pedestrian/auto accident in a campus parking lot

lavery · #1 11-24-2008, 09:27 PM

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas

I was crossing the street on a university campus and was hit by a car. I was crossing the street to get on a loading bus and did see the car before it hit me. There were no crosswalks available. I forgot that I shouldn't move after an accident got up immediately but felt a lot of pain. I knew that I had a severe back injury and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where I found out I have a compression fracture in one of my vertebrae. I had several tests, x-rays, MRI, c/t scan. I have to wear a brace for 3 months that costed about $2,000 of which I paid around $200 and my health insurance paid the rest. I'm taking about a month off work (weekend job since I'm a student) and was prescribed about 4 weeks of painkillers.

The police report says that she said the sun was in her eyes and didn't see me until the moment of impact. The officer decided she couldn't see me because a shadow of a tree was blocking her vision of me, and no citation was issued. The officer interviewed me at the hospital not long after I arrived and I said I had a lot of things on my mind and didn't even see her until the moment of impact. I kind of wish I'd made a better statement, but that is the truth of what happened. He decided that she wasn't going over the unposted speed limit of 15 mph because she stopped immediately and I supposedly was on the ground right where it happened. I doubt that is very accurate, because by the time he had arrived, some people had gotten off the bus to help me as I could barely walk, and my stuff was moved out of the road, which had been scattered (including a shoe that came off during the accident..).

I have talked to an attorney, so I guess I should ask him more questions when I see him again. Just wondering how long this usually takes and what to expect, how much the settlement will be eventually. The police report is a little inaccurate in a couple ways. For example, it says I walked up between parked cars instead of to the side of the cars and that she was able to stop immediately and wasn't going over the speed limit. I wasn't in a crosswalk, but considering it was a parking lot on a college campus directly in front of a loading bus, it seems like she should have been going more slowly if the sun was in her eyes. Was she driving negligently, or am I partly at fault for not seeing the vehicle?

ecmst12 · #2 11-24-2008, 10:02 PM

Were you crossing at the corner, or in the middle of the street?

lavery · #3 11-24-2008, 10:06 PM

I was crossing pretty much in the middle to get on the bus, but there wasn't a nearby intersection that would have made a good place to cross.
The woman was entering the parking lot to park, and I was hit on this roadway that goes through the parking lot, in front of all the cars.

ecmst12 · #4 11-24-2008, 10:20 PM

If you weren't crossing at a corner, then you were not crossing legally and you are at fault for the accident.

lavery · #5 11-24-2008, 10:28 PM

No one crosses like that in the area where I was. It was in front of a loading bus in the early morning where there are students crossing in a steady steam. Do I really have to "cross legally" if I'm walking across a parking lot? If you were in a Wal-mart parking lot, would you go to the edge of the lot where cars are ENTERING just to cross at the corner instead of walking across the stream of traffic directly to your car?

moburkes · #6 11-24-2008, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lavery

No one crosses like that in the area where I was. It was in front of a loading bus in the early morning where there are students crossing in a steady steam. Do I really have to "cross legally" if I'm walking across a parking lot? If you were in a Wal-mart parking lot, would you go to the edge of the lot where cars are ENTERING just to cross at the corner instead of walking across the stream of traffic directly to your car?

If you crossed in the middle of a lane, then you were at fault - regardless of what OTHER people do.

lavery · #7 11-25-2008, 12:10 AM

Where are you guys getting this information? It wasn't a street per se, so I wasn't crossing in the middle of the road. It was a parking lot. The law isn't going to say it's okay for motorists to go running people down in their cars just because there wasn't a crosswalk available or the person didn't know the correct legal way to cross a street without a crosswalk.

At least tell me where you are getting this information or give me some sort of rationale for this explantion, because I have always heard that pedestrians have the right of way, even if they aren't on a crosswalk. It's reasonable to assume that I should have been paying more attention, but I have never heard that crossing legally made that much of a difference if the driver had time to see the pedestrian.

Dougthegreat · #8 11-25-2008, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lavery

It's reasonable to assume that I should have been paying more attention...

