Were you injured by a motor vehicle while walking? Read these 4 ways to get ahead on your pedestrian case, then call our Stillwater lawyers.
1. Pedestrian Car Accidents
If you are a pedestrian and you are hit by a vehicle of any kind, the first thing you need to do is have someone call the police, and then you need to get your proper medical attention. The reason you need to do these first two things is one, you need to preserve the evidence. Obviously, law enforcement will show up, and they will get ahold of the vehicle that ran into you and get that information. More often than not, again, you’re going to be on the bad side of this wreck because you’re a pedestrian unprotected, and a car hits you and you probably don’t see it, and so your injuries may be extensive. Those are the two things you really need to do. The last thing you need to do is you need to hire an attorney to help you deal with this and to do the investigation, preserve the evidence, preserve the witnesses, so you can have a successful claim against the driver who ran over you.
2. Mistakes to Avoid After a Pedestrian Accident
The most common pedestrians make when they’re in a wreck with a vehicle is one, either they don’t seek treatment soon enough or they seek the wrong treatment, or they don’t follow the doctor’s advice and their treatment plan. My advice is to seek out medical treatment immediately from a competent physician. I want you to do exactly what the doctor asks you to do. If you don’t, the insurance companies may use that as leveraging you, take out a settlement, or mediation or even a trial. The second mistake pedestrians make is they don’t hire attorneys soon enough to help them investigate the case, preserve the evidence, and to help them deal with the insurance company. Insurance companies look for reasons to help you believe you need to sell your case when you don’t have to, so don’t give the insurance any power over you. You do that by hiring an attorney, direct all phone calls and correspondence to your attorney, which will protect you from insurance companies trying to trick you into selling your case.
3. Pedestrian Accident Injury Claims
People have asked me what the difference is between a pedestrian wreck claim and an automobile wreck claim. There’s not a lot of difference. Pedestrians still have special duties. They need to be in crosswalks, but that, again, doesn’t completely eliminate a claim if you’re not in the crosswalk. There are specific traffic obligations, rules that a pedestrian must follow as well as a car, so if either side violates any safety rules, then there’s going to have to be some type of accountability there. More often than not, the injuries of a pedestrian are more serious than injuries of an occupant of a vehicle.
4. Choosing a Pedestrian Accident Attorney
One of the things you need to do when you’re a pedestrian and you’re involved in a wreck is you need to hire an attorney quickly. The question is, how do I go about hiring the right attorney? You need to hire an attorney who has experience with bicycle wrecks. You need to find an attorney you feel comfortable with, that understands you, that will talk to you and listen to you. You need to hire a lawyer or an attorney that will help you through this journey, to get you the competent medical treatment you need, to help you get to the specialist you need, and do everything in their power to help you get your health back. It’s not always easy to figure those things out, so you need to do your own research. You need to meet with several attorneys and you need to make a gut feeling what you think is the best for you and more often than not, your gut feeling is the right decision.
Were you or a loved one seriously injured by a motor vehicle while walking, running, or jogging and have questions about these 4 ways to get ahead on your pedestrian case? Contact a Stillwater pedestrian accident lawyer at Murray Law Firm today for a free confidential consultation and case evaluation. Let our experience work for you.
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