When I review a pedestrian crash, I start with two simple questions. Who had the right of way, and how fast was the driver going? The answers rarely tell the entire story, yet they frame the analysis that judges, insurers, and juries use to decide fault and compensation. Failure to yield and speeding sit at the center of most pedestrian injury cases, and they often travel together. One narrows a driver’s window to react, the other steals the time and space a pedestrian needs to survive.
Over years of handling these claims, from quiet crosswalk collisions to catastrophic impacts on multi-lane arterials, I’ve learned that the facts matter down to the second and the foot. A half-step forward. A few miles per hour over the posted limit. A driver craning for a left turn gap while a pedestrian enters the crosswalk with a fresh walk signal. Understanding how these details interact is the difference between a denied claim and a result that funds a client’s recovery.
How right of way really works when people are on foot
Most states give pedestrians the right of way when they’re in a crosswalk with a walk signal, and require drivers to yield on turns. At marked midblock crosswalks, the rule is similar: if a pedestrian is in the crosswalk or has stepped from the curb under safe conditions, drivers must yield. Unmarked crosswalks exist at nearly every intersection, which surprises many drivers. Even there, if a pedestrian is crossing and it is reasonably safe, drivers must yield.
Those broad statements leave room for nuance:
- A solid walk signal does not mean a pedestrian can stride blindly. The law still requires reasonable care, especially against obvious dangers like a speeding car that can’t stop. Drivers must stop before the crosswalk, not inside it. Rolling into the crosswalk while “yielding” is a violation that forces pedestrians into traffic. At four-way stops, the person who arrived first proceeds first. If a pedestrian steps off while a driver in the near lane inches forward, a failure-to-yield ticket and liability often follow. Midblock crossing outside a marked crosswalk is usually legal unless local code forbids it, but drivers may still bear fault if they had time to see and avoid a careful pedestrian.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: right of way is a duty, not a prize. A driver with the obligation to yield must slow enough to avoid conflict. A pedestrian with the right of way still must act as a reasonably prudent person would. Cases turn on those twin duties.
Why speeding makes pedestrian cases different
Speed does two things in a pedestrian crash. It increases the likelihood of a collision, and it multiplies harm when a collision occurs. Stopping distance rises with the square of speed, and perception-reaction time adds a fixed delay before braking even begins. At 25 mph, a typical stopping distance with average reaction time can run around 85 to 100 feet. At 40 mph, it jumps well beyond 150 feet. Change nothing else, and a car that would have stopped short at 25 mph strikes a pedestrian in the crosswalk at 40 mph.
The physics bleed directly into injury severity. Research consistently shows a sharp climb in fatality risk between 30 and 40 mph. At roughly 20 mph, most pedestrians survive. At 40 mph, many do not. You can debate the posted limit on a given road; you cannot debate kinetic energy.
On the street, speeding often hides under other behaviors: late yellow light runs, wide sweeping left turns to maintain momentum, and rolling starts that hit 10 or 15 over the second the car clears a stop sign. Those choices shave seconds off a trip and add months, sometimes years, to a client’s recovery.
The classic failure-to-yield scenarios I see
After hundreds of case files, certain patterns repeat. They rarely look dramatic on video, which is part of the problem.
Left-turn conflicts at signalized intersections. The driver lines up, waits, then guns it for a best car accident lawyer gap, eye trained on oncoming traffic and not on the crosswalk he is about to cross. A pedestrian has the walk signal parallel to his turn. They meet in the first travel lane. Drivers often insist the pedestrian “came out of nowhere.” The camera, if there is one, shows otherwise.
Right turn on red near a school or grocery store. The driver looks left for cars, not right for people. A parent pushes a stroller off the curb with a walk signal, and the front bumper clips the stroller wheel first. The speed at impact may be low, yet the injuries can include wrist fractures, torn ligaments, and head strikes.
Multiple-lane roads with one courteous driver. A car in lane one stops at a crosswalk and waves a pedestrian across. The driver in lane two does not stop. This is why many states prohibit passing at crosswalks when a car is stopped. From the view of lane two, the pedestrian is hidden until the last second.
Parking lot connectors and driveway exits. People focus on the main road. Pedestrians cut across the apron on the sidewalk. Vehicles crossing the sidewalk have the duty to stop before the sidewalk and yield. That stop rarely happens fully. I have seen a dozen serious knee injuries from low-speed curb apron impacts.
Bus stops and commercial routes. Riders step off, check the curb, and start across behind the bus. A passing driver moves to go around the stopped bus at 30 mph on a 25 mph street. The pedestrian emerges from behind the bus and into the passing lane. Speed and sightline combine in the worst way.
