Houston Bicyclist & Pedestrian Accident Injury

Has a Loved one Been Struck by a Vehicle While Riding a Bicycle or Jogging in Houston Texas?

Anytime is a good time for the residents of Houston to get into the great outdoors. Whether it is for a walk or an old fashioned bike ride to a nearby park or lake or strip mall. When pedestrian meets bike riders, accidents can and do happen.

Even if you practice looking both ways before crossing the street, danger is still lurking somewhere just around the corner. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) documented almost 5,000 pedestrian deaths in 2005. Of this estimated number of deaths, twenty percent (20%) were not properly crossing the street at marked sections and another 64,000 pedestrians suffered non-life threatening injuries. In the small country towns and the rural areas in addition to the big cities, pedestrians must share the streets, roadways, and highways with trucks, cars, motorcycles, and bicycles and the outcome is not always pleasant.

Usually anytime is a good time to get out in the bright sunshine. However, the roads are especially overcrowded during the summer months when schools are out and vacationers make their way to the Houston area, to San Padre and to other nearby locations in this South Central part of the United States. Most of the thousands of visitors come by airway or by highway. Some of the tourists are young people just out of high school looking for employment or they come to check out a college for Fall--all the while testing the waters of being away from home for the first time without a chaperone in sight. Old and young alike are often just hanging out with family or friends. The young are perhaps just doing their own thing and letting their hair down after many months of hard studying and tests and sometimes they get a little too lax and just don’t pay attention. For the old and young alike their nights can be long and filled with food, fun, taking in the sounds and sights of ‘big oil country’ and in general just having a carefree time. Summers usually find the sidewalks filled with pedestrians going to and fro in addition to those on bicycles as well. In the street motorized traffic is trying its best to move along in spite of the pedestrian traffic in the crosswalks who often disregard the traffic lights that should keep them safe.

Pedestrian Injury Data

• The second leading cause of motor vehicle-related deaths is pedestrian fatalities which account for approximately 11% of motor vehicle-related deaths.
• A pedestrian is killed in a traffic-related accident on the average of one every 108 minutes.
• Pedestrian deaths decreased 13% from 1995 to 2005. Contributing factors could be the increase in sidewalks, the increase in pedestrian walkways; playgrounds purposely located away from street side; traffic engineers who prohibit on-street parking and who purposely direct traffic away from pedestrians.
• 11% of the pedestrian fatalities were the result of alcohol where the drivers had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher
• Of the 44% of the pedestrian fatalities in 2005, either the pedestrian or the driver had an elevated blood alcohol level.
• In 2005, children younger than 16 years of age accounted for 8% of pedestrian deaths and children younger than 16 years of age accounted for 23% of pedestrian injuries in vehicular accidents. 18% of children killed in traffic accidents were between the ages of 5and 9 years of age.
• 9% of the pedestrians injured in 2005 were 70 years of age or older but this same age group accounted for 16% of all pedestrian deaths or 2.88 per 100,000 persons which is the highest death rate of any group.
• Male pedestrian fatalities accounted for more than twice the female pedestrian fatalities in 2005. As for non-fatal injury statistics, male pedestrian injuries were higher than those of females.
• In 2005, pedestrian fatalities occurred on the weekend than on any other day.44% of pedestrian deaths were between 6 p.m. and midnight. 43% of pedestrian deaths in 1998 were to young people under the age of 16 and the fatalities occurred between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
  
• In 2005, 74% of all pedestrian deaths happened in the inner city; however, for some reason case fatality rates are more elevated in rural areas. Researchers suggest the reason may be the driving speeds are higher and the crash impact more forceful not to mention the limited access to nearby hospitals and emergency care.
• 61% of pedestrian deaths in adults 65 years of age and older happened at an intersection. 10% of pedestrian deaths in children aged 4 years and under took place at an intersection.

In 2007, pedestrians to the tune of 70,000 were injured and 4,654 pedestrians were killed. In Texas alone, there were 387 pedestrian fatalities or 1 pedestrian killed every day.

The factors are numerous that must be considered when determining who is culpable in pedestrian vs. vehicle accidents, i.e., were you alert or preoccupied? Did you look both ways before crossing? Did you cross in a designated crosswalk? Did you jaywalk? Were you attempting to cross at a traffic light? It may be possible to prove third party responsibility in a pedestrian accident. If it can be proved that a traffic light malfunctioned or some other mechanical directive failed, the municipality can be culpable for the pedestrian accident.

