Pedestrian accidents can affect anyone: elderly individuals crossing the street, children walking to or from school, and even pedestrians properly using the designated crosswalk. Unfortunately, pedestrian accidents are fairly common in the United States, sometimes resulting in life-altering injuries and even death. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that nearly 5,000 pedestrians are killed each year in motor vehicle-related accidents, and more than 78,000 pedestrians suffer injuries when struck by a car or truck. One of the most important things for victims of Tennessee pedestrian injuries to remember is that seeking medical attention immediately after the accident is critical to receiving full and fair compensation. If you have been involved in a TN pedestrian accident, contact an experienced Nashville accident attorney for legal help.
In general, people who operate motor vehicles must exercise “reasonable care under the circumstances,” and any failure to use reasonable care is considered negligence. Some of the most common factors contributing to driver negligence are:
If you have been injured in a pedestrian accident in Tennessee, you can recover damages for your injuries if someone else’s negligence caused or contributed to the accident. In order to establish negligence in a pedestrian accident, the injured person must prove that the person at fault owed a legal duty to the victim under the circumstances, failed to to fulfill that legal duty through an action or failure to act, caused an accident or injury involving the victim, and harmed or injured the victim as a result.
Pedestrian accidents can result in serious injuries and even death, depending largely on the type of vehicle involved in the accident and the speed at which the vehicle is traveling. Some of the more serious injuries potentially resulting from a pedestrian accident include:
After being involved in a pedestrian accident in Tennessee, victims should seek medical attention, regardless of whether or not noticeable injuries are present. In many cases, the most serious injuries, including back injuries and internal organ injury, may not be immediately recognizable by the victim and may even take days to fully develop. If victims wait too long to receive medical care for these injuries, it may be difficult to connect the injuries to the accident in order to receive the compensation they deserve.
Involvement in a TN pedestrian accident can have life-altering consequences for injured victims. If you have suffered from a serious injury resulting from an accident, or if you have lost a loved one in a pedestrian accident, contact a Tennessee accident attorney to discuss your legal options. You may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit against the negligent party in order to pursue financial compensation for your injuries, medical expenses, and pain and suffering, or for the wrongful death of a loved one. By hiring an experienced TN accident lawyer to represent your case, you can collect the compensation you deserve and protect yourself and your family from further harm.