These are not edge cases. They are weekday patterns.
Evidence that proves failure to yield and speeding
Any serious pedestrian case begins with evidence preservation. You do not need every piece to win, but missing the right piece can sink a strong claim.
- Traffic signal data and phasing charts. Intersections run programmed phases. The records show whether the pedestrian had a walk signal and whether the driver’s turn arrow was protected, permissive, or absent. On permissive lefts, drivers misjudge gaps more often, and the law still requires yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk. Event data recorder pulls and telematics. Modern vehicles store speed, throttle, and brake inputs for a brief period before a crash. Ride-hail trips may include GPS-derived speed. Insurance telematics sometimes sits quietly in the background until subpoenaed. A 38 mph reading in a 25 mph zone tends to focus an adjuster’s mind. Video, public and private. City cameras, bus footage, dash cams, storefront security. A fifteen-second clip of the walk signal and the driver’s approach angle can resolve a dispute that would otherwise drag through discovery. Ask businesses fast. Many systems auto-delete in 48 to 72 hours. Physical marks. Skid marks, yaw marks, scuffs on the crosswalk paint, broken plastic at the point of impact, and shoe scuffs can place the pedestrian’s body position and the vehicle’s path. I have reconstructed crossings with nothing more than a debris field and one photo of a tire smear across a stop bar. Medical timing and mechanism of injury. A tibial plateau fracture from a bumper at mid-shin tells you as much about speed and stance as a witness who “thinks the car was going fast.” Emergency department notes, EMS run sheets, and trauma imaging build the mechanism story.
If the crash happens in a residential area or near a school, expect speed disputes. Drivers almost never admit to speeding. The neighborhood will have strong opinions. Data cuts through that noise.
Comparative fault and why it matters even when the driver is wrong
Most states apply some form of comparative fault. That means a pedestrian’s recovery can be reduced by their percentage of fault, such as stepping off the curb against a solid don’t-walk, crossing midblock at night in dark clothing, or glancing down at a phone when the car was obviously too close. In a few states with harsh contributory negligence rules, a small share of fault can bar recovery entirely.
I do not say this to shift blame. I say it because your attorney must anticipate the defense arguments and gather the counterproof early. If the driver was speeding by 10 to 20 mph, that speed often overwhelms slight missteps by a pedestrian. If a driver failed to yield on a turn with a walk signal, the law in many jurisdictions squarely assigns fault to the turning driver. The right evidence can move a case from a messy 50/50 split to a fair 80/20 allocation or, in some cases, full liability on the driver.
Insurers’ favorite defenses in failure-to-yield cases
Patterns emerge in the negotiation room. These are the arguments I see most:
The pedestrian darted out. Sometimes true, often a stretch. “Darting” has a legal meaning in many codes, and merely stepping into a crosswalk on a walk signal is not darting. Video and witness distance estimates answer this quickly.
I couldn’t see because of sun glare or a large vehicle. Glare and occlusion raise a duty to slow, not a license to proceed. When a driver admits poor visibility but shows no corresponding speed reduction, liability tends to follow.
The pedestrian was outside the crosswalk. Even if true, that does not excuse a driver who had time to avoid the collision. Duty of reasonable care applies throughout the roadway.
No contact with the car, so not our fault. I have settled “no contact” cases with significant recoveries. If a pedestrian is forced to jump or twist to avoid a speeding or non-yielding vehicle and suffers injury, liability can still attach. Witness statements and video help.
Minimal damage to the vehicle, so the pedestrian’s injuries can’t be serious. Pedestrians absorb energy differently than vehicle occupants. A bumper at knee height can tear ligaments without leaving a single wrinkle on the hood. Medical records, not bumper photos, decide injury severity.
Knowing those defenses ahead of time changes how we build the file.
How we calculate damages in pedestrian cases
The harms in a pedestrian crash often look different from a typical car crash case. The body takes a direct hit with little protection. Ankles, knees, pelvis, and head are frequent injury sites. Recovery cycles run long, with delayed surgeries for ligament repair and staged rehab that drags beyond a year. I have worked files where wage loss continues long after the fractures heal, because the client’s job requires standing eight hours a day and their knee swelling flares with every shift.
Economic damages include emergency care, imaging, surgery, and physical therapy. Don’t forget durable medical equipment, home modifications for multi-level houses, and transportation to appointments when driving is impossible. Lost wages need more than a pay stub; they need a narrative from the employer and sometimes a labor economist when a career path is derailed.
Non-economic damages reflect pain, disfigurement, anxiety around traffic, and the loss of activities that gave life texture, from morning runs to picking up a grandchild. In wrongful death cases, families face funeral costs and the loss of companionship and household services.