Have you or a loved one been a pedestrian or been a bike rider involved in an accident? Personal injury and area Houston Attorney Michael Grossman speaks frankly as he gives helpful information toward understanding your rights if you have been a pedestrian or a bike rider who became involved in an accident. Please note that the information given below by attorney Michael Grossman should not be your only contact with a legal consultant. On the contrary, after reading the generalizations he is generous enough to impart, the reader should seriously consider contacting the law offices of Attorney Michael Grossman for ‘specifics’ regarding their particular case. 1-855-392-0000 is the toll free number along with the initial legal consultation which is also free. Attorney Michael Grossman and associates will listen to you as you explain your concerns and in turn, they will give you their best expert legal counsel in order to help you make an informed decision. Again, the call is free and so is the initial legal counsel which is priceless.

Pedestrian or cyclists wishing to file personal injury cases are governed by laws that are complex at best, however, for a novice or even an inexperienced attorney, the odds of winning such a case are overwhelming. In any accident and especially an auto-bicycle vs. pedestrian-type accident, time is of the essence. There is no time to waste in hesitating whether or not to secure an attorney. Before evidence is washed away via a rain storm or during a snow storm, or swept away by the Department of Transportation in their effort to clean up the accident scene, is very necessary that immediate steps be taken to secure the evidence, take photographs, make sure the plaintiff is under the medical care of a physician, investigators are busy asking the right questions, expert witnesses are being rounded up, and witnesses are deposed. Don’t delay. Call the Houston auto-bicycle accident attorneys at Grossman Law Offices today. The number is 1-855-392-0000 and someone is at this number twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week.

Attorney Michael Grossman is committed to helping pedestrian accident victims or their survivors recover damages for the physical injuries and emotional pain they have endured. Attorney Michael Grossman is a compassionate legal advisor and an aggressive advocate who will work diligently to help recover fair and just damages. With over twenty (20) years of successful courtroom experience under his belt, attorney Michael Grossman is also widely known for his out-of-court negotiations winning lucrative settlements.

How to Recover Damages for Pedestrian Accident Injuries

In order to recover damages for injuries sustained in a pedestrian accident, your pedestrian accident lawyer must prove that someone else was legally responsible for your injuries. In most cases, you will allege that another person’s negligence caused your injuries or your loved one’s fatality. Drivers who failed to yield the right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks, for example, can be held liable for the injuries they cause.

Attorney Michael Grossman has the experience; the knowledge and reputation that you need to get the best possible recovery for your case. Attorney Michael Grossman is a skilled negotiator and can often settle cases before trial. His willingness to go to trial well prepared to fight for fair and just rewards is part of the reason that he has a record that precedes him of achieving favorable settlements.

Public opinion seems to be of the assumption that personal injury claims for pedestrian or bicycle accidents where you are the victim vs. a driver of a vehicle or truck, is much like an ordinary accident claim where two vehicles collide. Nothing could be further from fact. In the first place, a pedestrian involved in an accident with a driven vehicle can never compare to a vehicle-to-vehicle accident. In the second place, a pedestrian is not required to have a license to walk on a sidewalk or to stand in the crosswalk or to cross a street. On the other hand, both the driver of a vehicle and the vehicle itself must both have licenses to legal be operating and to be operable on a city street or highway. So, with this in mind, understandably, these two different types of accidents are governed by a different set of laws.

Grossman Law Offices are experienced and he is quite knowledgeable with this aspect of law regarding pedestrian or bike accidents vs. an automobile or some other vehicle. Let Grossman and associates come to your aid and help you recover the fair compensation you deserve.

Public opinion also seems to be of the assumption that the ‘right of way’ is automatically given to the bicyclist and/or the pedestrian. Nothing could be further from fact. The truth is the laws that govern ‘right of way’ are not automatic but rather, in this instance, the law is very technical. Generally, pedestrians have the ‘right of way’ if they cross the street in a designated crosswalk area. However, not so if the pedestrian crosses the street in a non-designated area or if the pedestrian crosses the street against or in opposition to crossing signals or against a traffic light.

It takes an experienced insurance company attorney and/or a defense attorney who are familiar with this area of law to argue the intricate points of ‘right of way’ statutes and they could be so good at their arguments that you could be argued right out of any compensatory recovery claim. However, by retaining the expert and knowledgeable Attorney Michael Grossman and associates along with their skilled team of investigators, you have more than a fighting chance of winning the judgment. The investigators of Grossman’s law firm are quite adept at their jobs. They know what questions to ask and specifically how to ask the right questions to get the answers needed. With over twenty years of courtroom successes and lucrative wins in out-of-court settlements, you can not go wrong in calling the Law Offices of Attorney Michael Grossman and associates at 1-855-392-0000 for your legal concerns.