You do not have to look too hard to see how frequently pedestrians are in the news for being involved in various motor vehicle accidents in the greater Lake County area. On October 19, 2022, the Lake & McHenry County Scanner reported that the McHenry County Coroner had identified a 47-year-old woman who was struck and killed while trying to cross Algonquin Road in Lake in the Hills.

If you or a loved one were involved in a pedestrian accident, you may be able to recover monetary compensation for your medical bills and other damages. 

How Pedestrians Can Stay Safe

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) outlines eight safety tips for both drivers and pedestrians when it comes to pedestrian safety. This is good to understand because the truth of the matter is that both drivers and pedestrians have important roles to play in avoiding motor vehicle collisions.

Car versus pedestrian accidents can be incredibly devastating. People who are on foot have no shielding when a negligent motorist crashes into them. Even if a pedestrian sees a car about to veer off the road and strike them, they can almost never move quickly enough to avoid being seriously harmed. A driver who hits a pedestrian is almost always going to be considered negligent. Exceptions to this rule are rare. Especially in downtown areas like Chicago, walking is often the most convenient way to get around. Drivers should be very well aware that people are walking around and take reasonable precautions to avoid hitting one. If you were hit by a car while walking, you can likely recover compensation with an attorney’s help.

How Can I Recover Compensation for a Pedestrian Accident?

In most cases, the responsible driver’s insurance company will compensate you. The process is similar to what it would be had you been driving when you were hit. Your best bet is to have an attorney help you with the claims process. It can be a bit complicated, and the driver’s insurance company has more interest in making a profit than making sure that you get the compensation you need.

You will need to be able to show that the driver who hit you was being careless. This is usually the case in pedestrian crashes. Pedestrian accidents typically occur when a careless driver:

There were over 5,000 pedestrian collisions in Illinois in 2018. Many of these accidents resulted in severe and fatal injuries. If you were injured or a loved one was killed in a pedestrian accident, it is important to know your legal rights. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, the driver may be facing criminal consequences for striking you or your loved one. However, criminal penalties do not offer any financial restitution to the victim or the victim’s surviving loved ones. A personal injury case may allow a pedestrian accident victim to recover monetary compensation for the harm caused by the accident and hold the driver answerable for the crash.

Holding At-Fault Drivers Accountable for the Harm They Caused

Many pedestrian accidents are the result of a driver acting carelessly or negligently. The driver responsible for your accident may have been texting and driving, changing the radio station, looking down at a GPS screen, or otherwise not paying attention to the road at the time of the accident. The driver may have been intoxicated by drugs or alcohol. Whatever the reason, drivers who act negligently and strike a pedestrian should be held responsible for their actions. A personal injury claim may be brought in addition to criminal charges, or it may be brought in the absence of criminal charges. The standard of proof for civil claims including personal injury claims is much lower than the standard of proof required for criminal cases. Therefore, it is possible to bring a successful personal injury lawsuit even if the driver avoids criminal culpability for the accident.

Recovering Financial Compensation for Damages

Damages are the losses that a victim suffers because of an accident. If you were the victim of a pedestrian accident, you likely needed emergency medical treatment immediately after the collision. You may also require ongoing medical care in the form of rehabilitative treatment, surgery, and mental health care. The medical bills resulting from a pedestrian accident can be massive. Through a personal injury claim, you may be compensated for the costs of your medical treatments. You may also get compensation for your lost income and any damage to your earning capacity caused by a permanent injury. Compensation for non-financial losses including your pain and suffering may be recoverable as well. If your loved one was killed in a pedestrian accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your loved one’s lost income, medical bills, funeral and burial expenses, and other damages caused by the untimely death.

Thanks to their proximity to Lake Michigan and the Chain O’Lakes, Lake County residents have many opportunities to get out on the water and enjoy activities such as waterskiing, jet skiing, fishing, and just floating leisurely, Unfortunately, the more crowded a lake becomes, the higher the chance of a collision and injuries. If you are injured in a boat accident, the first thing you need to determine is whether the boat operator acted negligently or carelessly. If so, you can file a claim for compensation for your injuries, known as a personal injury lawsuit. 

Negligence in Private Boat Accidents

Some ways a private boat operator might be deemed negligent for an accident on the water include:

Nearly 6,000 pedestrians were struck and killed by motor vehicles in the U.S. in 2017, and many thousands more were severely injured. These figures beg two questions: What are the most common causes of these accidents, and when does the fault lie with the pedestrian versus the driver?

Alcohol Plays a Factor in Many Pedestrian Accidents

When a pedestrian is struck and killed by a car, it is more common for the pedestrian than the driver to be legally drunk, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. OIf all pedestrian fatalities, 33 percent involved an alcohol-impaired pedestrian and 13 percent involved a drunk driver.

You may wonder if a drunk pedestrian injured by a car can recover damages from the driver. The answer is, it depends on the totality of the circumstances. If the driver was obeying all traffic laws and a drunk pedestrian just stepped out in front of the car, the pedestrian would probably be assigned all or most of the fault for the accident. If the pedestrian is found to be at least 50 percent at fault for the accident, the pedestrian will be barred from recovering any damages from the driver, in accordance with the Illinois law of modified comparative negligence.