Punitive damages are uncommon but possible when a driver’s conduct crosses from careless to reckless, such as high-speed racing through a crosswalk zone or intoxicated driving. Jurisdictional standards vary, and the proof burden is high.
A note on trucks, buses, and rideshare vehicles
The vehicle type matters. A truck accident lawyer approaches a pedestrian impact differently than a car crash lawyer because the stakes and evidence are different. Commercial trucks carry larger blind spots, require longer stopping distances, and are governed by federal and state safety rules. When a pedestrian is struck by a tractor-trailer executing a right turn, we analyze mirror setup, turn path, and company policies. Event data from the engine control module can be critical, as can hours-of-service logs if fatigue played a role.
Municipal buses and school buses add layers: public entity notice requirements, shorter deadlines, and agency video that can make or break a case. Pedestrian impacts at bus stops often involve multiple defendants, from the bus operator to the driver who passed unsafely.
Rideshare collisions bring their own complexities. A Rideshare accident lawyer will ask whether the driver was logged into the app, en route to a pickup, or carrying a passenger, because coverage limits shift across those phases. Uber accident attorney teams and Lyft accident attorney teams know to preserve trip data fast. A similar logic applies to food delivery platforms, where hybrid contractor arrangements can blur liability lines.
Motorcycle impacts with pedestrians are less common but severe. A motorcycle accident lawyer will look for lane-splitting behavior, speed estimates from engine noise and gear selection, and helmet cam footage. Motorcycles can stop quickly in the right conditions, but wet pavement and leaves change the analysis. These cases often hinge on visibility and double checking for pedestrians before filtering through traffic.
What a good attorney does in the first two weeks
Speed and yielding issues demand a front-loaded investigation. When someone calls my office after a pedestrian crash, we move quickly, because late effort costs money.
- Lock down video. We canvass nearby businesses the same day and send preservation letters to transit agencies, city traffic divisions, and any known dash cam owners in parked vehicles. Speed erases evidence. Letters and polite in-person requests save it. Map timing and phasing. We pull the signal timing plan, confirm controller settings with the city where possible, and diagram the intersection from pedestrian perspective and driver approach line. If there is construction, we capture temporary traffic control plans. Inspect the vehicle. If available, we photograph front end height, bumper shape, hood crumple, headlight position, and any paint transfers or fabric snags. Those details connect to injury patterns. Interview witnesses while memory is fresh. We ask about speed in concrete terms: where the car was when the pedestrian stepped off, where the car came to a stop, whether the tires chirped, how the driver looked right before and after impact. Start the medical story. We request EMS, ER, radiology, and orthopedic notes, and we speak with treating physicians about prognosis and likely need for future care. That early estimate guides reserves set by the insurer.
A car accident lawyer who waits to see what the police report says will lose key evidence. Police do good work, but they cannot capture every witness or pull every camera.
How police reports and citations play into civil fault
A failure-to-yield ticket helps, but it is not the end of the conversation. Traffic citations carry weight in negotiations, yet civil liability uses a broader standard: preponderance of the evidence. A driver can beat a ticket in traffic court and still lose the civil case. The inverse happens as well. I have obtained full-value settlements where the driver’s ticket was dismissed because the officer did not witness the crash.
If the report is wrong on a key fact, we do not argue with the officer, we bring proof that fixes it. Video, independent witnesses, and physical evidence change minds. Some jurisdictions allow supplemental reports when new evidence surfaces, which can influence the insurer’s position.
Working with medical providers for believable narratives
Speeding and failure to yield become vivid when the medical narrative supports them. An orthopedic surgeon describing a valgus knee collapse from a lateral bumper strike anchors the story in anatomy. A neurologist connecting a frontal lobe contusion to the windshield’s corner tells the jury how the head traveled. Even in a clear liability case, insurers scrutinize causation. Bridging the gap between impact mechanics and diagnoses matters.
I ask providers for a few specifics when appropriate: likely mechanism of injury, expected symptom duration, reasonable restrictions for work and daily living, and risks of post-traumatic arthritis or chronic pain. Precise language beats boilerplate. It also helps clients plan their lives.
Settlement ranges and why speed disputes change value
No two cases match perfectly, but speed influences value in three ways. It tends to solidify liability, it often increases injury severity, and it adds a tone of recklessness that persuades juries. A moderate soft tissue case with clear failure to yield at low speed may resolve in the mid five figures depending on jurisdiction and medical duration. Add higher speeds, objective injuries like fractures or ligament tears, and lasting limitations, and the numbers climb into six or seven figures. Catastrophic brain or spinal injuries move higher still.
