Florida’s climate and lifestyle are conducive to socializing, relaxing, and exercising outdoors year-round. Walking from place to place or just casually strolling through Brandon is not unusual for residents and tourists alike.
Sadly, however, this seemingly harmless activity results in a significant number of pedestrian accidents each year. In fact, Florida has consistently more pedestrian accidents than any other state in the US, with 5,433 pedestrian fatalities reported between 2008 and 2017. Last year, in the Brandon and Tampa area alone, there were 640 pedestrian crashes. and 57 deaths.
What is truly tragic is that many of these fatalities and other injury accidents would not have occurred if people driving cars, trucks, and buses had followed Florida’s road safety laws. Without question, these negligent drivers must be held responsible for the injuries and suffering that their negligence or misconduct has caused.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident caused at least partially by someone driving a motor vehicle, you may be able to hold the driver liable and obtain compensation for your injuries. An experienced Brandon pedestrian accident attorney can help you get the justice you deserve. The attorneys at Dennis Hernandez & Asociados have helped many pedestrian accident victims and their families throughout Florida and want to help you obtain the justice and full compensation you deserve.
What Causes Pedestrian Accidents in the Brandon Area?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that nearly 500 pedestrians are killed and more than 7,000 more are injured each year in pedestrian accidents in Florida. These collisions are typically called “pedestrian accidents”; however, most of them are not really pedestrian accidents, as they are mainly caused by people driving cars, trucks or buses.
Accidents in the Brandon area that involve pedestrians can generally be attributed to motor vehicle safety violations, such as:
- Failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk
- Failing to come to a complete stop at a traffic light or sign
- Speeding
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Sending text messages while driving or other distractions
Who is at fault in a pedestrian accident in Brandon?
In Florida, both motorists and pedestrians are responsible for following state safety laws when using the roads. Therefore, one or both can be held legally responsible for a pedestrian accident. Because Florida is a comparative fault state, an injured pedestrian may be entitled to compensation even if they were partially responsible for the accident.
In many cases, the guilty party is clear. Under Florida law, for example, a motor vehicle driver is required to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk once the pedestrian has entered the roadway, even when there are no crossing signals. If a driver fails to yield and hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk, the driver is at fault. On the other hand, when an intersection does not have a designated crosswalk, pedestrians must yield to motorized vehicles. In this case, if the pedestrian does not yield and is run over, he is at least partially at fault for the accident.
What compensation is available to pedestrian accident victims in Brandon?
If you’ve been injured by a motor vehicle while walking, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries, including physical injuries, pain, emotional suffering, and losses. Compensation in pedestrian accident cases can include:
Medical Treatment – Your existing health care expenses, including emergency services, hospital bills, diagnostic imaging, surgery, post-operative care, travel to and from doctors, prescriptions, and rehabilitation.
- Future Health Care Costs – Future health care expenses, including surgeries, prescriptions, treatments, rehabilitative care, medical equipment, and assistive devices.
- Lost Wages – Lost wages due to time away from work due to accident injuries.
- Decreased ability to earn income: Decrease or loss of ability to earn income because the injuries caused by the accident prevent you from returning to your job or looking for one that also pays.
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering: pain, stress, trauma and emotional problems derived from the accident.
- Decreased quality of life: decreased ability to enjoy life.
- Loss of consortium with a spouse – Loss of companionship and support.
- Other economic and non-economic damages applicable under Florida law.
In Florida, however, the total amount of compensation you can get can be reduced if you were partially at fault for the accident. For example, if it is determined that you were 20 percent at fault and the driver of the vehicle involved was 80 percent at fault, your damages would be reduced by 20 percent.
If a loved one was fatally injured in a pedestrian accident in Brandon
Money cannot replace a loved one; However, holding the person at fault for your loss can help you heal by giving you a sense of justice. You may be entitled to compensation for actual expenses, such as accumulated medical bills before death and burial costs, and you may also be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering, as well as loss of companionship and support. .
Get help from Brandon pedestrian accident injury lawyers you can trust
If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident, the experienced personal injury attorneys at Dennis Hernandez & Asociados in Brandon can help. We are committed to advocating for justice putting our experience and legal knowledge to work to help you obtain fair compensation for your injuries.
Getting help from our trained legal team means you will be guided by experts throughout the legal process, from gathering evidence, to filing a lawsuit, to going to trial, if necessary. We will build a strong case to show that you deserve full compensation for the physical, emotional and financial damages caused by the pedestrian accident.
Unlike other attorneys, we will not settle for less than what you deserve to avoid going to trial. We are fully prepared with experience and skill to aggressively fight in court for full and fair compensation.
Call us at 855-LAW-DENNIS or fill out the FREE CASE EVALUATION form on our website to get started on your case.
Sources:
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. (2020). Traffic crash reports. Crash dashboard.
https://www.flhsmv.gov/traffic-crash-reports/crash-dashboard/
Governors Highway Safety Association. (2020). Pedestrian traffic fatalities by state: 2019 preliminary data.
https://www.ghsa.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/GHSA-Pedestrian-Spotlight-FINAL-rev2.pdf
Smart Growth American. (2020). Dangerous by design.
https://smartgrowthamerica.org/app/uploads/2020/01/DbD-2020-Report.pdf
U.S. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (n.d.). Pedestrian safety.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/pedestrian-safety
–
