Waterbury Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Schedule a Free Consultation With a Top-Tier Waterbury Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Pedestrians are a common sight in Waterbury. Anyone dashing around town to perform errands or walking to get a bit of fresh air confronts many hazards, with dangerous drivers topping the list. At Etemi Law, our Waterbury pedestrian accident attorneys work with injured pedestrians to identify whether they have a right to compensation for personal injuries. The good news is that many of our clients obtain meaningful compensation in the form of a personal injury settlement.

Call our legal team today to find out more how to cover medical expenses and lost income for all pedestrian injury victims. Careless and reckless drivers must compensate the medical expenses of injured pedestrians, and our law firm knows what steps to take.

What to Do After a Pedestrian Crash in Waterbury, Connecticut

Hurt in a pedestrian crash in Waterbury, New Haven County, or elsewhere in Connecticut? You need to take proactive steps to protect yourself and your rights. Here are four things that you should do: 

• Report the Crash: All pedestrian collisions that result in physical injuries should be reported to state or local law enforcement. Call 911 or the police right away. 

• Get Immediate Medical Care: Hurt in a crash? You need to see a doctor. Not just for your health, but if you do not get medical treatment, you cannot bring a legal claim. 

• Document the Accident: Connecticut is a fault-based pedestrian accident liability state. Get vehicle information, take pictures, and otherwise document your collision. 
• Get an Attorney: Insurance companies are not on your side. Before you give a statement, be sure to consult with a top-rated Connecticut pedestrian accident lawyer. 

Pedestrians are Vulnerable to Serious Injuries

It is no secret that pedestrians face safety risks from traffic. Connecticut classifies pedestrians (and cyclists) as vulnerable road users. Unfortunately, when a collision happens, a pedestrian may sustain serious, even catastrophic injuries. Some of the most common types of pedestrian accident injuries reported in Connecticut include: 

• Road rash; 
• Soft tissue damage; 
• Whiplash;
• Sprains and strains; 
• Broken bones; 
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs); 
• Dental injuries;
• Internal bleeding; 
• Internal organ damage;  
• Amputations; and
• Spinal cord injuries. 

Every pedestrian injury requires immediate medical attention. You should never wait to get professional treatment after a pedestrian crash in Waterbury or elsewhere in Connecticut.

Pedestrian Accidents: A Closer Look

Pedestrians can suffer severe brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, or other kinds of injuries in a variety of accidents, but these are the most common:

• Jaywalking collisions: A pedestrian crosses somewhere other than the crosswalk or intersection, and a motorist strikes them.
• Backing up accidents: A motorist backing out of a driveway or parking spot will slam into a pedestrian crossing behind the vehicle, often because the driver didn’t check their mirrors.
• Hit and runs: After striking a pedestrian, a motorist might flee the scene even though they are legally obligated to stop and render assistance.
• Running a red light: A motorist might fail to stop because they are in a hurry, and they plow directly into a pedestrian who is crossing when the light tells them to.
• Distracted driving accidents: A distracted motorist will fail to stop, usually because they are using a cell phone while driving. They don’t see any pedestrians in their path or fail to recognize the light is red.
• Illegal turn collisions: Although Connecticut allows motorists to make a right-on-red turn, the motorist still needs to confirm the road is clear. Sadly, too many simply make the turn and smash into pedestrians crossing and cause a pedestrian accident.
• Speeding: Motorists that exceed the speeding limit put pedestrians at risk. Not only does speeding make a collision more likely to happen, it makes any crash all the more severe. 
• Intoxicated Driving: Impaired driving is dangerous. Drunk drivers and drugged drivers put innocent people, including pedestrians, at serious risk.

How Common are Pedestrian Collisions: Know the Data

Pedestrian collisions are a persistent public safety problem—not just in Connecticut, but throughout the entire country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that nearly 8,000 people were killed in pedestrian crashes nationwide in 2021 alone. More than 104,000 more pedestrians sought emergency medical care for their injuries. 

In Connecticut, approximately 60 pedestrians are killed in motor vehicle crashes on an annual basis (Connecticut Mirror). Many hundreds more pedestrians in our state are seriously hurt in accidents each year. Alarmingly, the number of pedestrian deaths in Connecticut has doubled over the last decade. State highway safety officials cite a number of different factors, including heavier vehicles, higher speeds, and an increase in distracted drivers.

Determining Liability for Waterbury, CT Pedestrian Accidents

As a pedestrian, you can seek compensation from anyone who has liability for the pedestrian accident. Another term for liability under pedestrian laws is “fault.” In most crashes, a negligent driver is at fault for clipping or colliding with a pedestrian. The driver and the driver’s insurance company should be held responsible for being a reckless driver and causing severe injuries from the pedestrian accident. These motorists are liable parties who do not drive with sufficient care, either because they are in a hurry, intoxicated, or distracted. Anyone failing to use mirrors and turn signals properly is also at fault.

