Most people like to walk to get around cities where public transportation is not readily available and they don’t have a car. Walking is without a doubt, great for health, but vehicles on any road can lose control and hit a pedestrian. These accidents can result in severe injury or death of the pedestrian because there’s no true protection between the pedestrian and the vehicle.

When a driver or pedestrian gets careless, the result becomes disastrous, especially for pedestrians. Some of the common causes of pedestrian accidents are:

• Being distracted by a cellphone or other electronic devices while driving
• Failure to follow posted speed limits
• Turning at intersections without looking both ways
• Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Failure to recognize upstream and downstream traffic flows
• Motor vehicles and bikes not yielding for pedestrians at crosswalks

Compared to the rural areas, accidents that happen in the urban areas are higher in numbers. But the winding roads with limited visibility and high speeds of the countryside can result in some horrific accidents.

Unmarked Crosswalks

The majority of vehicle-pedestrian accidents happen at intersections. The risk is reduced by using marked crosswalks. However, there are many intersections with unmarked crosswalks, and it makes it very challenging for drivers and pedestrians to know when or where they can or can’t cross the road. Drivers are less likely to see people when they are focused on parking. Therefore, it is very important to have marked pedestrian pathways in the environs of parking lots.

Left-Hand Turns

Even if there are marked crosswalks, it is not always possible to avoid collisions between pedestrians and vehicles. Compared to right-hand turns, left-hand turns have three times more possibility of hitting a pedestrian because the pedestrian and driver both have to look elsewhere. The pedestrian will probably look straight ahead of himself, and the driver will be busy negotiating the intersection, and this will cause both of them to be unaware of the presence of the other until it is too late to notice.

Electronic Devices

There is a no-texting rule on the road. It is not limited to drivers, but to pedestrians as well. Although texting and other gadgets have become a significant cause of car accidents, pedestrians are also partly to blame for it. According to a study, about 8 percent of pedestrians who became the victim of accidents were using cellphones, musical devices, or other electronic devices. Because of using these electronic devices, victims became unaware of their surroundings and were unable to notice the nearby vehicles that hit them.

Dark Clothes at Night

About 70 percent of all the accidents between pedestrians and vehicles happen at night. In most of them, dark clothes are somewhat to blame. Because of the poor street lights in some areas, it is nearly impossible for drivers to see pedestrians wearing dark clothes and trying to cross the road.

Alcohol Behind The Accident

Drinking while driving is another common cause of an accident. Drinking is not only dangerous for drivers; it is also dangerous for pedestrians. According to a study, 13 percent of the pedestrian-vehicle collisions are caused by intoxicated drivers. Also, about 37 percent of fatally injured pedestrians had alcohol in their system. Just a little alcohol can create chaos in your mind, and that will strangle your ability to make judgments about your surroundings.

Backing–up accidents

Accidents when backing up for parking is not that common, but they do happen. Most of the time, in this kind of accident, the victims are children. It happens when someone is trying to park their car by driving back, but they did not see a little child and drive the vehicles over the child.

Don’t hesitate to seek compensation for your injuries if you get injured in a pedestrian accident or any other kind of accident. Medical care bills may not be costly for all victims, but the accident may leave permanent scars and horrific memories in your mind. The injury claim is a very complicated case. You have to probe many things and keep a record of a lot of documents Pedestrian law firms like Krasney Law are dedicated to getting you the financial compensation you deserve. They can handle all of your legal work if you suffer a negligent pedestrian injury.