Pedestrian Injury

Posted on May 11th, 2010 in General by admin

 

With more than 30 million cars on the road today, Britain’s roads are now busier than ever. Even though the improved design of cars and more traffic signals have improved and reduced the number of accidents on the roads, accidents are still unavoidable because of the volume of traffic.

Road accidents involving pedestrians are more common and account for more than 33,000 casualties on Britain’s roads; these figures come from the Department of Transport in their 2006 report.

The most common causes of pedestrian injuries are from being:

Knocked down on a pavement

Struck by a vehicle on a pedestrian crossing

Being the victim of a hit and run

There are strong claims for pedestrian compensation when the situation is like those of the above. However if as a pedestrian you are struck whilst crossing the road between moving traffic; your claim becomes more complicated as blame could be from your half or the drivers.

Car drivers carry a heavy burden as far as pedestrians are concerned. Car drivers owe a duty of care, which the law upholds stating they must drive in a safe and responsible manner. Pedestrian injury remains the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 5 to 14.

Research has concluded that you are more likely to be involved in a road traffic accident as a pedestrian on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday between the hours of 3pm and 8pm. Research has also shown that approximately two-thirds of all crashes that injury or kill people happen on roads that have a speed limit of 30mph or less. At 30mph, vehicles are travelling at 44 feet (about 3 car lengths) each second.

On average, in the USA, a pedestrian is injured every eight minutes after being involved in a road traffic accident. With older pedestrians, who are roughly 70+ accounting for 15% of all pedestrian fatalities and 6% of all pedestrian injuries. However children are most at risk from becoming a pedestrian victim than anyone as roads are designed with adults in mind. Children are less well developed physically, cognitively and in terms of their traffic experience.

Injuries caused to pedestrians can be extremely severe with the most common area affected being the head and internal injuries. Injuries such as these are the main reason for hospitalisation.

The speed of a car that hits a pedestrian is also a big factor as to the outcome of the injuries that are sustained. If a pedestrian is hit by a car travelling at 30mph they have a survival rate of 95%. This percentage drops to 60% if hit by a car travelling at 50 mph and drops again to 20% is a pedestrian is hit by a car travelling at 70mph.

Below are a few precautions that pedestrians can follow in order to prevent injury:

Only cross the road at pedestrian crossings and traffic lights

Use the pavement, do not wonder onto the road

Look left, right and left again to check for traffic before stepping out into the road

Closely watch your children and encourage them to cross a road in the correct, safe manner. For more articles like this bookmark www.PedestrianAccidentLawyers.info

Author: Helen Cox

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Pedestrian Accident Lawyers and Why Texting and Walking Don’t Mix

Posted on April 22nd, 2009 in Pedestrian Accident Information by admin

Pedestrian Accident Lawyers presents the following article offering a heads up about how texting and walking do not mix.  Furthermore, as a pedestrian, you have to know that many drivers are also using cellphones which reduces their ability to react to what is going on around them, including seeing you!  If you, or a loved one, as been involved in any kind of pedestrian accident you should contact a lawyer to find out your rights.

You would think this would be a no-brainer: walking with your head down while fiddling on your phone to send a message and not paying attention to the traffic. Traffic does not stop on a dime and when someone appears in the middle of the street out of nowhere, the consequences are not pretty.

Just recently on the police blotter of a city in America, the first officially recorded text messaging pedestrian death made the news. Actually it likely wasn’t the first death, but it may have been the first one the police could prove was the result of someone not paying attention to what they were doing and walked out in front of a car.

Up until now most of the stories we read about deal with horrendous accidents as a result of drivers texting while driving. It’s hard to really fathom what could be "that" important that a driver feels they have to text a message while piloting a deadly weapon. Drivers never used to have cell phones to talk or text and the accident statistics were a lot lower than they are now.

Other text messaging accidents that have made the news involved a commuter train accident. You guessed it; the conductor ran a red light that told him to stop to allow a freight train to pass because he was texting. Ten people lost their lives because he was not paying attention to his job.

In some states it is now against the law to talk on the cell phone and drive at the same time. Other states, and this tends to vary from state to state, also have laws that ban texting while driving. Other states also consider cell phone use and driving at the same time as primary enforcement, meaning that police may ticket a driver doing this without any other traffic offense taking place.

Since many also collect crash statistics, it will be interesting to monitor the developments in this area of traffic enforcement over the next few years. It’s a given that this problem will get worse before it gets better. It will get worse because cell phones are now coming equipped with more bells and whistles that act as distractions. Personal injury lawyers across the nation are aware that they will likely be dealing with cases of pedestrians who were texting and hit by cars.

While cases such as this will have their own particular set of difficulties, always make it a point, when involved in any kind of car meets pedestrian accident, to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney. They will be able to assess the case and advise how to proceed to justice.

Author: Jeremiah Denslow

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeremiah_Denslow

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