Defense carriers understand jury sensitivity to pedestrians. A driver who sped through a crosswalk against a don’t-walk would make a defense stronger. Flip the facts: a driver speeding into a crosswalk on a yellow turn while a pedestrian has the walk signal, and the driver’s position deteriorates quickly.
Preventability and real-world driver expectations
Why do I spend time on driver behavior in a plaintiff’s article? Because prevention and responsibility share a border. The best case is the one that never happens, and jurors are people who cross streets.
Drivers can lower risk with three habits: come off the throttle near crosswalks, scan for legs and wheels, and commit to complete stops before sidewalk cuts. Pedestrians help themselves by making eye contact, pausing at the curb line even with a walk signal, and assuming at least one driver has not seen them. None of that relieves a driver’s legal duty, but it reflects how cases unfold outside of statutes and diagrams.
Finding representation that fits your case
If you are searching for a car accident lawyer near me or a pedestrian accident attorney after a crosswalk collision, focus less on the label and more on the lawyer’s casework with pedestrian impacts. Ask about their approach to video preservation, their experience with signal timing and reconstruction, and their results in failure-to-yield disputes. Trial readiness matters. Insurers price risk, and a file built for trial tends to command respect.
Many firms market across motor vehicle niches: car accident attorney, auto accident attorney, truck accident lawyer, motorcycle accident lawyer. The right choice is the one who treats your case like an investigation, not a form. A strong Personal injury lawyer should be fluent in both medicine and traffic law, comfortable cross-examining a reconstruction expert, and relentless about early evidence.
If your crash involves a commercial vehicle, look for a Truck accident attorney or Truck crash lawyer with experience pulling engine control data and navigating company policies. For rideshare collisions, a Lyft accident lawyer or Uber accident attorney should know the coverage tiers cold. These distinctions matter when liability is clear but the path to insurance money is not.
What to do in the hours and days after a pedestrian crash
The period right after impact is chaotic, and no one handles it perfectly. Still, a few steps protect health and the claim.
- Call 911 and get medical evaluation, even if you think you can “walk it off.” Adrenaline hides injuries, and denied care becomes a defense. Gather names and contact information for witnesses, and look for cameras on nearby buildings or buses while still at the scene if safe. Ask someone to photograph the intersection, the crosswalk paint, and the vehicle if you cannot. Do not argue fault at the scene. Give accurate facts to the officer. Avoid speculating about speed or distance unless you are sure. Follow medical advice, keep all appointments, and note symptoms and limitations. Gaps in care are used to discount injury. Contact an injury attorney early. The difference between calling in two days and two weeks can be a missing video clip that proves failure to yield or speeding.
That list is short by design. You have enough to manage without a checklist that reads like a manual.
The role of litigation when liability is clear but value is disputed
Insurers sometimes concede fault but argue that the injuries are minor or preexisting. In those cases, litigation may be less about who caused the crash and more about how the crash changed a life. Depositions of treating physicians, functional capacity evaluations, and day-in-the-life videos become central. Defense counsel will often hire their own medical examiner. A well-prepared file answers predictable lines of attack: gaps in treatment, prior complaints in medical records, and alternative causes like sports or work strain.
I have seen defense offers move dramatically after a treating surgeon explains, in plain language, why a fracture will accelerate arthritis and what that will mean for the client at age 40, 50, and 60. Civil juries are not impressed by dense charts. They listen to stories grounded in evidence.
When a criminal case intersects with the civil claim
If the driver faces a criminal charge like reckless driving or DUI, the civil case runs on a separate track. A guilty plea can be admissible and helpful. A pending criminal case can delay civil discovery as defendants invoke Fifth Amendment rights. Strategic pacing matters. In some instances, waiting for the criminal resolution clarifies liability and strengthens negotiation; in others, it stalls needed resources for recovery. Coordination with the prosecutor’s office can protect evidence, especially blood alcohol results or dash cam footage.
Final thoughts from the courtroom and the curb
Failure to yield and speeding are simple phrases, but they capture the reality of most pedestrian crashes. The legal analysis is not complicated on paper. Drivers must yield to people in crosswalks and drive at safe speeds. On the street, the picture is rarely clean. Angles are tight, signals imperfect, sightlines cluttered. People hurry. That is why these cases demand an immediate, disciplined approach to evidence and a grounded understanding of how right of way and speed interact.
If you are a pedestrian who has been struck, take care of your body first. Then, find an accident attorney who treats speed and yield not as slogans, but as questions that deserve proof: Where was the car when you stepped off? What did the signal display? How fast was the driver moving ten seconds before impact, and how do we know? The answers are out there in video frames, timing charts, data logs, and medical images. Put them together, and the law has a way of catching up with the physics.