Highway Pedestrian Accident Victims Face Challenging Legal Issues in Georgia
A pedestrian who is involved in a collision with a motor vehicle on a highway faces challenging legal issues. Just as a driver has a legal obligation to exercise reasonable care for the safety of pedestrians, pedestrians themselves have an obligation to take reasonable care for their own safety. Pedestrian accidents, particularly those that occur on a highway, involve questions about the liability of a pedestrian for one's own injuries.
If the attorneys for the driver or the driver's insurance company are able to show that a pedestrian is responsible for the pedestrian's own injuries it can lead to a reduction in compensation based on the degree of fault of the pedestrian victim or in extreme cases preclude recovery entirely. Many presume that pedestrian accidents on highways are rare, but more than 10 percent of all fatal pedestrian accidents occur on highways. At Montlick and Associates, Attorneys at Law, we have been representing Georgia pedestrians injured or killed by motorists for a quarter of a century.
Drivers on highways are generally not expecting pedestrians, which increases the risk to a pedestrian of being hit and seriously injured. Sometimes pedestrians are present on a freeway because their vehicle breaks down, or they are involved in an accident and need to get safely out of traffic. The reason a pedestrian is present on a highway may become important because the driver's insurance lawyers may blame the pedestrian for not taking appropriate steps to avoid being injured. Georgia personal injury law applies a principle called comparative negligence. This means that if an accident victim shares fault in causing his own injuries the court will reduce the amount of recovery by the pedestrian victim's degree of fault. If it is determined that a pedestrian who has $100,000 in damages is 30% in fault, the pedestrian will have his damage award reduced to $70,000. If the pedestrian is determined to be over 50% at fault, the injured pedestrian will be precluded from recovery entirely.
The application of comparative negligence in Georgia makes it essential that a highway pedestrian accident victim seek immediate legal advice. The attorneys for the driver or his insurance company will typically argue that a pedestrian either should not have been walking on the highway and/or that the pedestrian did not take appropriate steps to keep oneself safe. An experienced pedestrian accident attorney in Georgia will carefully investigate the circumstance of your accident, review the police accident report and interview witnesses to the collision to mitigate claims that you were negligent in protecting yourself from being injured in the pedestrian highway accident.
Pedestrian highway accidents typically result in serious injuries or fatalities. Motor vehicles on the highway are moving at high rates of speed, which means they cannot stop quickly. The high rates of speed and lack of structural protection from a motor vehicle mean that pedestrian highway accidents may result in traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, broken bones, serious organ damage and death. These types of injuries mean major medical costs, long painful rehabilitation and permanent disability. A pedestrian involved in a highway accident facing these types of severe damages cannot afford to be found negligent in causing one's own injuries if it can be prevented. Montlick and Associates, Attorneys at Law, represents pedestrians seriously injured or killed in collisions involving cars, pickup trucks, motorcycles, tractor-trailers and SUVs throughout Georgia.
Our experienced Georgia pedestrian auto accident attorneys are available to assist clients throughout all of Georgia and the Southeast, including but not limited to Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Gainesville, Macon, Marietta, Rome, Roswell, Savannah, Smyrna, Valdosta, Warner Robins and all smaller cities and rural areas in the state. No matter where you are located we are just a phone call away, and we will even come to you. Call us 24 hours a day/7 days a week for your Free Consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333). You can also visit us online at www.montlick.com and use our Free Case Evaluation Form or 24 hour Live Online Chat.
Our attorneys and staff will work hard to protect your interests and get you the compensation you deserve.