of living is due to the number of high-paid tech jobs in the area. Some of the largest tech companies on earth are headquartered in San Jose. Zoom, eBay, Cisco, Acer, Hewlett Packard, Paypal, Samsung, and many other major global brands maintain their headquarters in San Jose.
For accident victims, the cost of living can affect the value of an injury claim. Cases are valued based on the actual cost of the victim’s medical bills and lost wages. In a city like San Jose, medical care and salaries are likely to be higher than they would be in a smaller city, so an injury victim’s settlement is likely to be higher, as well. Compensation for pain and suffering is often based on the cost of medical bills and lost wages, meaning that compensation may also be higher in an expensive city like San Jose.
As in any city, there are certain parts of town where drivers are simply more likely to cause traffic accidents. San Jose has joined many other cities in implementing Project Vision Zero. This program uses technology to identify the most dangerous intersections, crosswalks, and roads in a city’s jurisdiction. The data can then be used by government officials to more efficiently spend tax dollars on reducing car accident rates. Check out the City of San Jose’s Vision Zero page to see the latest accident data and trends.
Local officials also committed to addressing specific traffic safety issues in the San Jose area. Santa Clara County released a 2018 report about transportation and traffic safety among older adults. Decreases in vision and hearing, slower reflexes, and other natural changes we experience with age can also increase an older pedestrian’s chances of being hit by a car. The County took time to address mobility issues in older adults, as well as the risks associated with biking, walking, and driving. Mobility safety is a common problem.
The CDC reports that both falls and motor vehicle accidents are among the leading causes of injury and death to older Americans. Older adults and their loved ones should take the time to review this information and ensure that they are staying as safe as possible on the road. Ultimately, however, it is a driver’s responsibility to watch out for any pedestrians in the surrounding roadway. Negligent drivers who fail to avoid hitting pedestrians have a legal obligation to compensate victims for all the losses they suffer.
There are many reasons why pedestrians are hit on the road. It is important to determine who is legally responsible (“liable”) for causing an accident because this person must also compensate you for your injuries. The “at fault” party could be an individual, a company, or any combination of defendants.
The pedestrian injury lawyers at Arash Law led by Arash Khorsandi, Esq. will investigate your case thoroughly and find all possible defendants. This work ensures that you will not be left without the compensation you are owed. What follows are some of the most common defendants in a pedestrian accident case.
Very often, a pedestrian accident is caused by a negligent driver. There are many driving behaviors that can be considered negligent. The driver could be speeding, running a red light, or distracted by their phone. The driver might simply not have been able to see the pedestrian (especially if the accident occurred at night, in fog, or during other periods of low visibility).
Rules of the road require drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians in most circumstances. The law also requires drivers to exercise due care around pedestrians because the vehicle places the pedestrian at a distinct disadvantage where safety is concerned. For all these reasons, a driver can often be found at fault for causing a pedestrian’s injuries.
Though there are many driving habits that can be considered negligent, few are as dangerous as driving while impaired. California statutes make it a criminal act to operate a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, prescription medications, recreational drugs, marijuana, or any other impairing substance.
In spite of these statutes, thousands of innocent victims are killed by impaired drivers every year in California. Injury victims must hold these drivers accountable for their criminal – and often fatal – behaviors.
A pedestrian is at a disadvantage in any accident simply due to the fact that they are not in a vehicle. The problem is made worse when a pedestrian is struck by a large vehicle like a bus or a truck. With added weight and size, the force of the collision is greater, and the pedestrian’s injuries are more likely to be fatal.
Bus drivers and truck drivers are held to an even higher standard of care than other drivers on the road. Because they are paid to provide transportation, they are expected to operate their vehicles as safely as possible. Drivers who fail to use the utmost care can be found at fault for accidents involving pedestrians. When such liability is determined, there are other companies who might also have a legal obligation to pay for your injuries.
The transportation company that hired the driver and the owner of the vehicle could be liable for the accident. If you are hit by a city bus, the city (or its agencies) could be at fault for the accident. It is especially important to hire an injury lawyer when the accident involves a bus or truck. With more defendants, there are more legal issues in play, and it can be easy for the defendants to try to get out of paying by putting the blame on each other. The pedestrian accident lawyers at our award-winning injury firm do not allow shirking of accountability to happen.
Train tracks are notoriously dangerous. Though trains have become less prevalent in the United States, there are still many train injuries every year, and train tracks are known to be especially dangerous for pedestrians. Train companies, cities, and other property owners have a legal duty to be sure that train tracks are made safe for pedestrians. These areas should be properly marked with clear signs.
Blind turns, overgrown vegetation, and other obstructions can prevent a train engineer from seeing a person or car on the tracks before a collision occurs. If a pedestrian is hurt in a train accident, the conductor or train company could be found liable for their injuries. A property owner who failed to maintain train tracks in a safe condition could also be at fault.
