Las Vegas sees more than its share of car accidents involving pedestrians, and they’re back on the rise. With pedestrian accidents come serious injuries that require hospitalization, surgeries, therapy, and more. Most insurance companies don’t want you to know that you don’t have to pay those medical bills when someone else was responsible for your injuries.
With help from a Las Vegas pedestrian accident attorney, you could get compensation for expenses resulting from a pedestrian accident caused by someone else’s negligence. A Las Vegas pedestrian accident lawyer can help identify the responsible party and help you get cash for your injuries and other expenses. If you’ve been in an accident involving a pedestrian in Vegas, contact a law firm experienced with Nevada law, like Henness & Haight.
How do pedestrian accidents happen?
Between the regular city streets and the tourist areas with a high concentration of both foot traffic and distractions for drivers, Vegas spells danger for pedestrians. In fact, Las Vegas was ranked as the 25th most dangerous city in America for pedestrians according to Smart Growth America.
Motor vehicle accidents involving pedestrians happen at an alarming rate in America—about one pedestrian death every hour and 15 minutes. Automobile versus pedestrian accidents usually involve drunk or distracted drivers and, unfortunately, often lead to severe injuries.
Car accidents involving pedestrians tend to happen in urban areas but not near intersections. In other words, they occur where there are many people and automobiles, but in areas where the drivers are less likely to expect a pedestrian on the roadway. They also usually happen at night.
When a car accident involving a pedestrian does occur in an intersection, it’s usually when the pedestrian crosses the street, and the driver turns left.
5 Common Pedestrian Accident Injuries
In most cases, when a car strikes a pedestrian, the injuries come from impact at three different points on the car: the bumper, the grill, and the windshield. However, exactly where and how these impact points hit the body of the pedestrian will depend on both the car and the individual being struck. That means that children suffer some injuries at higher rates than adults involved in similar automobile and pedestrian accidents and vice versa.
These five areas of the body commonly sustain injuries when a motor vehicle strikes a pedestrian:
Head
A car hitting a pedestrian often results in a head injury.
For adults, this usually happens because the car’s center of gravity is lower than the person’s. As the vehicle hits, the person is tossed in the air and then hits their head on the windshield or hood as the car continues careening into them. The impact from that hit can result in trauma to the head of the pedestrian.
Children also experience head injuries during car versus pedestrian accidents, but they tend to be more severe. Children often have a center of gravity as low as, if not lower, than the car’s. When the car strikes them, the front grill can impact their heads without causing them to tumble over the hood. This action often causes traumatic brain injuries in children hit by cars, like concussions.
Head and neck injuries are the most common type of injury children receive from an automobile/pedestrian accident.
Legs
Not surprisingly, cars hitting pedestrians often strike them in the legs, especially when the pedestrian is an adult. While a wide variety of injuries could come from a high-velocity impact with the legs, the most common types are a broken tibia (shinbone) or ligament damage in the knee.
Pelvis
As you might expect, after a car’s bumper makes contact with a pedestrian’s legs, the pedestrian will tumble toward the vehicle. Simultaneously, the car continues moving forward. The grill area impacts the pedestrian’s pelvis or hips and causes contusions or fractures.
Shoulder
Just as the bumper striking the leg causes knee injuries and the grill hitting the hip causes pelvis injuries, the car’s windshield impacting the pedestrian’s upper body causes shoulder injuries.
Abdomen
Automobiles hitting pedestrians can also cause injuries to the chest and abdomen. After the car tosses an adult into the air, they often land on the car’s hood and sustain an abdominal injury.
Even if the pedestrian is not popped onto the hood of the car upon the impact of the collision, they can still suffer abdominal injuries from getting hit by the car’s grill or any of the other deadly layers of steel momentum we rely on every day.
Any of these types of injuries and more can occur due to a car hitting a pedestrian. Many of them could become chronic health problems unless the injured party receives proper treatment. Unfortunately, some of the recommended medical treatments can get expensive quickly. However, if your injuries result from someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to cash to compensate for your medical expenses and more.
Experienced accident attorneys like those at Henness & Haight can help you seek the compensation you deserve and to understand your legal rights.
Your Legal Rights After You or a Loved One are Hurt
When you suffer an injury caused by someone else’s negligence, you have a right to compensation. If you were a pedestrian or in a car, you could seek damages if someone else caused the accident.
A Las Vegas pedestrian accident attorney, like those at Henness & Haight, can help you with every part of your pedestrian accident claim. They can help you gather evidence and interview witnesses to track down who or what was responsible for the accident. They can help you understand all the compensation you deserve.
In legal terms, the compensations are called damages. You can seek damages for many things in an accident claim, including medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and more. Your attorney will help you identify your damages and how to ask for compensation for them in your claim.
Finally, a pedestrian accident lawyer can be by your side and represent you through to the end of your case, whether it winds up in a settlement or goes to trial.
The best part is that you get all this help with no upfront cost. Your accident attorney won’t get paid until they win your case. At that point, they will get a percentage of the final settlement or award.
Don’t Compromise on Your Legal Team: Choose Henness & Haight
If you or some you care about is in a car accident involving a pedestrian, contact a Las Vegas pedestrian accident attorney. If the accident was in Las Vegas, get help from one of Nevada’s top accident injury attorneys, Henness & Haight.
Henness & Haight has a track record of successfully winning compensation for car accident victims in Las Vegas, including pedestrians. Contact Henness & Haight today for a free evaluation of your Las Vegas pedestrian accident case.