People walk all over Tampa Bay, and every year the roads here prove how dangerous that is. In Smart Growth America’s Dangerous by Design report, the Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater metro has ranked among the deadliest in the nation for pedestrians and the most dangerous in Florida. If a driver hit you while you were walking, jogging, or crossing the street, Florida law gives a person on foot real rights, and a driver who violated them handed you the start of a case.
The law gives you the crosswalk, painted or not
Florida puts the duty on the driver where it counts. A driver has to yield to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk, and the point many drivers miss is that a crosswalk does not need paint, because an unmarked crosswalk exists at every intersection where sidewalks meet, and the same right of way applies there. A pedestrian is simply any person on foot, so the protection covers walking, jogging, and running. When a driver runs that duty over, the violation is treated as evidence of negligence, not just a ticket.
The blame game, and how to answer it
The insurer’s first move is almost always to blame the person on foot, and Florida’s comparative fault rule gives them an opening, since a pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk has to yield, and your recovery drops with your share of fault. So they will say you darted out, crossed against the light, or wore dark clothing. Answering that with the scene, the sight lines, the driver’s speed, and the driver’s own inattention is the work, because a driver who did not see a person plainly there is describing negligence, not a defense.
The coverage that surprises people
Not owning a car does not leave you without coverage. You can pursue the at fault driver’s liability coverage regardless. And if you or a relative in your household has an auto policy, its personal injury protection can follow you onto the sidewalk, and household uninsured motorist coverage can apply when the driver had too little insurance or fled the scene. Mapping every policy that could reach you is part of the case.
What to do after being hit
Get medical care the same day, since a walking pace against a car produces injuries that hide behind adrenaline. Make sure a crash report is written and the driver’s conduct is noted. Photograph the scene, the crosswalk or intersection, and the sight lines, and get witness names. Preserve nearby traffic, doorbell, or business video before it is overwritten, and hold off on giving the driver’s insurer a recorded statement.
Drivers and their insurers reach for the same line every time, that the person on foot came out of nowhere, and I build these cases to answer it with the crosswalk rules and the driver’s own conduct. I move fast to save the video before it is gone, and I represent people hurt on foot, not the drivers or insurers. If a driver hit you while walking anywhere across the Gulf Coast, here is how I handle Florida pedestrian accident claims.
Hurt in Florida? Let’s talk about your case.
The insurance company is already working to pay you less. A free strategy session is the fastest way to understand what your claim is really worth.
About the author
Rory Safir is a Florida injury and criminal defense lawyer and one of a handful of ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in the state. He builds injury cases the way he builds a defense, from the evidence up: the crash reconstruction, the records, and the cross-examination of the insurer’s experts.