Absolutely - in addition to following the law. Think you'll use the crosswalk in the future, or are you going to continue acting like Moses parting the Red Sea and step out into the road?

ecmst12 · #9 11-25-2008, 06:32 AM

Let me explain it another way - if you are not in a marked or unmarked (corner) crosswalk, then you the pedestrian do NOT have the right of way and you have the duty to yield to vehicles on the road. You can cross in the middle of the street or the parking lot if you like, but you have the burden to WATCH for traffic and wait until it is safe to cross.

lavery · #10 11-25-2008, 07:12 AM

How about you at least give me a citation as to where you found this information. Just because there is a way to cross legally does not mean that a pedestrian will be found at fault.

For example, this is what it says on this website. [url=http://injury-law.freeadvice.com/injury-law/hit_while_jaywalking.htm]I was crossing against the light (jaywalking) and was hit by a car. Since the driver could see me and should have avoided, can I still sue?[/url]

Even if I was negligent in crossing the street, don't you think the driver was wrong in speeding through a parking lot when she couldn't see? If I was indeed jaywalking, don't you think the police officer would have issued me a citation?

You still haven't addressed the fact that it was a parking lot and there really was no corner to cross at. There was the entrance where cars would never, ever expect anyone to cross, but like most parking lots, no crosswalks or intersections. If you are at the mall or any type of large store, how do you cross legally in the PARKING LOT where there is a stream of traffic? Obviously you are supposed to look, but accidents can still happen.

Zigner · #11 11-25-2008, 07:22 AM

It was already determined that she wasn't "speeding" through the parking lot.

As a pedestrian, you have a duty to be aware of your surroundings. It sounds to me like you walked in front of an oncoming vehicle and assumed that the vehicle would stop.
And, you really can't say much to the contrary because you admit that you weren't paying attention to anything around you...rather, you were just walking blindly through the lot.

ecmst12 · #12 11-25-2008, 07:24 AM

Just because you were not cited does not mean you were not at fault. Having the right of way means that the driver did NOT have a duty to watch for you, you had the duty to watch for her, which you admit you were not doing.

lavery · #13 11-25-2008, 11:08 AM

Do you think an attorney would be spending time on this if I have no claim? The guy I talked to has over 30 years of experience with personal injury and insurance claims, and all his firm does is accident and injury law, mainly car accidents. He already told me she was driving negligently and made no mention of the possibility that I might not have a claim. She did not see me either until the moment of impact. A careful driver should have seen a pedestrian crossing the street before hitting them. The police report says "There is no traffic control in the parking lot or a crosswalk" so we can just eliminate the possibility here that I was crossing illegally. I'm in law school, and I discussed this with fellow students and professors, and none of them mentioned that I might be crossing illegally. I could easily research this myself and see what happens with insurance settlements in my state, but I don't have time right now since I'm too busy studying for finals.

My main question is not whether or not I was at fault, but how long this will take and what amount I should expect to receive from a settlement. I want some answers that can be backed up with experience of people who have been injured in a car accident. If your answer is based on your opinion plus 5 seconds of googling (I'm being generous saying you researched) then please refrain from making rude comments.

moburkes · #14 11-25-2008, 11:18 AM

That law firm will keep the insurance company in court until they settle. That doesn't mean that you were in the right.

A careful pedestrian, including my 2 and 4 year old daughters, would have seen the vehicle, and would have known to stop. Another generation of ambulance-chasing attorneys.

lavery · #15 11-25-2008, 11:35 AM

I'm not saying that I was justified in blindly crossing the street in front of a car, but students do it all the time, and cars stop for them. I've been watching very carefully since this happened, and I see students and professors cross illegally all over campus, many of them not looking carefully like I was. Cars stop for them because usually people know to be careful, but students also get hit constantly. There was a hit and run accident in which someone died a couple years ago. That person was riding his bike in the dark but the driver was still prosecuted. I'm usually aware of my surroundings, and I don't make a regular habit of walking out in the street in front of cars.

My health insurance would probably not even pay for this if they found out I was a pedestrian hit by a car. I wasn't sure I even going to sue this woman, but after being urged by other students, I decided to check into it. I'm not going to lie in court and change the facts just for a better claim. I posted here wanting to know more about the process and how long it takes, not to be berated for not crossing the street properly.