Check out this video taken at the time a car hits pedestrian.

The accident occurs very close to a pedestrian bridge, which could affect the way fault would be attributed. Is the pedestrian at fault?

Car Hits Pedestrian. Check out where this accident occurred, right below a pedestrian bridge! Would this affect fault? When a car hits pedestrian or pedestrians, the driver of the car usually has a hard case to defend. People and juries feel bad for the pedestrian as he/she probably is injured worse than anyone in a vehicle.

The black letter law does not change the analysis of fault. We still have to look at all the elements of negligence (Duty + Breach + Causation + Damages) to determine if someone has to pay for the injuries.

The accident below does not occurs in the US. But let us assume that it does. Let�s apply an American Law analysis to these facts and see how an insurance adjuster would look at this video titled "Car hits pedestrian".

Lets take a look at the scene of the accident a little closer. We have two pedestrian crossing a highway. Right behind from where the impact occurred, we can see a pedestrian bridge that people are using to get across the busy road. We know that the bridge is in working order as people are using it.

When the adjuster looks at the duties of the pedestrian, she will wonder why was the pedestrian J-walking. A reasonable person of ordinary prudence would simply go over the bridge to reach her destination.

In the video we can see how both pedestrians jump over the divider and then proceed to cross the busy highway. The pedestrian that gets seems to just run or sprint across four lanes of travel passing the pedestrian that jump first. The first pedestrian (the one that did not get hit) is crossing, but he is not running but rather walking fast and looking at traffic.

We see that right before the person is hit, the car moves left and then right. These movements however are not very pronounced, but enough to probably claim avoidance.

The accident is tragic enough for the driver to be concerned. A jury could be easily moved to help him and put some fault on the driver. We see that it was a clear day and that the driver had no excuse to not see the two people crossing. There are vehicle�s to his right that could have blocked his view, but these are just speculation (a question that would probably be asked on a recorded statement).

We see a minor attempt to avoid the accident, but the real evidence does not occur after the impact. We see the smoke coming from the tires seconds after the impact, suggesting that the driver did not apply his breaks until after the impact. The duties breached by the pedestrian are very high, and the duties breached by the driver are not as bad. But as noted above, when a car hits a pedestrian, the driver has a harder time in front of a jury.

Car hits pedestrian is a bad headline in a news paper to defend. This driver should get an attorney.

If I was the adjuster, I would try to settle the claim as follows:

The verdict: 80% to 100% fault on the pedestrian and 0% to 20% fault on the driver.

Car hits pedestrian is never a good situation for the driver. Check out this video where the towing capacity is put to the test!

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