Our law firm isn’t surprised that in traffic law and pedestrian accident cases many drivers blame our clients under pedestrian laws for the pedestrian accident and don’t want their insurance company involved. They might allege that the injury victims darted into traffic or crossed when a traffic light told you not to.

Our pedestrian accident injury lawyers from our law firm can use many tools for uncovering liability for your personal injury claim with a Waterbury personal injury lawyer such cases:

• We search for nearby surveillance video from gas stations or stores which might have captured any pedestrian accidents.
• We talk to witnesses who can identify whether you were crossing the street legally or were jaywalking, as well as whether the driver ran a red light causing the pedestrian accident.
• Our accident lawyer can request cell phone records to see if the driver was on the phone in the moments leading up to the collision.
• Our Waterbury pedestrian accident attorney can ask the driver questions about the accident and use their own statements against them.
• You can tell a pedestrian accident attorney any statements the driver made, such as admissions that they weren’t watching where they were going.

With all this evidence, our Waterbury pedestrian accident attorneys can paint a picture of what likely happened, which right of way helps with the legal process of assigning liability in pedestrian accidents.

Shared Liability & Your Right to Financial Compensation

Our Waterbury pedestrian accident lawyers can seek compensation from insurance company for medical expenses and certain economic losses:

• Medical treatment for injuries—surgery, doctor visits, x-rays, at-home attendants, medication, and other medical bills.
• Property damage—any property (like a phone or pet) damaged in the crash.
• Income or wage loss—any lost income from a full- or part-time job due to bodily injuries.
• Pain and suffering—a form of non-economic damage, you have the right to seek financial compensation for your physical pain and your emotional suffering. 
• Long-term disability—if you have a long-term/permanent disability or impairment, you should be compensated for that non-economic loss.

Our personal injury lawyer can also ask the insurance company for compensation for intangible, non-economic losses like lost wages, physical pain, distress, depression, irritability, and other losses of that sort.

Under Connecticut law, your own negligence can reduce compensation for wrongful death in your Waterbury pedestrian accident. For example, you might have jaywalked. Connecticut General Statutes §52-572h states that your compensation for wrongful death is reduced proportionally by your degree of fault. A pedestrian who is 33% at fault will receive a third less in compensation. If your fault is greater than all defendants—meaning, more than 50%–you cannot sue at all.

Hit & Run Accidents Involving Pedestrians

Waterbury sees too many serious injuries from hit and run pedestrian accidents for a town of our size. These pedestrian accidents are particularly infuriating. A careless or drunk driver should immediately stop their vehicle and help anyone hurt, which might include calling an ambulance or giving them a lift to the hospital. The state has even passed a law laying out these duties, which you can find at C.G.S. § 14-224.

Drivers flee for many reasons, such as intoxication or a lack of medical attention of the driver’s insurance company. Others simply panic and hit the gas. Their reason really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are hurt, and no one is there to help.

There are also certain legal issues which arise with financial compensation for the pedestrian accident victims of hit and run accidents, and our Waterbury pedestrian accident attorney at Etemi Law can help you with them:

• Identifying the driver. Businesses nearby might have security cameras pointed at the street, which could have picked up a license plate number. You can also remember certain details about the car—its make or color—which help police find it.
• Securing compensation. In the normal pedestrian accident case, we sue the driver who hit you, but if they fled we need to look for other sources of compensation.
• Proving fault. Your own insurer might skeptically assume you injured yourself because there is no driver identified in the police report.

Deadline for Filing a Lawsuit

Unfortunately, victims do not have an unlimited window of opportunity to sue for any financial relief or compensation. C.G.S. § 52-584 gives you only two years to file a lawsuit, with only narrow exceptions. This statute of limitations ensures that victims bring claims in a timely manner for maximum compensation.

Go over this deadline, and you will lose legal rights and the ability to sue entirely. That is a tough pill to swallow, so reach out to legal representative at our law firm as quickly as possible. Do not delay: You must initiate your claim before the statute of limitations expires. Consult with a top-tier Connecticut pedestrian accident lawyer as soon as possible after a serious crash.

Our Waterbury Pedestrian Accident Attorney Is Here for You to File a Personal Injury Claim

Pedestrian accidents leave our pedestrian accident victims in excruciating pain. This serious injury claim is a hard situation for victims and their families during the aftermath of a pedestrian collision. You need compensation, but you don’t have the time or physical ability to get legal services to recover compensation or negotiate your own settlement.

Contact our Waterbury pedestrian accident lawyer at Etemi Law. One of our Waterbury pedestrian accident lawyers can go over the accident in detail and provide a summary of your rights for legal action. Our Waterbury pedestrian accident lawyer can then get to work holding a dangerous driver accountable for smashing into you. We have years of experience handling many pedestrian accident cases and our pedestrian accident lawyer can help you with your pedestrian accident case.

Call us at (203) 680-8080, email, or via our online Free Case Evaluation Form to set up your free case consultation today.