If you are a pedestrian and you are hit by a motor vehicle and injured, your claim for compensation still comes under the heading of a road traffic accident despite you not being in a car yourself.
At The Injury Lawyers we are only too aware, despite the numerous hard hitting safety campaigns that are out there, that every day pedestrians are injured by negligent motorists. This is still the case even though pedestrians have their own pathways and crossings. In particular, accidents often occur on zebra crossings.
Motorists are under a duty of care to other road users, pedestrians and the passengers they carry in their vehicles. Nevertheless accidents do happen and can happen on zebra crossings. It appears that despite zebra crossings being clearly marked out on our roads and with warning signs on their approach, motorists do not heed their presence or consider that it is likely that pedestrians will be using them to cross from one side of the road to the other.
The law is clear – zebra crossings are a pedestrian’s right of crossing. This means that a car should slow to a stop when there is a pedestrian waiting at a zebra crossing to cross the road. It doesn’t matter that there are no traffic lights telling motorists to stop, they have to beware that a pedestrian is waiting to cross the road. If you have been hit whilst on a pedestrian crossing and have as a result of this been injured, it is likely that you will be able to make a successful claim for compensation for those injuries. When you are on a zebra crossing cars should stop and they should not go until you have fully crossed to the other side of the road.
It is important to mention at this stage that a zebra crossing does not mean a pedestrian can just simply walk onto the crossing at any time. They must first take the sensible precaution of making sure all vehicles are stopped before entering the crossing. You cannot just walk in front of a car (not that you would want to, surely?). If you did, it may be suggested that your injuries are partly your fault and this could mean that the amount of compensation you get is reduced depending on how blameworthy you are considered.
At the Injury Lawyers we are on hand every week day between 9am and 10pm and every weekend day between 9am and 5pm to try and answer any queries you may have so why not give us a call on our free phone number 0800 634 75 75 for some free no obligations legal advice?