Uber and Lyft have become incredibly popular. These companies started right here in Northern California, and they have quickly become one of the most popular ways to get around San Jose. The convenience of these services has helped keep countless drunk drivers off the road. In spite of this crucial safety benefit, rideshare drivers can still cause accidents just like any other driver, and the victims they injure are entitled to compensation. Injury claims involving Lyft and Uber can be complicated. These companies carry supplemental insurance coverage, but this coverage only applies once the driver’s personal insurance policy has been exhausted.
Rideshare accidents usually involve several injury victims filing injury claims with several different insurance companies. This situation can lead to injury victims getting lost in the shuffle and left without the compensation they are owed. In some rideshare accident cases, the claim is even further complicated by new legal issues. Rideshare technology is relatively new. Accidents can create new legal questions that have never before been answered by a court. If you or a loved one was struck by a rideshare vehicle while walking, you need an injury lawyer who can deal with these new legal questions and complicated injury claims.
Though it is rare, some pedestrians are injured by bicyclists – not drivers. Pedestrian injuries are far less likely to be severe when the victim is hit by a bicycle instead of a fully-loaded car. This fact does not mean that injuries from a bicycle are not serious. Some insurance companies might try to tell you that your injuries couldn’t have been “that bad.” Their lawyers might try to compare your injuries to another pedestrian who was hit by a car. Regardless, you are entitled to compensation for the injuries you suffered and the specific losses these injuries caused in your life. Our dedicated team at Arash Law managed by Arash Khorsandi, Esq. knows how to prove the value of all these losses in order to get fair compensation for all your injuries.
A liable defendant must pay for all of your medical bills related to the accident. Your medical bills include an ambulance bill, the ER visit, inpatient hospitalizations, consultations with specialists, prescription costs, and ongoing rehabilitation (like physical therapy or chiropractic care). Some injury victims have trouble paying these medical bills while they are waiting for their case to settle.
If so, our legal team can help you find the right way to get the care you need but do not delay treatment. The insurance company could try to reduce your settlement by saying that you made your own injuries worse by waiting for treatment. Do not give them the chance to jeopardize your legal right to compensation. We will help you get the care you need to protect both your health and your legal rights.
Injury victims are entitled to compensation for the wages they lose as a result of a car accident. Your lost wages include hourly pay, overtime, bonuses, commissions, and any other forms of compensation (like profit sharing). In many cases, proving your lost wages is as simple as getting a statement from your employer that shows how many hours you missed and what your hourly rate of pay is.
(A salary can be prorated based on a forty-hour workweek.) A lost wage claim is not always so simple, however. Our lawyers can help prove the value of bonuses you lost, PTO you had to use, and other situations that call for compensation.
The largest component of many personal injury settlements is compensation for your pain and suffering. “Pain and suffering” is a general term that refers to all the intangible losses you suffer as a result of a car accident. It includes physical pain and emotional suffering, but these are not the only losses it covers. You are entitled to compensation for scarring or disfigurement that permanently changes your body. You are entitled to compensation for missing major events (like a graduation or a wedding) and daily activities (like your weekly pickup game of basketball).
You are entitled to compensation for your lost sleep, the added stress at work, and the strain your injuries put on your relationships with your loved ones. You are also entitled to compensation for any general decrease in your overall quality of life. These losses are not easy to value, but our pedestrian accident attorneys have won millions of dollars for our clients’ pain and suffering. We know how to prove the amount it will take to fairly compensate you for all your pain and suffering.
In most cases, your losses do not stop when your case is settled. You might have to continue seeing doctors for the rest of your life. If you are unable to return to work or have to take an easier position at a lower salary, you will have a permanent decrease in your future earning capacity. You are also likely to endure pain and suffering for years to come. Injury victims are entitled to fair compensation for their future medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Our experienced accident attorneys know how to work with expert witnesses to accurately project the value of these future losses. Not all accident lawyers know how to prove the unknown value of possible future losses, but our legal team has successfully done so in hundreds of cases. We work hard to be sure that our clients are being fairly compensated for all the losses they have suffered, are currently enduring, and are likely to suffer in the future.
You could spend hours online searching for “pedestrian accident lawyers near me,” but you have already found the best injury law firm in California. Our experienced San Jose pedestrian accident lawyers have decades of experience. Our skilled legal team has collected over 400 million dollars for clients across the Golden State.
We serve clients in San Jose, Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, and the Bay Area. We also work in Orange County, San Diego, Fresno, Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and throughout California. Call (888) 488-1391 today to schedule your free consultation. Don’t wait to get a pedestrian injury attorney fighting on your side.
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