Downtown Dallas and many other neighborhoods throughout the city are ideal for exploring shops, restaurants, and other attractions on foot. Unfortunately, pedestrians are in danger in Dallas and other cities in Texas for one primary reason: negligent drivers.
When pedestrians are struck by vehicles, they’re likely to suffer devastating and often life-threatening injuries. They almost always require immediate transportation to a hospital via ambulance. When they arrive, they often need surgery, prolonged stays, and intensive physical rehabilitation to regain their strength and mobility.
Between medical bills and lost wages, the costs of pedestrian accidents can be enormous. At Fears Dudley Injury Law, our legal team believes that innocent pedestrians shouldn’t have to pay a penny out of pocket for accidents that weren’t their fault.
If you or someone you love was hurt in a pedestrian accident, contact our Dallas pedestrian accident lawyers today for a free consultation. We want to put our experience helping Texans after accidents and injuries to work for you.
What Are the Risks of Pedestrian Accidents?
Pedestrians are completely helpless against vehicles in accidents. Even low-speed crashes can be dangerous, as people who are struck by vehicles traveling 25 mph have a 36.3% chance of suffering a severe injury or dying. At 35 mph, the combined risk increases to 51.1%.
Common injuries associated with pedestrian accidents include:
- Brain injuries—Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are very common during pedestrian accidents. TBIs can occur both from blunt-force impact against vehicles, pavement, and other nearby objects during accidents. The violent forces generated during impact can cause the brain to move inside the skull.
- Spinal cord injuries—Pedestrian accident victims can also suffer spinal cord injuries from either the initial impact of being struck by vehicles, or from secondary impacts with the ground or other hard surfaces after being thrown by the vehicles that hit them.
- Broken bones—Both simple (bone remains inside the skin) and compound (bone breaks through the skin) fractures are common during pedestrian accidents. The bones in the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, legs, and back are the most vulnerable during impact, but pedestrian accident victims can suffer broken bones anywhere on their bodies when they’re struck by vehicles.
- Soft tissue injuries—People who are struck by vehicles may suffer tears, lacerations, strains, sprains, and more to ligaments, tendons, nerves, muscles, and more throughout their bodies.
What Are the Causes of Pedestrian Accidents?
Some of the most common causes of pedestrian accidents include:
- Distracted driving—Most pedestrians stick to sidewalks and crosswalks. While these are the safest places to be when walking near traffic, they can’t always protect pedestrians when drivers near them are distracted. When drivers are texting, reaching for objects, grooming, eating, or doing anything else that takes their eyes and focus off the road, they can strike pedestrians or drift into their paths.
- Intoxicated driving—Drivers who are intoxicated when they get behind the wheel may suffer from blurry vision, impaired judgment, difficulty judging distances and tracking objects, and more. That can make it more difficult for them to see pedestrians in or near the road and react to them in time to avoid accidents.
- Speeding—Speeding not only makes the injuries in pedestrian accidents worse, it makes them more likely to happen in the first place. Speeding drivers have less time to react to what’s in front of them, including pedestrians in crosswalks, parking lots, and other areas.
- Running red lights—Crosswalks are the safest place for pedestrians to be on the road because they’re protected by traffic lights. Unfortunately, not all drivers obey traffic lights. When negligent drivers run red lights, they can seriously injure or even kill pedestrians in their paths.
Our Dallas Pedestrian Accident Attorneys Are Here to Help
Pedestrian accidents are painful, disabling, and often deadly. They’re almost always avoidable when drivers are obeying traffic laws and focusing on the task at hand. Unfortunately, many drivers in Dallas are distracted, impaired, or have a disregard for the city’s and state’s traffic laws.
At Fears Dudley Injury Law, we work hard to ensure that injured pedestrians and their families don’t have to face the financial burden of these accidents on their own. It’s our goal to hold negligent drivers accountable for the damage they cause to innocent people in our city.
Contact us anytime if you or someone you love was injured while walking in Dallas. We want to help you get maximum compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
