You’re driving along while keeping the local area speed limit in mind. You look ahead of you and see that you’ve got a green light, which prompts you to keep on rolling. But then all of a sudden, a child darts out into the middle of the road. You panic and slam your foot down on the brake as hard as you can, but despite your best efforts, you end up striking the child and injuring him in the process.
You spend the following weeks feeling absolutely terrible. You question your reaction time but recognize that there was little you could have done to avoid the accident. After all, you weren’t speeding, and the traffic signal at the time was in your favor. You eventually reach the point where you can finally start to move on, when suddenly, a notice arrives at your home: You’re being sued for damages as the result of hitting an innocent child.
Robert Dewey of the Dewey Law Firm is a Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury lawyer, and according to him, this type of scenario is all too common. Although Dewey has made a career out of defending the rights of those injured in driver-pedestrian conflicts, he acknowledges that when it comes to assigning blame in such situations, the pedestrian is not always right.
According to North Carolina state law, a pedestrian has the right of way when he is in a crosswalk and the associated traffic signal tells him that it’s safe to proceed on foot. However, when a person chooses to cross the street in a non-designated area or at a point at which he doesn’t have the light, then things can become tricky in the event of a car-related injury. After all, pedestrians are required to follow the law by adhering to traffic signals and crossing at designated areas. On the other hand, drivers do have a duty to the public to be perpetually on the lookout. Therefore, if a driver hits a pedestrian who is clearly crossing the street out of turn, then the legal outcome can only be determined based on the facts at hand.
According to Dewey, state law dictates that North Carolina drivers have a duty to see what there is to be seen and to take reasonable action to avoid injury to somebody else. Therefore, if a driver notices a pedestrian crossing the street on a red light up ahead, then the driver is obligated to slow down or stop completely to avoid hitting him, even if the pedestrian is clearly in the wrong. Furthermore, if witnesses in such a situation can attest to the fact that the driver had plenty of time to avoid the accident, then he could end up being found guilty of negligence despite the fact that the pedestrian was crossing the street when he shouldn’t have been doing so.
On the other hand, if a pedestrian decides to dart out into the middle of the street and gets hit as a result, then one could easily argue that the incident was unavoidable on the driver’s side. In such a situation, any attempt on the part of the pedestrian to sue the driver for damages might be rendered useless based on the facts of the case, as in this scenario, the pedestrian’s actions clearly played a role in his fate.
As complicated as driver-pedestrian run-ins tend to be, cases of drivers accidentally striking children can be even more complex. After all, up until a certain age, the concept of legal negligence doesn’t apply to children who unknowingly subject themselves to injury by darting out into the street. While the facts of every case vary, in Dewey’s experience, juries tend to be sympathetic toward drivers who hit small children by accident. Since the average North Carolina juror is likely to also be a driver himself, he is bound to put himself in a similar situation and come to the conclusion that when a child darts out into the middle of the road, there is often not much the driver can do to prevent injury. Additionally, the law understands that a person, in a heightened state of emergency, can sometimes make the wrong decision. Therefore, while one might think that a driver will always be held responsible for striking a child, the reality is that drivers are only human and cannot automatically be held accountable for situations they cannot control.
When it comes to road-related responsibilities, it’s not just drivers who are obligated to practice safe habits. Pedestrians, too, are required to be vigilant and follow the rules to keep themselves safe. So the next time you think about crossing the street when you don’t have the light, consider the many benefits involved in simply waiting your turn.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Neither publication of this article nor your receipt of this article create an attorney-client relationship.
